Chicken Fricassee with Ramps and Baby Bellas

We're still hard and heavy into the ramps here. They're finding their way into every meal, from our scrumptious morning ramps and scallion omelette with ham, cheddar and chives, which my daughter has requested every morning for breakfast since so scavenged my Sunday morning omelette:

to a light lunch of spaghetti with ramps, made the way I do spaghetti aglio e olio:

I pulled out some chicken pieces and chicken stock from the freezer to clear out the older stuff  to make room in there for this season's new crop of stock and purees.

I found a recipe for braised chicken thighs with morels and ramps in a white wine cream sauce, which seemed to me to be basically a chicken fricassee, which my kids love. I had a package of baby bells malingering in the fridge for the past week or so, and I knew I had to use those suckers up before they went to the dark side, so this recipe seemed perfect.

I still had half a head of cauliflower to use up, and some leftover cheese sauce from our weekend mac-and cheese, and what vegetable pairs better with a cheese sauce than cauliflower? All the pieces were falling into place. YES! I will clear out the fridge and freezer. Instead of the usual quinoa and rice pilaf, I made German potato pancakes and added a small bunch of ramps to the batter for some interesting, and tasty green Kartoffelpuffer.

Chicken fricassee, steamed cauliflower with white cheddar sauce and ramps and potato pancakes:

The kids plowed through this last night, leaving me only one little thigh and cauliflower floret for the pictures.

Chicken Fricassee with Ramps and Baby Bellas

-adapted from The Houndstooth Gourmet

Ingredients:

• 8 chicken pieces - thighs and drumsticks
• approximately 1 cup all-purpose flour for dredging
• dried thyme
• salt and pepper
• paprika
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 pound baby bellas
• 1 bunch ramps, 10 - 12, whites and greens chopped 
• 1 small shallot, minced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 1/2 cup dry white wine - I used a Pinot Gris
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• additional chicken stock or water
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Heat a large dutch oven over high heat.

2. Fill a large ziplock bag with about 1 cup of all-purpose flour, a teaspoon of dried thyme, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon paprika. Shake to mix. Rinse the chicken pieces and pat dry then place in the bag. Press out as much air as you can and seal the bag tightly, then shake until the chicken pieces are nicely coated with the flour mixture. Take out each piece, shaking off hte excess flour adn set them on a platter.

3. Add olive oil and 3 tablespoons of butter to the pre-heated dutch oven. Once the butter has all melted and the oil begins to shimmer, add chicken pieces to the pan in batches, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Brown the pieces for 4-5 minutes on each side. Remove the browned chicken pieces to a platter to rest.

4. Lower the heat to medium and add 2 tablespoons butter to the dutch oven and saute the chopped ramps and shallots for 4 - 5 minutes, then add the chopped mushrooms and let cook down for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Transfer vegetables to a bowl.

5. Increase the heat to high and de-glaze with white wine, scraping up all the browned bits on the bottom. Lower the heat and simmer until the wine to reduce by a third. Add 2 cups of chicken stock, the bay leaf and  thyme sprigs. Lay the chicken pieces in the dutch oven and top with the sauteed vegetables on top of the chicken.

6. Place the dutch oven in the oven and braise for an hour and a half.

7. Place the chicken pieces on a serving platter. Place the dutch oven on a burner over low heat and add cream and chicken stock until it is the consistency you like. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve chicken with sauce over top. Tweet

Pesto

I used some of the ramps to make a pungent pesto. I had no pine nuts, and I knew that some recipes called for other nuts, such as walnuts and sometimes sunflower seeds, so I decided to use some pistachios.

Because I think that pesto is at its best when really fresh, I wanted to make a small batch, so I tried using the Cuisinart immersion blender and the cup it came in, but no. Ah, no. That was a no-go. I switched over to my food processor, which is a little big for small batches, so I had to add a little bit of water and keep scraping down the sides of the bowl, but it all worked out in the end.

