Step aside boring pesto, ramp things up <– slight pun, with pungent Ramp Pesto for a springtime treat!
It’s ramp season! Give three cheers for the short arrival of Springs most prized green!
I got my grabby little hands on a big bunch this week when I went to pick up my weekly Nextdoorganics winter CSA share. It was a pleasant surprise, not to mention good timing, since it seemed like there was only a bag or two of these puppies to hand out. I happily took advantage of the offer, ignoring the request to bring home granola for the week from hubs.
The arrival of greens as a pantry substitution also gets my mind ready for our summer CSA. I still have until June before it starts, but the growing list that Next Door sent out is amazing. This is definitely an exciting growing season to look forward to.
Okay, back to the ramps. Not familiar with them? Wondering what all the hype is about?
Ramps are wild leeks aka a relative of the onion family, aka the thing that Chefs and foodies go crazy for every April.
Flavor wise they taste like garlic.
As for what to do with ramps, you can pickle them, sauté them, fry them, char or grill them, or in my case make pesto out of them.
I chose to leave the ramps raw in my pesto, which makes for a very pungent flavor. If you’d like to tone it down a bit, blanch the ramps for 30 seconds in boiling water and then immediately plunge them into a bowl of ice water.
Ingredients
- 20 ramps, root ends removed
- 1/3 cup walnuts, toasted
- 1/2 cup Parmigiano or Asiago cheese, grated
- juice and zest from 1 lemon
- kosher salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- In the bowl of your food processor add the ramps, walnuts, cheese, lemon zest and juice and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Pulse until combined and the ramps are broken up into a paste.
- With the processor running, slowly drizzle the oil from the top. Stop, scrape down the sides and give a good pulse a few more times to make sure everything is combined.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
- Store the pesto in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to one week. Serve on top of pasta, chicken or fish. Also delicious stirred into eggs or spread on bread.
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Never thought about making a pesto with this! I’ll have to try it. If you like cilantro, you might be interested in my Cilantro Pesto. As far as I’m concerned everything is better with a pesto 🙂
Let me know what you think if you do try it! I’m not the biggest Cilantro fan, but my new CSA will be growing lots of herbs this summer, so if I do end up with a bunch I’ll be sure to try your recipe! and I certainly agree, everything IS better with pesto 🙂
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