Tag Archive for 'ramps'

Hamachi wrapped in ramp kimchi

Published
by
marc
on May 3, 2008
in Appetizer, Asian, Japanese and Seafood
. 7 Comments

I know what you all must be thinking “enough with the ramp recipes”. I promise I’m starting to reach the bottom of the bag from my most recent foraging trip, so you shouldn’t see many more:-) In case you’re still looking for a place to buy ramps, there are a few sellers on ebay you may want to check out.

This is less a recipe and more a way to serve the ramp kimchi I made last week. The cold creamy texture of the hamachi makes a perfect foil for the intensely briny and spicy kimchi. This goes well with an ice cold glass of soju (korean vodka) as an appetizer, or along with a bowl of rice and some other small dishes as a main.

ramp kimchi (garlic chive kimchi works as well)
sashimi grade hamachi (yellowtail)

Put a plate in the freezer for a few minutes to get it very cold.

Using a very sharp knife, and cold hands, slice the hamachi into moderately thin slices (a little less than 1/4″).

Working quickly, wrap each piece of hamachi in a ramp leaf then plate. You want to handle sashimi as little as possible as the heat from your hands will melt the fat in the fish and change its texture.

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Ramp kimchi & Ramp confit

Published
by
marc
on April 29, 2008
in Pickle, Spring, Vegan, Vegetable and Vegetarian
. 12 Comments

So this weekend we made another trip north to pick ramps. This time we brought home a grocery bag brimming with these delightful members of the onion family (they’re sweet and have a flavor somewhere between leeks and garlic). The reason for this large harvest is that L had the brilliant idea of making ramp kimchi, and I wanted to make a ramp confit.

Kimchi, for those unfamiliar, is a fiery Korean side-dish that’s pickled in a potent mix of chili powder and garlic. The specifics and vegetables vary by region and season, but Korean families take pride in the number of urns of kimchi they prepare per year. Prior to winter, families would gather to pickle the last of fall’s vegetables to last them through the cold months until spring.

Confit on the other hand traces its roots to France before refrigeration where meats like duck and goose were cooked in their own fat to preserve them. The word is derived from the verb “confire” which quite literally means “to preserve” and can refer to fruits or vegetables as well as meat.

If you haven’t guessed by now, the common thread here is 2 ways to preserve these perishable gems so they last more than a few days. I figured it would be fun to employ methods coming from 2 continents, and the results were fantastic!

While ramps are a vegetable that aren’t available in Korea, they work perfectly for kimchi because of their strong (though not overpowering) garlic flavor. The long leaves are well suited for wrapping around a slice of steamed pork, or a bit of rice and the flavors just burst with spicy goodness in your mouth.

The confit on the other hand roasts the ramps in an ample amount of olive oil, rounding out the flavor and intensifying the sweetness. The olive oil it’s cooked in is redolent with ramp’s leeky garlicy aroma and is marvelous on pizza dough or bread.
Continue for full recipe

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Bacon, ramps ‘n nuts

Published
by
marc
on April 24, 2008
in Spring and Vegetable
. 7 Comments

While I’m all about making simple things regardless of the time of year, this is especially true as summer approaches. Part of this is a practical thing (don’t want to have the stove on all day), but it’s mostly because I like to enjoy summer’s bounty almost naked, with just a few accents to make things pop.

Summer is a time for satiny leafy greens, curvaceous summer squashes and sweet succulent berries with all laid to bare. Can they be adorned with a few accessories? Sure! Just as long as you don’t cover up the best bits. Is this starting to sound like a steamy romance novel? Well good! because I’m passionate about the foods of summer.

As it gets warm outside, I’ll be visiting farms, gathering summer’s beauties and exposing them, centerfold style. The following highlights two gorgeous greens with little bits of fleshy pink bacon and bronzed walnuts setting the whole thing off.

2 slices of thick-cut bacon cut into batons
3 medium swiss chard leaves roughly chopped
10 ramps roughly chopped
small handful of crumbled walnuts

Cook the bacon in a saute pan over medium heat until a good amount of fat has rendered out and the edges start turning brown (but not crisp). Turn up the heat and add the swiss chard, tossing until wilted and the white stems turn translucent.

