The Charmed Kitchen

Ramps, bulbs intact

If you haven’t tried ramps, you really don’t know what you are missing. Ramps are a member of the onion/allium family. They grow wild in wooded areas and are only around for about a month, during the Spring. They are sometimes called wild leeks or wild onions. Their flavor might best be described as a garlicky leek.

People have been foraging ramps forever. A recent increase in their popularity has put them at risk in some areas. Only pick ramps where it is legal to harvest them. Only purchase ramps from someone who you trust to harvest responsibly. While I love the bulbs, I sometimes harvest just the leaves from them. That way the plants are not killed.

Ramps- leaves only harvest

I first had ramps when I was in college. We were on a weekend scavenger hunt for a biology class. One of my classmates came upon a stand of ramps. She explained to me what they were. We harvested a few and made soup out of them for dinner that night. Our professor, Dr. Peter Gail,  was a forager and he showed us other wild edibles. This is where my love for foraging started.

So here are some of the ways I use my ramps.

Ramp Butter

Ramp Butter

Ramp butter is a wonderful way to preserve the ramps and a great way to prep them for use in all sorts of recipes. The recipe is pretty simple- ramps, mixed with softened butter, perhaps a little lemon zest and some salt, if desired. The butter is then put in small containers, or shaped into little logs and frozen. Whenever you want some ramp flavor in your cooking, you just spoon out or slice off a bit of ramp butter.

I don’t know that I have a hard and fast “recipe” for ramp butter. I can tell you how I make mine, though.

I like my ramp butter with lots of ramps in it. Ramp forward, if you will.

I mix equal parts of butter and ramps.  You can add some salt to the mix, too. Use a food processor to get the mixture well mixed and to chop the ramps up. I divided the mixture into 6 or seven containers and threw all but one in my freezer. The last container is in my fridge, being used in all sorts of dishes.

Ramp Oil

Ramp Oil

The process is similar to making ramp butter, but you use oil instead of butter. I used a lemon olive oil and some avocado oil.  I use those oils because I like the flavors, but also because they will freeze solid. For long term storage- ramp oil should be frozen. Any stored in the fridge should be used up in a week or two.

The uses are somewhat similar to ramp butter. You can use some of the ramp oil to make ramp pesto or ramp pasta. You can use it as a base for salad dressing. It is really good added to potato salads.

Prepare the ramps the same way you would for ramp butter.  I placed the cleaned ramps in a food processor and added about a cup of oil to two cups of ramps. I ran the machine until the mixture was pretty smooth. Add a little more oil, if needed. The mixture should be thick, but pour-able. The flavor is  intensely ramp. That is what I like. I can cut it down with other ingredients later on.

Dandelion Gravy

It’s funny when you think about it. People spend tons of money to eradicate dandelions from their lawns, but will go to an upscale restaurant and pay good money for a salad with mixed greens including dandelions. Dandelions were not always considered a weed. In fact, immigrants brought the seeds to America as a vegetable.

While the greens can be bitter, they can also be tamed when paired with certain ingredients. Combining dandelions with tomatoes, vinegar, cheese or other dairy products, and bread or cereal products will make them less bitter when eaten.

Dandelions are packed with nutrients and if you don’t spray your yard with herbicides, you can likely find them under your own feet. Free, tasty and nutritious. Sounds like a win all around.

The plant is pretty much edible from top to bottom. The leaves for salads, soups and other dishes. The flowers are used for wine, jelly and the “burger” recipe at the bottom of this page. I recently baked dandelion flowers into muffins.  The roots are roasted and used as a substitute for coffee. If you haven’t eaten dandelions before my only question is, what are you waiting for?

A classic dish using dandelions is dandelion gravy. Some versions use bacon, others not. This one uses bacon, sour cream and is served with boiled potatoes.

Dandelion Gravy

4 strips bacon
3 T. flour
1 c. water
1 lb. dandelion greens, washed and chopped
½ c. sour cream
1 T. sugar
1 T. vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot boiled or baked potatoes
Fresh chopped parsley, optional

Chop bacon and cook in skillet until crisp. Leave bacon in the pan. Remove all but 3 tablespoons of the bacon fat and stir in the flour until smooth. Add water and dandelion greens and cook over medium heat until greens are tender- about 5- 10 minutes. Add more water if mixture is too thick. Turn off heat. Combine sour cream with sugar and vinegar and stir into dandelion mixture. Adjust seasonings. Spoon gravy over potatoes.
Serves 4.

Note: If you want leave out the bacon instead add 3 tablespoons of oil to skillet along with the flour.

The next 2 recipes come from Dr. Peter Gail, my mentor and dearly loved  friend. I will always remember Peter when I cook with dandelions.

Dandelion Pita Pizza

Pita bread, toasted English muffin, or toasted bread
Spaghetti or pizza sauce
Fresh dandelion greens of any age, chopped fine
Grated cheese (any kind)
Cover bread with sauce, add chopped greens, top with cheese, and toast in oven until cheese
melts. For a more sophisticated treat, chopped dandelion greens may be sauteed in olive oil with
onions, mushrooms and several cloves of crushed garlic, and then spread on the pizza and topped
with cheese.

Dandy Burgers

1 cup dandelion flowers, green removed
½ cup flour, any kind
1/4 cup onions, chopped fine

½ tsp salt
½ tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp rosemary
1/8 tsp pepper
enough milk to make thick batter.
Peel dandelion flowers and put in 4 quart mixing bowl. Add onions and mix together. Blend
flour and seasonings together, add to the flowers and onions, and blend thoroughly. Add milk
slowly, blending it in until you have a thick batter.
Heat olive oil in frying pan to cover bottom. Form batter into golf-ball-sized balls. Place in
oil, and squash down flat to make a 2″ diameter patty. Fry till brown on both sides. Remove and
serve on small rolls as you would hamburger sliders.

