my story, sad but true

 

The blogosphere is all abuzz right now about THE hot ingredient of the season. Ramps, also known as wild leeks, are as highly prized as they are elusive. If you can find them in your market, man, you are one lucky dude (or dudette): grab a handful and run to the checkout! (If you can’t find them–and, let’s face it, you probably won’t–I do have a back-up plan for you.) When I was finally able to snag a bunch myself, I felt like I’d found the golden ticket. Immediately, I began to concoct in my head the best way to put these beauties to use. Should I make soup, do a pickle, chop up a pesto? I wanted to create a dish that would best highlight the sharp, garlicky bite of the onions, while pairing them with complementary flavors. Well…that was my intention. Sometimes, things don’t go exactly as planned. What do they say, “the best laid plans of mice and men…”?

Ramp (um…er)/Spring Onion Pasta

Quickly, I did a little research on the proper method to cook ramps. I decided to showcase them by simply sautéing them and tossing them with a few other components in a pasta dish. Knowing that the recipe would come together in a flash, I laid out all of my ingredients, so that everything would be ready when I needed it. 



These babies are purty, aren’t they? First, I prepared these beautiful onions by rinsing them well and chopping off their root ends, making sure to peel off any slimy top layer skin. I separated the stalks from the leafy tops and sliced the leaves in half lengthwise.


I chopped the stalks and placed them in a hot pan to sauté with olive oil over medium-low heat.


As the chopped ramps began to wilt in the pan, I seasoned them with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, and added red pepper flakes to give them a kick.

 


In a large pot, I brought enough salted water to a rolling boil to cook my egg tagliatelle. When the boiling water was ready, I added the pasta to the pot.


The leafy ramp tops went into the sauté pan, along with lemon zest to add brightness to the sauce. I let them sauté, stirring, for a couple of minutes while the pasta finished cooking.


And then, it was time to bring this bad boy home. I added some of the pasta water to the pan to give body to the sauce and brought it to a simmer. As I’m a sucker for creamy pasta, I decided to finish this dish with some sort of dairy–I thought it would temper the bite of the ramps and create a more rounded flavor. To keep it on the healthy side, I had the brilliant idea to use, aha!, Greek yogurt. Well, not so much. As soon as that thick culture hit the hot pan, guess what happened? It curdled!! Apparently, yogurt doesn’t like too much heat…who knew? I still learn something new in the kitchen every day.


I tried to salvage the dish by tossing it with the pasta and burying it in piles of grated parmesan cheese, to no avail. There was no denying it was just a soupy, curdled mess! Thankfully, my husband is a good sport, but, I wasn’t going to be defeated–if at first you don’t succeed, and all that. So, I ran back to the market the next day to gather ingredients for my re-do but, of course, NO ramps! I settled instead for spring onions, not to be confused with (though they look a heck of a lot like them) scallions, which are supposed to pack more bite than their twins. 


This pasta was prepared in much the same way as the ramp pasta. I chopped the onions (white and light green parts) and sautéed them in a pan with olive oil, salt and pepper, and the red pepper flakes. 


To make sure I didn’t mess up again, I skipped the pasta water and went with heavy cream as a base for my sauce this time. But not too much–only 1/2 cup of cream will do for the whole dish. And I was very careful to keep the heat low and the sauce at barely a simmer. After the scallions were properly wilted, I let them stew in the cream for a few minutes to soften them more.


Because the spring onions lacked the beautiful leafy tops of the ramps, I julienned some fresh basil leaves to toss in at the end, along with the lemon zest.


I changed it up this time by using whole wheat spaghetti instead of the egg tagliatelle. Once the sauce was well tossed with the pasta, I seasoned to taste with a little lemon juice, salt and pepper, and topped it all with freshly grated parmesan.


And, voila! Not exactly the divine seasonal spectacle I had originally planned, but a fine dish, nonetheless. If you’re lucky enough to find ramps, please don’t miss their very special flavor. But these spring onions will work nicely, too, and this pasta is perfect as a light meal or side dish. Just don’t use yogurt!


Serves 4:

1/2 pound ramps, or 2 bunches spring onions*
2 tablespoons olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
zest from 1 lemon
1 pound pasta–egg tagliatelle or whole wheat spaghetti
1/2 cup heavy cream
freshly grated parmesan cheese


* add 1/4 cup basil leaves, julienned, if using spring onions

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2 thoughts on “my story, sad but true

  1. elizabeth

    That stinks that your first dish was a disappointment! Ramp pesto is one of my favorite ways to have ramps and pasta, or instead I’ll have some sliced ramp leaves over pasta. But spring onions work well too!

  2. Lacy @ NYCityEats

    I just snagged some ramps myself, after looking high & low! The first pasta dish was an amazing idea! I bet it would have tasted fantastic if it had come together as planned. Your backup plan still looks like it was absolutely delicious!