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.

Roasted Chicken Legs and Ramps

 

I, like the rest of New York, am totally into ramps. They're only around for a month or so in the spring, so I try to use them a lot. First ramp dish this year was roasted chicken and ramps. I usually love just tossing the ramps with some olive oil, salt, and pepper and grilling them, so this was similar. The leaves get crispy and the bulbs are sweet. Yum.

This is really simple for a weeknight dinner, and I served it with some peas at Jamie's request.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 chicken legs
2 bunches of ramps, roots removed
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 lemon, sliced

Directions:
Heat the oven to 500. Line a baking sheet with tin foil. Toss the chicken and ramps with salt and pepper and olive oil. Put in the oven for 10 minutes, then top the chicken with lemon slices, and put in for another 20 minutes, or until the chicken is nicely browned. Check on the ramps - you'll probably need to remove them 10 minutes before the chicken.

Rhubarb Ice Cream with Caramel Swirl

Since I'm a sucker for rhubarb, I couldn't resist trying this recipe from the New York Times. It was great! The sour cream gives a unique richness and creamy texture, the rhubarb is tart and awesome, and the caramel adds extra sweetness and something toothsome. The chunks of rhubarb are great, too. It's a little bit of a labor of love, but if you love rhubarb, ice cream, and time consuming weekend cooking projects (guilty), then this is perfect!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 3/4 cup plus 6 tbsp granulated sugar
pinch kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3/4 pounds rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/2 cup heavy cream

Thai Chicken and Spicy Asparagus Stir Fry

After Cinco de Mayo tamales (recipe coming soon) and other fun eating with Chip and Siobhan last weekend, once again, Jamie and I found ourselves craving healthy, fresh food on Monday night. I picked one recipe from the Times and one from Food & Wine, partially from the mouthwatering pictures printed alongside them - Thai Chicken with Hot-Sour-Salty-Sweet Sauce (also, can you resist that name?) and Stir-Fried Spicy Asparagus because asparagus is fresh, healthy, and so delicious this time of year. It's also nice that the asparagus takes less than 2 minutes to cook. It's delicious! The asparagus is extremely fresh and light, and the chicken is juicy. The real star is the dipping sauce. I want to make a gallon of it and pour it on everything. It's pretty much a winning combination of all of the tastes. Yum!

Thai Chicken, serves 4
Ingredients:
Marinated Chicken:
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tbsp Asian fish sauce
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
4 whole chicken legs
Dipping Sauce:
1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate dissolved in 1 tsp water (or 1 tsp tamarind paste)
1/4 cup Asian fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 small  Thai chili (or jalapeno) seeded and minced
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Ramp, Stinging Nettle, and Sunchoke Soup

This soup just oozes spring. I've been totally going overboard with ramps - I made them with duck, made them into pesto, topped them with olive oil and grilled them... I'm drinking the cool aid. Before they go out of season, I wanted at least one more try.

I went to the farmers market yesterday hoping for veggies. I'd been eating a little unhealthily this week, so I needed it. I grabbed some stinging nettles, ramps, and sunchokes all at the same stand and thought it would make a great, springy soup. It did! Very easy to make and takes about 45 minutes. It's a beautiful bright green and goes really well with a parmesan twist from Amy's Bread (or a roll or baguette or any other bread). I can't wait to eat it again for lunch! The sunchokes thicken it up a little, the ramps give it an earthy smoothed out bite, and the nettles are super springy. It tastes great and you feel like you're being healthy. Just don't touch the nettles with your hands until after they're cooked!

Shaved asparagus salad

Quick post! Made a super easy super tasty asparagus salad last night. It's so fresh and springy, and healthy. Get fresh asparagus and make it into ribbons with a vegetable peeler. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with lemon juice and a little apple cider vinegar and a teeny bit of olive oil. With the vegetable peeler, shred a few pieces of pecorino Romano. Eat!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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).

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

When rhubarb comes into season I immediately crave strawberry rhubarb pie. It's such a great blend of sweet and sour and I'd say it's my favorite pie, hands down. Especially when served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It's not terribly difficult to make - especially if you buy frozen pie crust. (I recommend the Trader Joe's variety if it's available.) Just putting this up makes me want to make another tonight!

Ingredients:
Pie crust (frozen of homemade)
1 pound fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 pound fresh strawberries, cut into halves or quarters
3 tablespoons corn starch
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4-1/2 tsp freshly grated orange peel
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Mix rhubarb, strawberries, corn starch, sugar, cinnamon, lemon, and orange peel in a bowl.

 

Pour into pie crust (if it's homemade, first put the pie crust down in a pie in and trim the edges). Cut remaining pie crust into strips and lay across the top of the filling in a lattice.  Dot the pie with the butter and sprinkle sugar on top of the strips. 

Place the pie on a cookie sheet and then into the oven (it tends to drip a bit). After 35 minutes, if the crusts are burning, cover them with tin foil. Let it bake another 10 minutes or until the middle is pretty set. Let cool a little and serve it up with vanilla ice cream!