Rewards and Pangs of the Forage. Fuck!

Yeah so I'm pretty sure this is poison ivy and if it's not then it's something else fucking itchy!  Not only that, Tonya Pierce, my partner who has been gone for the last three days working on her design show, which I'm sure most of you know about if you see my personal facebook page and twitter account and I hope you will vote for her ;)...well anyways I drew a bath for her tonight and when I showed her this I was banned.  Ooph.  And now as I'm sitting her writing about this everything is starting to feel itchy but I'm not a scratcher.  Ew.

ramps

In the picture above there is a ramp pesto and pickled ramp bulbs.  The bulbs are cleaned and then placed in a deli with coriander, pinch of salt, and green peppercorns.  My pickle is 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, heated together to dissolve sugar, poured over ramps, allowed to cool, sealed and refrigerated.  For the pesto I chopped the tops and placed them in a food processor with 1 clove of garlic that I toasted in a skillet with hot oil, a handful of cashews, salt and olive oil.  Blend tops, toasted garlic, cashews and salt, slowly drizzle in oil.  Taste, season to your liking.  This was a recipe for about ten ramps.  It's simple, easy to wing it.

Rampin Up

Photo of Spring dish one year ago taken by Josh Brusin of Chicago Foodies

Ooo how I love spring!  In this photo I have ramps in two different preparations.  One is pickled ramp bulb the other is chilled ramp top soup.
For the pickled ramps:
Clean about 1 cup ramp bulbs, cut tops and reserve.
1 cup water
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
3 finger pinch of salt
1 t coriander seeds
1 t black peppercorns
Bring water, vinegars, sugar and salt to a bowl.  In an airtight container place ramps along with coriander and peppercorns, pour hot liquid over, allow to cool to room temp, cover and store in refrigerator.  Ramps will hold for two to three weeks if not a touch more.
For the soup:
3 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
350 g heavy cream
100 g water
50 g butter
1 1/2 t salt
about 6 oz ramp tops cleaned and blanched
Cook potatoes in cream, water, butter and salt until tender.  Transfer to blender and blend with ramp tops.  Add more warm water to thin if necessary.  Adjust salt seasoning if needed.  Cool quickly by transferring warm soup into bowl within a larger bowl filled with ice.  Transfer to airtight container and chill.
Now the tricky part is getting that ramp soup in those bud vases.