This pesto is lovely, with quite a mighty bite! With the ramps in their raw form, the pesto was a little too strong for my kids, so the next time I make this, I may blanch the ramps first to reduce some of their pungency.

I had the pesto on crostini to accompany our lunch of roasted cauliflower and cheddar soup.

Then for dinner, I made a pesto pizza with slices of fresh tomato, because what pairs better with pesto than mozzarella and tomato? Besides, it's PIZZA.

Ramps Pesto

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup roasted, salted pistachios
• 1/2 cup packed basil leaves
• 1 bunch of 3or 4 small ramps, whites and leaves, coarsely 
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan 
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil - I used a little less than 1/4 cup
• a few tablespoons of water as needed
• kosher salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
• a smidge of lemon zest to taste

Directions:

1. Blend everything in a food processor, scraping down the sides until you get the consistency you like - I happen to like a pesto on the chunky side versus one that is very liquidy, but the beauty of pesto is that it is easy to make adjustments.
2. Serve immediately or store tightly covered in the fridge with a small layer of olive oil on top to help keep it from browning.

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Ramps

It's that time of year in the eastern US - ramps season. Ramps, also known as wild leeks, wild garlic and ramson, and in French, ails des ours, or bear's garlic, are a wild perennial that grows extensively in deciduous forests from the southeastern US all the way up into Quebec.  You can read more information on ramps in "Wild Leeks - April's Wild Food of the Month,"

They've become the darling of the foodie set over the past few years to the extent that there are concerns of over-harvesting. Ramps grow in the wild, so they are generally foraged, not cultivated, so would-be foragers are encouraged not to pull up more than 10% of a crop. They've been so over-harvested in Quebec that people are now banned from foraging for them to allow the population to revitalize.

Check 'em out, similar to scallions, but with flat, wide leaves:

A closer look at the bulbs:

Some ramps have a white bulb with a purplish stalk that transitions to the green leaves, while others have a stalk that remains whitish green, like these. I've read that the ones with the purple stalks have more of a bite to them while the green-tinted ones are milder.

Whatever the case, they're a wonderful, pungent, garlicky-oniony addition to your dish.


After an unsuccessful search for them at the regional farmers market, I found some yesterday at Wegmans for $12.99/lb, looking fresh and young, still with the dirt clinging to them. I grabbed a small bundle of them and have had a riot of wonderful recipes running through my mind. Although I will almost certainly make a risotto and a spaghetti dish with the ramps, one of the most tempting sounding preparations is sauteed ramps with bacon as a side for fried eggs.


So far my lovely ramps have made it into deviled eggs, which also feature my homemade mayo:

a bacon and ramps pizza:

and this morning, a ramps and scallion omelette with ham, cheddar and chives:

It was funny - I'd made this omelette for myself for a fresh and tasty Easter breakfast, and I was standing in the kitchen with my fork poised over the omelette (yes, sometimes I eat standing at the counter), when my younger daughter came into the kitchen saying, "Mommy, what... is... that... SMELL?! It smells so delicious!"

I had her grab a fork and, to be fair, I called my older daughter down and within 2 minutes, the three of us devoured it. The lovely aroma of sauteed ramps hung in the air for a while afterward, and my younger daughter would stop from time to time and say, "Oh, Mommy, that still smells soooo good!

So, the kids approve of ramps, always a good thing. :)


Some recipes that intrigue me are Spaghetti with Ramps, Ramps Risotto, Creamy Potato and Ramps Soup, Crepes, and Compound Butter... just for a start. :)


I read an article on how you can re-grow scallions in a jar of water, so I thought I'd give it a try with a few of my ramps. I'm also planning on planting a few of the bulbs in a shady spot in my backyard to see if anything might pop up in a few years, as this blogger is trying. Can't hurt!


For more info on ramps:

• Spring Tonic: Cooking Up Ramps
• King of Stink
• Rampfest Hudson 2012
• Ramp Project
• Ramps Festivals - a compendium of info and links

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