Ramp Powder

A couple of weeks ago, I took a sunny drive out to Holbrook Farm and picked up what had to be the last ramps of the season: they were huge, with big, fat bulbs, and the slightly yellow-green leaves that say the end of ramp season is nigh. It’s been a busy Spring, and my visits to the farm have been few and far between, so it’s just possible that I picked up everything else in the store as well. […]

Ramp & Yogurt Scones

In case you need some brain food for all that sugar talk. I know: another ramp recipe. And another scone recipe. I’m nothing if not predictable. Happy Sunday! Adapted from Whole Wheat Scones in Great Breads by Martha Rose Shulman Ramp & Yogurt Scones INGREDIENTS 9 oz (2 cups) whole white wheat flour 9 oz (2 cups) whole wheat pastry flour 4 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1 ½ tsp sea salt several grinds fresh black pepper 6 oz grated semi-hard cheese, like […]

Candied Ramp & Fennel Jam

Speaking of sugar: how about some candied ramp & fennel jam? Just a quick one today, as I am drowning in data and have been for days, but I took a half-hour lunch break to whip up this small-batch jam from a lovely bunch of ramps Tai brought home from Holbrook Farm the other day. With leaves finally filling out the trees, ramp season will soon be behind us as the sun gets blocked from the forest floor. I’m squeezing […]

Potato Ramp Soup

More ramps, you say? Don’t mind if I do! This one is a riff on the classic potato leek soup, but while that number is often loaded down with bacon & heavy cream, this version is light and Springy with lemon and just-barely poached ramp leaves. The wild, earthy ramp flavor is subtle (since I only had one bunch of ramps on hand) though distinctive, and I like the simplicity of flavors: potatoes, ramps, lemon, a touch of butter & […]

Ramp & White Bean Fritters with Sriracha-Marmalade Sauce

“Oh, ramps,” I hear you sigh, sniffing delicately. “That’s so last year.” To be sure, ramp mania seems to have dimmed somewhat, after a strong showing in the opening years of the decade, to be replaced by new must-have food items such as artisanal toast and eggs that are scrambled in the shell. Which is a good thing, really, as ramps have been dangerously over-harvested in recent years: perhaps everyone has finally gotten the message about sustainable ramp foraging? Or, perhaps, it […]

Ramp & Sausage Lasagna

Spring has officially sprung in New York: buds are out on the trees, forsythia is in bloom, peepers are filling our twilights with their song, and I found rhubarb and ramps at the farmer’s market over the weekend. Even better than peepers & ramps, Spring has brought Miss Kate back to the ‘hood, with canning classes last weekend in Coventry, demos in Manhattan this weekend, and a few days of relaxing Chez Local Kitchen in between. I had the good […]

Yet Another Ramp Pickle

I know: you’re so over ramps, right? And ramp pickles – gah! Everyone has done them (no, really, everyone) and I am late to the party. I might as well just post a cupcake recipe and have done. But, but, but…. well, I have no excuses. Except to say this: if this little jar of ramps waiting-to-become gets pushed out of sight in the fridge, hidden behind the massive bunches of rhubarb, the parsley and dill, the radishes and leeks; if it […]

Ramp & Asparagus Frittata

Have you ever spent an entire day in a jumpy house with a 7 year-old? Let me just tell you, for the sake of science, that it is possible to pull every sinlge muscle in your body at the same time, especially when, inspired by giggling, 7 year-old cries of “Do it again!,” you demonstrate your NBA-style, windmilling slam dunk on the jumpy house baskbetball net about 847 times. My friend Kami celebrated her 7th birthday a couple of weeks ago […]

Chicken Braised in White Wine & Ramps

Three years later, this dish hasn’t changed: it’s still wonderful, and apparently still being made with chickens that needed using up yesterday. Luckily for us all, my photography has changed for the better. Yes, I know ramp season has officially passed us by, what with the overabundance of lush, leafy green that is dressing the Northeast woods right now. However, I still had an (albeit fairly limp) bunch of ramps in the fridge that were just begging to be used, […]

Ramp & Cilantro Pesto

I’m down in a cold, misty, rainy Asheville this week, spending some time with Mom.  On my list of things to do before I left for the week was to preserve anything in the fridge that Tai wouldn’t cook while I was gone (so, essentially, everything). After enjoying ramps in a lovely chickpea salad and a leeky-cheesey fritatta this week I still had a pile to use.  Just a few days ago, I saw a recipe for Ramp and Parsley Pesto […]

Ramps!

You know it’s April in the Hudson Valley when you see ramps pop up, in the farmer’s market or in the woods. Ramps are wild leeks, an allium related to onions, shallots, garlic, and of course, leeks, and they create quite a sensation each spring when the broad, waxy green leaves start popping up in the woods.  With good reason: although some think we should just shut up about ramps, there is a reason that foodniks go a little mad […]

How to Build a Basic Frittata

A good friend of mine had her second child back in March, a 9 lb 6 oz, 23-inch bundle of joy named Jordan. Since her first child is a daughter at the fun-but-exhausting age of 4 years old, I had promised ages ago that I would come down to her digs in Maryland and help her when the new baby was born. I was down in the DC area for three weeks, and while I managed to take in a […]

Top 10 Posts of 2014

I’ve been catching up on blog reading this lazy January weekend, and in reading a few other people’s top 10 of 2014 lists, I realized that I had never published my own. Since I was curious as to what they were, I decided to dig into my stats and find out. And I was happy with what I found: some canning & preserving, some DIY, some healthy vegetable dishes and fat-laden bacon-y treats. All in all, a healthy mix of […]

Passionate Soccer Love: Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to Tiffany, winner of the Passionate Soccer Love giveaway! Tiffany says: I too am a big soccer fan! I was happy to see this post up here, two of my favorite things coming together! I wish I were attending, but I am going to the US v Turkey game at Red Bull stadium on June 2nd to send my favorite team off to the World Cup. Congratulations, Tiffany! Enjoy! …………………………….. In the midst of all the sugar research and […]

Preserving By The Pint: Caramelized Shallot Jam + A Winner!

You all know that Marisa has published a new book, right? Preserving By The Pint: Quick Seasonal Canning for Small Spaces, was published by Running Press last month. I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy for review and I’ve been paging through it ever since. There was still snow, and lots of it, on the ground when I got my copy. Paging through the “Spring” section, with a steaming cup of coffee and a warm woolen blanket, such gems as […]