Recipes with Ramps
If you’re anything like me, you find that recipes are supportive guidelines to read and to relish, but often to inspire creativity in the kitchen. I am constantly changing, rearranging and sometimes improving recipes for my own purposes. My recipes are very often based on the ingredients I have on hand, which means it’s unusual to make the same exact thing twice! I love to experiment and that’s a good thing because It is rare to hear of me ‘running out to the store’ for anything. Why not? Because the whole farm is my store! And that can be very distracting at times…. how long does dinner prep really take? Well, that all depends on what I discover on my gathering-journey! Even when dinner is late to arrive at the table, I know I am truly the luckiest lady in the world! And hopefully my family, farm crew included, feels the same way— that the meal is worth waiting for! Onward with some of my favorite recipes!
Ramp, Bacon & Ricotta Tart
an Eggs on Sunday original
If you don’t feel like using a tart pan, you could make this as a free form tart (galette). Skip the step for prebaking the tart shell, and instead, spread the filling in the center of the rolled out round of dough, leaving a 3 inch border of dough around the filling, then fold that border back up and over the filling.
Ingredients
For the tart crust:
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
8 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
3 tablespoons ice water, plus more as needed
For the tart filling:
4 slices of good quality bacon
1 large shallot, sliced
3 cups (packed) spinach
1 1/2 cups ricotta
1 large egg
salt and pepper, to taste
about 18 ramps, cleaned and bulb ends trimmed
Directions
In a food processor, combine the flours and salt and pulse to combine. Add the pieces of cold unsalted butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the 3 tablespoons ice water, then pulse in 1 second bursts until the mixture resembles curds and clumps (you can add a little more water if needed.) Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface, gather it together in a ball, flatten into a disk shape and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour or more.
To pre-bake the tart shell, roll it out and fit it into a 9-inch tart pan, trimming off any excess (you can save the excess dough to patch any tears that might appear in the dough.) Prick the bottom of the shell with a fork all over, then lay a piece of foil into the shell and fill the foil with dried beans (they’ll act as weights to keep the shell from puffing up in the oven.) Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and beans and bake for an additional 7 minutes or so, until the dough loses it’s glossiness and turns ever so slightly golden brown around the edges. Remove the shell from the oven, keeping it in the pan, and cool on a rack.
When you’re ready to assemble the tart, cook the bacon in a large, heavy saute pan until browned and crisp. Remove to a cooling rack to drain off any excess fat. Pour off the bacon fat (save it to cook other things with!) until there’s about a tablespoon left in the pan. Return the pan to medium high heat and saute the sliced shallots until softened, then add the spinach and cook the mixture just until wilted.
Transfer the spinach/shallot mixture to the bowl of a food processor. Add the ricotta cheese, egg, and a generous pinch of freshly ground black pepper (I found it didn’t need much additional salt since the bacon is kind of salty.) Puree the mixture until the spinach is chopped, and set aside.
In the same pan you used to cook the bacon and spinach, add the whole ramps and a little bit of water. Cook just until the ramp greens have wilted, and set aside.
Transfer the ricotta/spinach mixture into the tart shell. Top with the crumbled bacon slices, then arrange the wilted ramps over the top. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet, and bake for about 35-45 minutes in a 375 degree F oven, until the top is just starting to turn brown, the filling is slightly puffed and set, and the crust is golden brown.
Serves 4 generously.
Buckwheat Crepes with Egg, Ramps and Bacon
From Dog Hill Kitchen
Makes 8 crepes
Batter:
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon buckwheat flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon margarine, melted
½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 1/2 cups soymilk
3 eggs
Filling:
8 eggs
4 slices thick-cut bacon
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 ounces of ramps (12-14 ramps)
Salt and pepper
Oil or margarine and a non-stick frying pan or crepe pan
-First make the batter. Sift together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and beat until smooth. Cover and chill the batter for 30 minutes.
-Turn on broiler and place an oven rack in the top position. Lay out a sheet pan or cookie sheet.
-Chop bacon and cook until crispy, drain and set aside. Slice and wash the ramps keeping the green tops separate from the white bottoms. Cook the ramp bottoms in a pan with the olive oil over medium low heat. When the bottoms are softened add the green tops and toss. Remove the pan from the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
-Make a crepe by heating the non-stick skillet over medium high heat. When the pan is hot coat the inside with oil or margarine. Dump a ¼ cup of crepe batter and immediately swirl to coat the pan evenly. Cook until the edges dry out and the top is mostly set. Loosen the crepe around the edges with a spatula and then flip.
-As soon as it is flipped, add 1/8th of the cooked ramps in the middle of the crepe and crack an egg on top. Sprinkle on 1/8 of the bacon and flip up the sides of the crepe to form a rough square with the egg exposed in the center. Slide the filled crepe out of the pan and onto the sheet pan. Repeat 8 more times.
-Place the sheet pan under the broiler and cook until the egg whites are set (30 seconds to 1 minute). Plate with salt and freshly ground black pepper on top.
Orecchiette with Ramps & Fiddleheads
Ingredients
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
2 strips bacon (thick cut) Berkshire chopped
1 large handful ramps roughly chopped
pepper freshly ground
8 oz orecchiette pasta boiled according to packages
pecorino romano shaved
Instructions
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.