Ramp butter
Time: 2 hrs | Difficulty: 3/5 | Recommendation: Weekend project
Ramps (also called wild leeks) are so fresh and interesting! They’re as sharp and pungent as garlic, but not quite as sweet as true leeks...they just taste and smell like green 💚 They’re also not very abundant at all, and have a very short selling season, so when you see them at the market, snatch some up. You can sometimes find them just growing freely in the woods as well, but if you harvest them yourself, make sure to be considerate and leave many, many more than you take. This butter is an easy way to make your springy ramp flavors last longer, since you can freeze it. It takes a while, but it’s a really fun thing to do on a slow Saturday! And compound butter in general is a very fun concept! Highly recommend diving into this world!!
Ingredients/Tools:
A big handful of ramps
1 stick of salted butter, softened to room temperature (I used Kerrygold)
A squeeze of lemon juice
A big bowl
A food processor
Plastic wrap
Method:
Rinse the ramps.
Set some water to boil, then add some water and ice to a big bowl. Blanch the ramps by boiling them for about 30 seconds, then dropping them immediately into the ice bath. Remove when cool, and let them dry completely.
When dry, put the ramps into a food processor and blend. (If you don’t want to use a food processor, you can just chop them super finely.)
Add the ramps to the butter. Add the lemon juice. Then mush it all together until everything is well combined.
Roll out a big square of plastic wrap, and plop the butter along the bottom border. Keep a couple inches clear on either side. Then slowly roll up the plastic wrap, pressing the butter into a cylinder as you go along. Roll up the ends. Then stick the whole thing in the freezer. When you’re ready to use the butter, remove from the freezer, unwrap one end, and chop off the amount you want!