Saturday, May 24, 2008

Pickled Ramp Bulb

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Recently, we made ramp kimchi and we rejoiced. When any food stuff is a two-fer, it can be fantastic or perplexing. Think of that moment when you have made a couple batches of macarons, which incidentally have made your hold your breath all afternoon, and now you are looking into a bowl of 12 egg yolks, thinking what the hell. Well, of course you make flan, lemon curd and an egg wash. (Or to heck with it all, you cook up a couple up for the dog.) Way off track already, and I have 8 more ramp posts to go. Damn, this is really going to be a long evening.
Ramps
Pickled Ramps
So, ramp kimchi was mainly ramp leaves with just a few bottoms. So, what to do? Periodically, I lurk at Miss Ginsu (doubtless Ms. Ginsu younger, less feminist sister). They had a reproduction of Floyd Cardoz's Quick Ramp Pickles. Floyd is a man I have never met, but I have never ever disliked any of his recipes that I have cooked. And, this is no exception. It was fantastic, easy and satisfying.
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When it was finally ready, the first thing we put them on were grass-fed beef hot dogs. I eat hot dogs very rarely, so I decided this one had to be super dolled up. And, this tart looked like she was, well, overdressed. She had Floyd's ramp pickles, hot mustard, red onions sliced oh so thin, and green tomato pickle. It was high/low brow and I ate it leaning over the kitchen counter because I couldn't wait to get to the table.

2 comments:

MissGinsu said...

Hey! Thanks for stopping by! Glad you liked the recipe. I usually reuse the brine for sliced red onions and that's nearly as nice as the ramp pickles.

Now I really want to try out your ramp kimchi and the market is ramp-free, darn it. I'll have to make due with scallions until next spring.

Anonymous said...

We might have to nominate you Ramp Queen next spring! How far is it to WV from where you live??

These also look amazing. I've only ever used the green leaves for cooking -- just think of all the bulbs that we left in the ground and were wasted! What were we thinking?! : (