Ramp Pesto
Medically reviewed by Christiana George Updated Date: June 8, 2023
Nature a contrarian, I find myself very skeptical of hype. This was the case with boy bands and this was the case with ramps (why boy bands comes to mind, I have no idea. And actually, I did have a small crush on Brian of the Backstreet Boys that I’m now just a teeny bit embarrassed to own up to). With all the hooplah surrounding what’s-just-another-member-of-the-allium-family, I admit, I was pretty disinterested in trying them, especially if it meant fighting over the last few stalks with someone more aggressive than me because they wanted them more than me. Because these guys go fast. Watching them sell at the farmer’s market is like watching a time lapse video.
But being a food blogger is akin to being an investigative journalist, at least in matters of food. You follow all leads, and you don’t hold yourself back from anything. (And yes, I did just make that comparison!) In this case, with a trustworthy source as my lead, I decided to pick up a couple bunches.
Now, a few facts about ramps that I find remarkable: (as usual, thanks Food52)
1. They’re only found in specific parts of the U.S., namely the Northeast.
2. They’re only in season for something like three weeks each spring.
3. They are almost completely foraged, which means they’re wild, which leads me to the next fact…
4. Ramps take FIVE TO SEVEN YEARS to grow before they’re ready to be harvested. And it can take 18 MONTHS just for them to germinate.
Wow. In that context, it’s easy to understand why people go crazy over them. Although, scarcity doesn’t necessarily imply that they’re any good. But in this case, Carey, you were right! Ramps don’t quite taste like anything else, and they’re wonderful. They’re also extremely pungent. Even before you taste them, you smell them, sharply, overwhelmingly, scented garlic but not raw. They smell like garlic bread, in fact, sort of roasted and intense. They taste so much stronger than their domesticated cousins too. Piquant, kind of like what arugula is to regular greens. They remind me of Chinese leeks, a great favorite of mine growing up that my mom used to scramble with eggs and serve alongside rice porridge (which somewhat made up for the fact that we were forced to eat watery tasteless GRUEL when Mom didn’t feel like cooking. But this is old baggage; I won’t go into it.) Anyway, I highly recommend breath mints.
Which is why pesto seemed the perfect food to take advantage of ramp’s rather distinctive qualities. Doesn’t it just sound good? There can’t be a better fate, in my humble opinion. I didn’t have pine nuts lying around, so I used walnuts instead, but besides that, I followed the traditional pesto recipe pretty closely. (Well, I guess the traditional way of making pesto involves a mortar and a pestle, but there were no Italian nonni around to judge.)
I’m only now questioning the color of this pesto. It’s awfully bright and swampy isn’t it? And yet, that was its exact hue when it was first blended. Weird. But it does mature into a darker green after awhile.
RAMP PESTO
Adapted from Food52
Makes around 1/2 cup (I’m completely estimating—I would say it’s enough for topping one medium pizza, serving 2 to 3 with pasta, and feeding quite a few with bread)
Ingredients:
1 bunch of ramps (about 10 stalks)
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil (I used about 1/2 cup)
Salt & pepper
Squirt of lemon
Directions:
Wash the ramps and cut the hairy ends off the bulbs. Roughly chop the leaves and remainder of the bulbs. Also roughly chop the walnuts, then place both the ramps and walnuts in a food processor. Pour in the cheese and start processing, slowly pouring in olive oil until you’ve reached a consistency you like. Taste for salt and pepper, and squirt in some lemon juice to taste.
I would let the pesto sit for a little while, maybe an hour, before eating. The flavors need some time to meld together.
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Mocha Swirl M&M; Cookies
Well, thank you Blizzard of 2013 for dumping over two feet of snow in my yard. And my hubby thanks you for all the work you have given him. As if that wasn’t enough, the day of the blizzard our oil furnace decided to stop working. Blizzard and no heat, yay bonus! Oh and the best part is our street was not plowed. The only way out was the path my husband had snow-blown on the sidewalk, leading to the main street that was plowed. Thank goodness we are the first house on the block. So I packed my bags, layered up the kids and myself in our snowsuits, and trekked up the hill to meet my brother in his truck. He drove us to my mom’s house, where I had to wait in the truck with two impatient kids while my father and two of my brother’s finished snow-blowing my parent’s very long driveway.
My husband had stayed behind to try to fix the furnace, but wasn’t able to get it completely working till the following day. But he was able to come enjoy a sleepover at my parent’s house with the rest of us. At least we had a warm place to stay. We were able to go home Sunday, but didn’t venture out very far. Most streets are still not plowed, those that are have only one car width open. Our neighbors got desperate to get out and everyone with a snow blower was in the street trying to clear a path out of the neighborhood.
My daughter was out of school on Friday, today and now tomorrow also because the school parking lots were not cleared. No one knows where to put all this snow. And today we had freezing rain on top of it. Sorry for the rant, but I have been stuck in this house for too long. Hopefully, it will be safe to go back to work tomorrow. If not, I may have to bake again. We only have four more of these cookies left.
Wanna make some of your own? Here are the ingredients. Not too complicated. If you can’t find the Jif Mocha Cappuccino spread, you can always substitute with Nutella.
You can go the easy route and just make regular cookies. Or you can fancy them up a bit. I found a Wilton heart shaped whoopie pie pan on clearance at Target and used it to make some heart shaped cookie.
I used the same amount of dough as the other cookies, except I flatten it out into the heart shaped cavities.
You can leave them plain or decorate them with some frosting and sprinkles. I used some Betty Crocker Decorating Icing. It worked out well. You just can’t stack them, because the frosting doesn’t harden. But it sure is easy and quick to use.
Plain or decorated, they taste just as good. So make some for your sweetheart or treat yourself to some.
Mocha Swirl M&M Cookies
by The Sweet Chick
Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes
Keywords: bake dessert snack mocha cappuccino spread cookie American
Ingredients (36 cookies)
For the cookies
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup Jif Mocha Cappuccino spread
- 1 cup M&M’s
For the topping
- 1 can Betty Crocker Decorating Icing
- sprinkles
Instructions
For the cookies
Preheat oven to 375ºF
Blend together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
In a stand mixer, beat together butter and shortening until creamy.
Add sugar and vanilla and beat medium speed until well blended.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing well in between.
Add flour mixture, and beat on low until all incorporated.
By hand, mix in the Mocha Cappuccino spread just until you get a marble effect.
Then mix in M&M’s by hand as not to break them.
Then drop by cookie scoop full into the heart cavities of you greased baking pan or on a greased baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
If using the heart shaped baking pan, flatten out the dough by hand so it evenly fills out the heart cavities.
Bake at 375ºF for 7 minutes, then remove from oven and wait 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Allow the cookies to cool completely before adding any toppings. (Or just eat one now, no one will notice.)
For the topping
Attached one of the enclosed nozzles to the Decorating Icing can. I used the star tip. Decorate as desired, then add sprinkles if you want.
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