Last night a friend of mine brought me some ramps he'd dug up in Michigan a few days ago. Rarely, especially these days, is one privy to such an act of culinary generosity--seems like these days, with the ever growing popular frenzy of ramps, morel mushrooms and fiddlehead ferns come springtime, everyone turns all "Mine! Mine! Mine!" about them. Or just charges you a king's ransom to get some. Well, like I said before--sometimes it's nice to know some real people who don't mind getting their hands in the dirt, as is the case with my new found ramp fortune.I think I'm going to use the ramps in this Sunday's Brunch Salon, but I excitedly ate some today. It isn't that ramps are so particularly thrilling or amazing you see (though they are quite tasty); it's that they represent spring, and things starting to grow again, and being able to be outside without shivering again. They are, in food form, that first warm day of the season, and there's a certain charm that goes with that. So, I chopped some stems up, sauteed them with some ground pork, onion and pinenuts, added a touch of crushed tomato, and one of my magic pork flavor cubes. I finished the sauce with the torn leaves of the ramps whose stems I'd used, boiled some good noodles I got up at H Mart and slurped it all down. Quick and top-notch.
I'd also like to say welcome to all of you who joined us after the recent/couple/of/articles--it's nuts how powerful that can be. Welcome aboard, and hope to meet you all soon!
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