Add the ramps and walnuts and cook for a few more seconds until the ramps wilt and turn a vibrant green. Grind some black pepper on top and serve.

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Orecchiette with ramps and fiddleheads

Published
by
marc
on April 22, 2008
in Dinner, Pasta and Spring
. 10 Comments

Having brought home quite a haul from our little foraging expedition, my head was abuzz with all the possibilities. While foraging I was worried I might not be able to use everything we’d picked. By the time I was done with this meal, I realized I should have gotten more.

This simple pasta dish just tastes like spring. Lightly sauteed, the ramps are sweet with a mild garlicy flavor that goes really well with the smokey bacon. The fiddleheads don’t have a ton of their own flavor but they’re slightly sweet and add a nice texture to the dish. If you want to make this vegetarian, just omit the bacon and use a tablespoon of olive oil instead of a teaspoon.

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 strips thick cut Berkshire bacon chopped
1 large handful of ramps roughly chopped
1/2 C fiddleheads par-boiled
freshly ground pepper
8 oz orecchiette pasta boiled according to package
shaved pecorino romano

Start the pasta while preping the rest of the ingredient, but wait until your pasta is done and drained before you start cooking the rest. I just use the pot the pasta comes out of to make the bacon and veggies.

Add the oil to a hot pan over medium high heat, then add the bacon. Fry until the bacon is slightly brown around the edges (but not crispy)

Add the ramps and fiddleheads and saute lightly, adding a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Add the pasta and toss to coat.

Serve with shaved Pecorino Romano.

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Foraging for Spring

Published
by
marc
on April 21, 2008
in Ingredients
. 12 Comments
      

I finally got impatient for Spring to come to the Union Square Green Market and decided to take matters into my own hands. Wildman Steve Brill takes groups to the various parks in and around New York City to collect wild edibles growing right under our noses. This weekend he had a tour up at the Crestwood Riverside in Westchester, which is one of those “jogging” parks bordered on one side by a highway and the other by railroad tracks. While the environment doesn’t sounds too appealing the roster of items along the tour included ramps, fiddleheads, stinging nettles, field garlic, wild ginger and violets.

I called up, reserved a spot, and found myself traipsing through stands of Japanese Knotweed and fields of cut-leaf toothwort, in search of some of my favorite Spring-time delicacies. After a lackluster start, we came upon a small patch of stinging nettle.

These little shrubs have thousands of hollow needles filled with formic acid (a skin irritant). You need to handle them with gloves otherwise you’re hands turn red and burn. I’m not sure how someone figured this out, but when you cook them, the needles wilt and the toxins are neutralized so you can eat it without the unpleasant side-effects. It has a green flavor and is delicious added to pasta or soups.


Once we got past the nettles, there were a few ramps scattered about. The clusters grew more and more dense until we were surrounded by a field of these glorious members of the onion family. They’re like a cross between baby leeks and garlic with tender, slightly sweet leaves and a small bulb at the bottom. Someone needs to figure out how to make these things more hardy so grocery stores will carry them at a more reasonable price. By far my favorite thing to forage for, and quite possibly my favorite vegetable.

After scouring the park for 2 hours, we hit the foraging jackpot with the first sighting of these little green fiddleheads emerging from the forrest floor. These little guys are only in season for a few days and we managed to catch the tail end of their short season. They’re the spring shoots of the Ostrich fern and can only be eaten when they’re curled up and first erupting from the ground. Slightly sweet and with a texture like young asparagus, these are delicious steamed with a bit of lemon and olive oil, or sauteed and added to a pasta.

Overall it went well and I may have to head back up there this weekend for more ramps. As for the tour guide, he’s great. If you live in the NY/CT area, he has tours almost all year long picking everything from spring greens, to summer berries, to fall mushrooms.

Here is the rest of my haul, click on the thumbnails for more detailed description.

        
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