Ramp Compound Butter

It's in! The onion! Family!

The ingredients:

• 1 pound ramps, washed

• 2-4 tbsp. olive oil

• 2 sticks (16 tbsp.) butter

• 1 tbsp. salt

• 1/2 lemon

The process:

To make the ramp butter, cut your leaves from the bulbs (Ideally, if you’re buying sustainable ramps, you’ll only have leaves to begin with—more on this later). Give the leaves a rough chop, with no piece longer than your pinky finger. Toss into a food processor with olive oil, a good squeeze of lemon, and salt and blend until the ramps are puréed. Once liquified, add butter and blend. You can use immediately or freeze for later.

The story:

Ok, so I love my ramps. I have a long-storied history with them, and I’m a bit of an allium stan, as it is. But ramps in particular have this really special place in my heart because it seems like I always have a funny story attached to them, like the time my dad got in a fist fight at the ramp festival because a man was rude to our family. Or the time we found out they were only 3 bucks a bundle and my dad went and bought somewhere in the range of 15 bundles of them, like a sociopath. My personal favorite memory was in college when a professor asked if anyone knew what they were, and as I raised my hand, a woman literally yelled out, in a slow-motion fit, “Oh my Godddd…. they’re in… the onion… family.”

She said it so matter of factly, with her head tilted to the side, eyes closed. And everyone in the class just kind of froze and looked at her. The professor was jarred by the enthusiasm, and instantly, her response became canon to me. Any time I run into a good sale on ramps at the farmer’s market, under my breath I’m always whispering, “Oh my God…… they’re in…. the onion…. family.”

The fanfare is warranted. With a strong cross of garlic and onion flavors, ramps are the Brooks and Dunn of the allium family. There’s no need for either flavor to come on that strong, but that’s just what they do. They work together to create something powerful—so moving that you might even be inclined to scream out in polite company. Get them while they’re fresh and back up your own stock before the (all too short) season passes.