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Rampage

April 29, 2012 //
4

What do you say when a friend hand delivers you hand-picked ramps?

You say THANK YOU! And perhaps, I’m sorry you had to carry these stinky alliums around all day.

My friend Paul brought me beautiful, pungent ramps that he foraged with a trowel from a hillside near his home in Phoenicia, New York, in the Catskill Moutains. I haven’t been to the farmer’s market much lately so I was very grateful to receive the muddy gift. We met at a friend’s art show Thursday night, and by the time I arrived, an hour late, the ramp’s aroma had permeated the entire gallery.

Ramps are only in season in these parts from roughly the end of April to the second week of May, if you’re lucky. They come and go in a flash before wearing out their welcome. I think they’re in season for the perfect amount of time—long enough for you to enjoy them in scrambled eggs and pesto and maybe biscuits, but not long enough to get sick of them (I’m lookin at you zucchini). They make a graceful exit just as you’re fantasizing about what you’ll make next. Ramp risotto?

Exactly one year ago I wrote here about linguine with ramps. This year I thought I’d try something different. My friend Katherine recently mentioned that, at Reynards in the new Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, she’d eaten radishes on toast that had been slathered with ramp butter. Genius! Jill was coming for brunch today so I thought: ramp butter, toast, and runny eggs.

Turns out, kitchen maven April Bloomfield has a recipe for ramp butter (with quail eggs) in her delectable cookbook A Girl And Her Pig, which I used as a guiding light.

The lemon zest and lemon juice are just the addition to cut the richness of the butter. The ramps definitely make their presence known without being overly sharp, a result of sautéing them for two minutes. I plan on using the leftover ramp butter over pasta. It would be delicious slathered over biscuits or scones, or on dark rye bread with those radishes, anything with a bite.

It’s nice having a personal ramp dealer. I will not share his beeper number with you so don’t even ask. Get your own forager!

Ramp Butter

1/4 pound ramps, cleaned, roots trimmed
11 tbsp unsalted butter
zest from 1 lemon
1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
pinch of chili flakes
3 anchovies, rinsed and minced (optional)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and peper

Thinly slice the bulbs and stems of the ramps, and set aside. Slice the greens and toss some of these with the bulbs and stems, reserving the rest. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a skillet and when hot add the ramp bulbs and stems and some of the greens and sauté for two minutes, stirring often.

Transfer to a bowl and add the remaining butter, lemon zest and juice, a pinch of chili flakes, anchovies, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. I ended up squeezing a bit more lemon juice into the mixture. Blend this and when mixed, add the remaining chopped ramp greens, stir again. You can serve this on toast or over pasta, and I imagine it would taste great tucked under the skin of a chicken before roasting.

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Categories Breakfast, Cookbooks, Eggs, Entertaining, Farmer's Market, Ramps, Spring

A Green Morning

February 15, 2012 //
0

Maybe because the weather has been so mild, or maybe because my body is craving greens, I seem to be back to my green smoothie routine. I temporarily left them behind for much of the last two to three months in favor of warm grains in the morning.

The food co-op had beautiful bright green dandelion greens Sunday so I couldn’t resist picking up a bunch from Lady Moon Farms. I’ve learned that dandelions (tampopo, in Japanese—yes, like the movie) are ranked in the top 5 green vegetables for nutritional value. They are incredibly rich in beta-carotene (Vitamin A), as well as Vitamin C, calcium, iron, protein, potassium, and magnesium. They are also rich in micronutrients like copper, cobalt, zinc, and Vitamin D. The vitamins and minerals found in dandelions can reduce inflammation of the liver, stabilize blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and reduce the risk of strokes.

Ok, enough of the science stuff. Dandelion greens taste good. They’re slightly bitter—but not as bitter as, say, arugula, and can be eaten raw in salads or sauteed the way you would other greens. I like their addition to green smoothies as much as, if not more, than spinach or chard, in part because they blend very finely. Drink a tall glass of this in the morning to put a little bounce in your step. Works better than coffee in my opinion. (Seriously, green smoothies have helped wean me off of caffeine.)

Go Green Morning Smoothie

2 c dandelion greens
1/2 grapefruit
1 banana
1 ripe pear
10 oz water

Add everything to a blender and puree until smooth, approximately 1 minute. You could also add a little bit of fresh ginger to spice up the smoothie. Makes about 20 oz of smoothie.

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Categories Breakfast, Co-op, Drinks, Green Smoothies

Quinoa: breakfast of champions

February 6, 2012 //
1

I so loved my breakfast this morning I wanted to share. I had pseudocereal. At least, that’s an official unofficial term for the crop-like grain known to us as quinoa (pronounced keen-wa).

I first started eating quinoa back in 2005 when I was a cook at Plantation Farm Camp in Cazadero, California. There we would serve it to the kids for lunch, at room temperature, usually with some chopped nuts and dried cranberries. The grain itself has a hearty, nutty flavor, and takes on whatever tastes you add to it, much like rice.

I picked up some red quinoa at the Park Slope Food Co-op this past Friday after my shift and decided to make it this morning for breaky rather than microwave cold cereal as I reported doing recently. It’s as easy to make as oatmeal. You can basically use a 2:1 ratio of water to quinoa; you bring the water to a boil, with the quinoa already in the pot, reduce heat to simmer, cook for 10-15 minutes on low, low heat, then turn the heat off and let it sit for 5 minutes before fluffing and eating.

Breakfast can get so redundant and boring I’m trying to spice things up a little. I’m usually quite hungry when I wake up so like to eat something that’s gonna fill me up and tide me over til lunch. Whole grains are our best friend in the morning, and quinoa is no exception. It’s packed with protein, manganese, magnesium, folate, and phosphorus.

You can add anything at all to it that you’d like: dried fruit (during or after cooking), chopped nuts, sea salt, butter, soy sauce, olive oil, milk. I bet some bonito flakes with a little soy sauce would be delicious. Or for something a little sweeter, maple syrup and almond milk. Go crazy. Have fun. This is breakfast after all.

Side note: What’s funny about all this is just this weekend I was telling a friend I’d never start photographing something so banal as my breakfast and start posting it on my blog. But breakfast just got too good. Happy Monday!

Monday Morning Quinoa

Serves 2

1/2 c quinoa
1 c water
2 tbsp chopped apricots (or other dried fruit)
1 tbsp flax oil (or olive oil)
sea salt

Combine the quinoa, water, and dried fruit in a medium-sized pot with a tight-fitting lid. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, leaving the lid on. Go take a shower while it cooks for 10-15 minutes. Turn the heat off and let sit for 5-10 minutes with the lid on while you get dressed, then fluff with a fork before serving. Drizzle the oil and add a pinch of sea salt.

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Categories Breakfast, Co-op, Grains, Winter
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