Ramps: Three Ways

Forget about Summer, ramp season is definitely our favorite season! We don’t know what it is about those little guys, but ramps make every meal better. As soon as they come out, we hit our favorite grocery store, Heinens immediately because ramps don’t stay around for a long time. We love them so much and we wanted to share with you three of our favorite ways to make ramps.

What is a Ramp?
They’re part of the onion family. They look like smaller versions of scallions and usually have a few broad leaves. They taste kind of like leeks/onions/shallots and are also slightly garlicky. They are tiny and delicate but yet strong in flavor. Just stop asking questions and just go pick up a bunch for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

What to Make with Ramps
Anything and everything! When we have them in our house, we will add them to almost any meal. We’re just going to tell you about our three favorite ramp dishes. Don’t be afraid to get creative with them, they really do enhance every dish.

Ramp Quiche
This is our typical Sunday brunch meal especially when we’re hanging with friends. Our quiches are generally veggie, because there is just something so good about waking up with a quiche full of fresh veggies. For this particular quiche we used ramps, mushrooms and cheddar cheese. We wanted to use (and typically would use) goat cheese because in our opinion, it just tastes the best but we forgot to buy some! The best thing about making a quiche is leftovers the next day. It heats up so nicely.

Ramp Pesto Pasta
Pasta is one of the meals we make the most. Sometimes we make a quick and easy pasta meal or sometimes we spend a lot of time on it, like when Beard makes the pasta. We’ve never had ramp pesto, but decided to get creative and try it and of course it turned out very tasty. We kept this dish very simple by using just the homemade pesto, grated parmesan cheese and our favorite noodles, bucatini. The bucatini really grabs hold of the pesto. We also added grilled chicken for some protein and a caprese salad.

Ramp Pizza
We think you knew this was going to be on the list. We’ve had a few ramp pizzas out and about (Masthead and Biga). Unfortunately, we dropped the ball on this one. By the time we were ready to make ramp pizza the ramps weren’t in stores anymore! Since we’ve had it before we know what tastes best. As with the other recipes, it’s best to keep it simple. Lots of cheese and ramps is how Broad would do it. Mushrooms also pair amazing on this pizza. You want to keep the sauce simple and either just oil or a VERY light white sauce.

Do you like ramps as much as we do? What are your favorite ways to cook with ramps? We’d love to hear your ideas!