Spring Vegetable Brown Fried Rice

Do you smell it? Let’s try and guess what I might be talking about.

Am I talking about the May flowers that are making our eyes water and our noses sniffle? Perhaps I'm speaking of freshly cut grass or the smell of burgers sizzling on a grill. You probably don’t know what I'm talking about because you live somewhere beautiful and green and sane.

No. No, instead I’m talking about what Deb Perelman of smitten kitchen aptly describes in a post of hers as “eau de hot trash.” A distinct sign of rising temperatures in New York City, the overflowing trash buckets begin to literally bake in the sun. By 10a.m., if you close your eyes you might think you’ve commuted directly into a landfill.

Planning on visiting our fair city this summer or one day soon? Don't worry, you get used to it.

It seems that we’ve all but totally skipped spring. I’m not totally unhappy about it because I love this stinking hot weather and like I said, you get used to it. I like to think of myself as a cold blooded reptile. Now I can slither out to a nice sunny rock (my mother’s deck) and warm up my bones. You know what else likes this sunny weather? Strawberries. In season local strawberries, literally sunkissed and still warm to the touch, are worth these smelly, smelly mornings. They just started popping up at the New York greenmarkets and soon I will take a drive with my mother and we will handpick and drag home way too many pounds of them. Strawberries also mean that not far off in our futures are those other elusive summer standbys. In other words --- I’m dying for an August tomato.

This doesn’t mean that I’m sick of springtime’s well-timed fare. It arrives just when you’re about to go nuts that your market haul was a handful of wintered-over carrots and past-their-prime apples. Fresh and green comes to save you in the form of asparagus, peas, and the ever exclusive ramp. These three spring stars are the basis for this quick fried rice-esque side. Since ramp season is fleeting and just about over, feel free to sub any other springtime allium in if you can't find them anywhere. I also made it once with quinoa and it was just as good. Super simple, super seasonal, with minimal time spent at the stove. Plus, with similarities to the stuff that you can grab at your corner Chinese joint, it is so, so good cold from the fridge.

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Spring Vegetable Brown Fried Rice

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons neutral oil like avocado oil for sauteing

2 eggs

salt

1 cup chopped ramps (can sub spring garlic, spring onions, or garlic scapes)

1 cup asparagus chopped into 1-inch pieces

1 cup frozen or fresh peas

2 cups cooked brown rice (or white rice, or quinoa)

soy sauce to taste

sesame oil to taste

Directions:

In oiled pan over high heat, crack the eggs directly into pan as if you were going to fry them. Season with a bit of salt. Let the whites set for a few seconds then puncture the yolk with the spatula and begin to pan scramble them. Once the eggs are fully cooked remove from pan and set aside.

Add a bit more oil to the same pan and add the vegetables. Season them with a bit of salt. Saute over high heat until asparagus is bright green, peas have thawed, and ramps have wilted. This will take 2 to 3 minutes at the most. Once cooked, remove from pan and set aside.

Add a bit more oil to the pan and then add cooked rice to the pan. Stir rice to coat in oil and reheat. If you aren’t using a nonstick pan, the rice will probably stick a bit. Just do your best to scrape it up as you go. Once rice is fully broken up and heated through and beginning to “fry”, add the eggs and vegetables to the pan with the rice. Drizzle a touch of sesame oil onto the stir fry and a couple dashes of soy sauce to taste.

Stir the sesame oil and soy sauce into the stir fry to incorporate. Taste for seasoning, add more soy sauce if needed. Once all components are fully combined, remove from heat and serve.

Serves 4 to 6 as a side. Add protein to bump to a main.

Ramp Ricotta Meatballs

At what point do we all start getting indignant about turning on an oven? At what point do the words meatballs and braise sound too heavy and hot to bear even listening to just because the warmth outside has climbed beyond our collective comfort zone?

I've never been one to not cook because it’s too hot outside. Not sure if you remember, but I had my oven ripping during a heatwave at the end of August in name of pulled pork for dinner. It was so hot in my kitchen that whipping cream refused to whip and these baked peaches had some very lackluster cream drizzle as their garnish. In actuality it was way too hot to have my oven going that day. But that was at the end of August --- very different from these end of spring chilly mornings.

I, for one, have had no problem packing these babies up these past chilly mornings. To top it off, I don’t know about your offices, but mine borders on arctic level temperatures most days. It’s nice sometimes to inhale something comforting and warming after spending the morning with numb fingertips.

I’d also like to think of them as a transition food. They could be considered winter fare for sure. But that springy dollop of ramp ricotta folded into the meat mix not only keeps them moist but adds a fresh spring spin on something normally considered hearty.

While I nestled these little nuggets among some sturdy kale, they would be just as tasty on a bed of fresh baby spinach  leaves which would really lighten the meal up to spring standards. Truthfully, they would also easily fit in among some red sauce --- spaghetti and meatball status, but that brings up unwanted memories of harsh winter weather, which I am desperately trying to forget.

Let’s dismiss that from our minds together and focus on all of the ramps, and peas, and spinach, and rhubarb this spring has brought us!

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Ramp Ricotta Meatballs

with garlicky braised kale

Ingredients:

1 egg, beaten

¼ cup almond flour or oats

½ cup leftover roasted ramp ricotta (recipe can be found within here)

salt and pepper

1 pound ground meat

olive oil for frying

2 bunches kale, chopped into 1-inch pieces (approximately 6 cups)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chicken stock

¼ cup shredded parmesan

dash of butter

red pepper flakes, if desired

Directions:

(Recipe for ramp ricotta can be found within this recipe)

In a large bowl, mix beaten egg, almond flour, ramp ricotta, and salt and pepper until well combined. Add in the ground meat and begin to gently incorporate until well combined.  Take care not to overwork the meat, let’s keep it tender up in here.

