It’s time to wrap up the first month of my Philly Foodworks blog posts. That first box included kale rapini, stinging nettles, a head of butter lettuce, 3/4 pound of fat asparagus spears, Swiss chard, a bundle of arugula, a slender bunch of ramps, and a pound of red potatoes.
I turned the kale into a garlicky spread. The nettles went into a batch of pesto. The lettuce we just ate (there’s not a lot you can do to preserve lettuce). I roasted the asparagus spears and made a batch of this salad using farro in place of the quinoa.
The Swiss chard became meatloaf and pickles. I ate the arugula chopped up and topped with a soft boiled egg (much like this). Which leaves us with the ramps.
I struggle with ramps. The hype around them is so great that I feel intense amount of pressure to do them justice when I have some in my possession. Which sometimes leads to paralyzing inaction.
This time, I decided to divide and conquer. I sautéed the leaves of the ramps with a little butter and ate them on toast (delicious!). And I took the slender stems and plunged them in a jar of vinegar. They pickle themselves in the process, but the real product is the flavored vinegar. It takes on pungent funk of the ramps and is fabulous in salad dressings and homemade mayonnaise.
I LOVE that jar!!
Me too! Is it a vintage one or current?
It is an oldie but a goodie!
I had the same thought! Is it a narrow-mouth pint jar, or some other volume? It’s gorgeous!
Marissa – Thanks for the honesty about not really really knowing what to do with ramps and the pressure of the hype. I feel the same way, as I read articles about chefs where they answer ramps as a favorite seasonal ingredient. Recipe searches on the internet each year typically lead to uninspiring results (e.g. “use that as you would onions or garlic”). I always struggle with how to use them myself.
Love the jar as well! Thanks for the inspiration. I just did the same thing with my chive buds. How long do you reckon we should leave them in the vinegar? I am guessing 6 – 8 weeks? Or is that too long?
I didn’t hunt ramps this year but I still have time in my area I think. Time to hike my butt back to the woods!
pretty jar 🙂
You can do the same thing with chive flowers! You end up with a lovely lavender garlicky vinegar.
I know! I do a batch whenever I can get my hands on some chive blossoms. Here’s my blog post about it: https://foodinjars.com/2011/05/chive-blossom-vinegar/
So many yummy things you can do with ramps…I’m doing vinegar for the first time this year…a lot of people do ramp butter…but you can do pesto, sauté with zucchini, and mushrooms (bonus points if they are foraged 😉) and I love make potato, wild rice and ramp soup…yum!