I'm on a rampage!

Nothing like spring feeling like winter. It's April I know, but....puleeeeeeeez! The only positive thing out of all this lousy weather is the fact that ramps, those lucious, odoriferous jewels from the woods all up and down this glorious Eastern sea coast are here at last! I got some slightly battered specimens at work the other day, then married them with some morels and fish. Simple tasty and not one bit sexy!

But tonight I had to pull out my own stash which I picked up Saturday at the Union Square Farmer's Market. These were some perfect clean and fresh picked ramps. I almost sacrificed them in a bread formula, aptly called Münchener Bierkipf, a savory bread moistened with beer, flecked with leeks, (or ramps if you're me), along with barley and wheat. Hardy! This batch were going with a pan roasted rib eye steak, potatoes and a salad. The season for this delicacy is short, but as many times as possible I will endeavor to devour them with relish and total abandon!

Comments

[Jeremy]

Susan, we know your a daring baker, but ramps are ramps, fennel is a close second on my list of delicious things! Fennel pollen?

[Susan]

I guess ramps need a good winter, which explains why we don't see them here. So I may be forced to concede one point in the East-vs-West grow-off. Can I interest you in some wild fennel?

[Jeremy]

I finished it all right, sooooo gooood!
The bierkipf I have to try, would go nice with ramps or leeks either, maybe even some garlic chives?
Snowed a bit this morning, very weird sun then totally grey, guess that is spring in this decaying environment?

[Nils]

Are you going to finish that? I don't think I can get ramps here, Bärlauch though (bear's garlic?) - very good on a Focaccia. Spring is a bit friendlier here. Mild afternoons, warm thin rain. Nights are cold like the ground though.