Ramp Season

I was thrilled to see ramps at the Dupont market yesterday morning. I have always eaten them atop pasta, but last year my dear friend Melita told me how another traditional way to eat ramps is fried up with potatoes. I peeked at a bunch of recipes on the web.  Most of them say something along the lines of heat oil, fry potatoes and ramps until potatoes are tender.  My approach is a tiny bit different – I steam the potatoes for 10 minutes before cooking them up with the ramps in a little hot grapeseed oil. Steaming the potatoes first means that they absorb less oil.  The final result is lovely and you can see it below with an omelet from Vegan Brunch and my first experiment with tempeh bacon.  It is no surprise I love ramps seeing as they have a lovely oniony-garlicky flavor, and I love cooking with both of those flavors.  Ramp season is short, so in addition to the potato dish, husband and I are planning to make  ramp pesto later this week, and will likely buy three more bunches of ramp this next weekend at the market.