Roll tablespoonfuls of the meat mix into golf ball sized meatballs. You should get about 25 balls out of this.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Once the meatballs have been rolled, heat olive oil in a medium to large ovenproof skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot enough, begin browning meatballs one small batch at a time. Brown the meatballs on all sides and set on a paper-towel lined plate to drain. Continue in batches until all meatballs are browned. Set aside.

Immediately add kale to the same pan. You may have to do this in batches as kale wilts down. Toss to coat in olive oil and meat fat. Salt and pepper to taste. Once kale has wilted down a bit, make a space in the middle of the skillet and add in minced garlic. Saute until fragrant and then mix into the kale. Add the cup of chicken broth, butter, and the parmesan. Stir. Season to taste, add pepper flakes here if desired.

Remove skillet from heat and nestle those little meatballs into the kale mix. Garnish with a bit more parm if desired and then throw into the oven to braise for about 15 minutes.  Serve.

Serves 4 to 6

Roasted Ramp Ricotta Pasta

I keep buying ramps. I keep buying them like I have the faintest clue what to do with them. Sometimes I think I am just buying them for the sake of their seasonality. I know they’re only here for a short time and I mean, everyone else is buying them…

Where’s a mom with her sayings about bridges?

Instagram was telling me that I could just roast them and end it there. Perhaps poach an egg and call it a night. Instagram was also really selling ramp pesto. I wanted to do something else, truth be told I’m not that big on pesto.

Sometimes a new experience, a new adventure, a new place can serve as inspiration. 

And sometimes that place is Brooklyn.

Since the weather’s been getting nicer, my boyfriend and I have been really diligent about going to different areas of the city and just ‘splorin on the weekends. We’ve both lived here alotta years but feel like there are whole parts of the city we’ve never seen. Two Saturdays ago we spent the entire afternoon and night walking all over Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Iced coffees were slurped, comfort food was had, ice cream was discovered, a frisbee was tossed, sunset was seen with toes in the grass. We didn’t want the day to end so we wandered around again until we found a cute little restaurant to grab some matching whiskey on the rocks.

Since we were still full from a heavy lunch, we sat at the bar and just sipped on our Jamesons, but I couldn’t help but look at the menu anyway. Just as I was thinking that the next day I really had to come up with a way to use those ramps --- I spotted a ricotta ramp pasta on the specials menu that sounded completely inspiring. Very springy, very simple sounding, very much something I thought I could replicate with some adaptations here and there.

So I figured out what to do with those ramps.

Watch those roasting ramps carefully! My first time roasting ramps I lost the poor things. Burnt to a crisp. RIP. A little char on the ends is a nice contrast but otherwise you just want them to soften and caramelize a bit. Also, can I just say you’re not doing it right if you’re not covered in dirt and leaves when dealing with your ramps. Clean them very well. They have a lot of crevices and those crevices have mud in them.

If you can find fresh peas, bless you -- USE THEM. I made do with some frozen ones.

And by all means, you can use whatever type of pasta you like, I used a gluten-free, “paleo” pasta by Cappello’s.

Last note, you probably won’t use the entire batch of ramp ricotta, but I can assure you I didn’t have a hard time figuring out how to use the rest. I may have spread it on some toast with roasted red peppers and pepitas. I also may have folded it into some meatballs…

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Roasted Ramp Ricotta Pasta

inspired by a special at Juliette

Ingredients:

1 bunch ramps, trimmed of ends and cleaned very well

olive oil for roasting

salt and pepper

8 oz ricotta (about 1 ½ cups)

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

½ cup diced bacon

1 cup fresh or frozen peas

1 box Cappello’s Fettucine (or approximately 8 oz fresh pasta / 4 oz dry pasta)

squeeze of half a lemon

shredded parmesan for sprinkling (if desired)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a roasting pan, spread ramps out evenly amongst each other. Drizzle well with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 15 to 20 minutes. Begin checking them at around 10 minutes to ensure they do not burn.

While ramps are roasting, begin preparing the other components. Fill a medium sized saucepan with salted water and begin bringing it to a boil for the pasta. In a small bowl fold the majority of the chopped parsley into the ricotta, reserve a bit of the parsley for garnish if desired.

Once the ramps have finished roasting, remove from oven and let sit for a bit until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile begin to render out the bacon in a pan over medium heat. Once bits are close to getting nice and crispy, toss in the peas. Cook the peas until just warmed through and bacon is nice and brown. Remove from heat.

Take the cooled ramps and give them a nice chop. Fold the chopped ramps into the ricotta mixture. Then season it with salt and pepper to taste.

Now that all your components are ready, prepare the pasta. If you’re not using the Cappello’s pasta or a fresh pasta, do your best to accommodate for the cooking time of dry pasta. Cappello’s or fresh pasta only takes about a minute to cook, so I always cook it last.

As soon as pasta is done cooking, reserve a bit of the cooking water, drain the pasta and dump it into a large mixing bowl. Immediately add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the ricotta mix to the pasta. Add the bacon, peas, and some of the bacon fat to the bowl as well. Begin to toss together. I find that using a pair of tongs helps to turn the pasta into the mix gently. If you feel it needs a bit of help becoming saucy add a touch of the reserved cooking water until it’s the desired consistency. A squeeze of lemon at the end helps brighten the whole thing up.

Serve with a sprinkling of chopped parsley and shredded parmesan.

Serves 4