Ramp Pizza

Yum! I love this pizza. I saw this recipe for thin crust pizza using tortillas and it's amazing. I highly recommend it! I decided to try it with a white pizza to showcase the great ramps I got at the market. It's crispy, salty, gooey, has bite from the ramps and savory chewiness in the bacon. 

Ramp Butter

It's that time of year again! Ramps are back. I was googling around for ramp recipes and found ramp butter. One of the most enticing but worst things about ramps is their short season. Pretty much now until the end of May. If you make ramp butter, you can just pop it in the freezer and slice off a slab any time. Can't wait to have corn with ramp butter in the summer!

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter, softened

4 ramps, roots removed, cleaned

1 tsp Maldon sea salt

Ramp Spaghetti

This is a Maria Batali recipe - very simple and just highlighting the ramp flavor. This is a perfect for a quick weeknight dinner.

Ramp Crostini

Ramp recipe #2! This is also super simple and great for hors d'oeuvres in spring.

Chilled Cucumber Ramp Soup

If you're in New York City, you might have heard that it's ramp season. Ramps are wild leeks that come out in April and May. Some people think they're overrated, but I love them. I bought a big bunch from the farmers market and played around with some new recipes this weekend. More to come this week, but I'll start off with the super simple, slightly spicy, very refreshing cucumber soup. (If you can't get ramps, you can use garlic and/or shallots, or scallions.) There are just 6 ingredients and it takes all of 2 minutes to make.

Pomegranate-Glazed Seared Duck Breast with Ramps and Crispy Potatoes

I went to the Union Square market yesterday to see what looked good and I decided to try ramps! I've always wanted to cook with them but have never tried. I love garlic, so I figured I couldn't go wrong. I also got a duck breast. I had potatoes at home. I figured I could make something good with this. (Potatoes + duck fat = yum yum yum yum) I saw a good looking recipe from Anne Burell with how to perfectly sear the duck breast, and she used pomegranate molasses (a totally awesome ingredient). I thought hers sounded a little too syrupy sweet, so I changed it up a bit. It was delicious! I highly recommend this for impressing someone for dinner. The pomegranate molasses is tart and sweet and sticky and the duck is rich and salty. The ramps look beautiful on top, and the potatoes are perfect to soak up the extra juice. Make it while there are still ramps!

Serves 2
Ingredients:
3 ramps (bulb and leaves) roots removed, 1 finely diced
1 duck breast, fat scored in a crosshatch pattern
1/2 lb small potatoes
1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
1/4 cup reduced chicken broth (I used a cups worth of bouillon with 1/4 cup water)
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/8 tsp (big pinch) cumin
1/8 tsp (big pinch) coriander
1/8 tsp (big pinch) chipotle powder
2 sprigs fresh thyme

Directions:

Mix the pomegranate molasses, chopped ramp, stock, and herbs in a bowl or measuring cup. Heat a skillet to medium-low and put the duck breast and the ramps in (duck skin-side-down).