Candied Violets

This time of year, I always get requests about how to make candied violets. I thought I would share the recipe again.

 

Since my yard is full of violets right now, I decided to candy some today. It’s an easy way to enjoy these delicate flowers throughout the year.

 

I use them to decorate baked goods. Lovely on a cake they, also add a sweet touch to cupcakes.

 

 

Candied Violets

Powdered egg whites (see note)
Water
Superfine sugar (see note)
Fresh violet flowers, rinsed and drained on paper toweling- Not African violets

Following package directions reconstitute egg whites to the equivalent of one or two egg whites. You can dilute them a little to make them easier to brush on. Place sugar in a shallow bowl. With a food-grade fine brush coat a violet with the egg white and press into the sugar. Place on wax paper and repeat with remaining flowers. Allow to dry for about a week. Store in a container with a tight fitting lid in a cool place. I like to store them in the freezer.

Note: By using powdered egg whites, you remove the risk of salmonella from using raw eggs whites. Powdered egg whites can be found in some grocery stores and in cake decorating and candy making shops. Meringue powder can also be used.

Superfine sugar, egg whites and violets

Candied Violets

Lemon cake with candied violets

Violet

When deciding which flowers to plant in your yard- why not plant flowers that are also edible? That way they do double duty. They make your yard look beautiful and they can make your food look beautiful, too.

I cook a lot with flowers. I often add them to salads, infuse vinegar and make jelly with them. You can also use them to decorate cakes or other desserts, in salad dressings and marinades, floating in tropical cocktails, in punch bowls and in ice cubes.

Flowers can also top off dips, cheese, fruit trays and other appetizers, be used to make teas, infused in honey or mixed with soft cheese and spread on crackers or toast. I candy violets every year.

Add some to baked goods like quick breads, cookies and muffins or in yogurt, cottage cheese or sorbet. Wherever your food needs a little color or flavor, flowers make it special.

Below are 2 lists- one of edible flowers- the other a list of flowers that are poisonous. I would be remiss if I didn’t caution you about flowers that are not edible. Be sure to get a positive identification of any flower before you eat it. Only eat flowers that have been grown pesticide free.

Some Edible Flowers

Calendula, Chives, Daylily, Mint, Nasturtium, Pansy, Rose, Sage, Signet Marigold, Squash Blossoms, Anise Hyssop, Apple, Arugula, Basil, Bee Balm, Borage, Broccoli, Chamomile, Chicory, Chrysanthemum, Coriander, Dandelion, Dianthus, Dill, Elderberry, English Daisy, Evening Primrose, Fennel, Garlic Chives, Hibiscus, Honeysuckle, Hyssop, Jasmine, Johnny-Jump-Up, Lavender, Lemon, Lilac, Linden, Magnolia, Marjoram, Mustard, Nasturtiums, Nodding Onion, Okra, Orange, Oregano, Pea, Pineapple Guava, Pineapple Sage, Radish, Red Clover, Redbud, Rose of Sharon, Roselle, Rosemary, Runner Beans, Sage, Safflower, Scented Geraniums, Shungiku, Society Garlic, Sunflower, Sweet Woodruff, Thyme, Tuberous Begonia, Tulip, Violet, Winter Savory, Yucca

Some Poisonous Flowers

Aconite, Anemone, Anthurium, Atamasco Lily, Autumn Crocus, Azalea, Baneberry, Black Locust, Bloodroot, Boxwood, Burning Bush, Buttercup, Butterfly Weed, Caladium, Call, Carolina Jasmine, Castor Bean, Cherry Laurel, Chinaberry, Christmas Rose, Clematis, Daffodil, Deadly Nightshade, Death Camas, Delphinium, Dogbane, Dumbcane, Elephant Ears, False Hellebore, Four O’clock, Foxglove, Gloriosa Lily, Golden Chain Tree, Goldenseal, Heavenly Bamboo, Henbane, Horse Chestnut, Horse Nettle, Hyacinth, Hyacinth Bean, Hydrangea, Iris, Ivy, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Jerusalem Cherry, Jessamine, Jetbead, Jimsonweed, Jonquil, Kentucky Coffee Tree, Lantana, Larkspur, Leopard’s Bane, Lily of the Valley, Lobelia, Marsh Marigold, May Apple, Mescal Bean, Mistletoe, Morning Glory, Mountain Laurel, Nightshade, Oleander, Periwinkle, Philodendron, Pittosporum, Poison Hemlock, Potato, Privet, Rhododendron, Rock Poppy, Schefflera, Spring Adonis, Spurge, Star of Bethlehem, Sweet Pea, Tobacco, Trumpet Flower, Water Hemlock, Wild Cherry, Wisteria, Yellow Allamanda, Yellow Oleander, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

Neither of these lists in meant to be complete. Most important of all is to be sure you can identify these plants. If you are unsure plant identifications can be done at your local Extension office, garden center, nursery, arboretum and botanical garden. When in doubt, err on the side of caution. There are more than enough easy to identify flowers out there to enjoy without taking chances.

100 Dandelion Blossom Muffins

The curious name for this recipe comes from my own curiosity. I wondered just how many blossoms I would need to get about a cup and a half of petals. I decided to make muffins with some of the dandelions blooming in my yard. I have a lot of dandelions, and I wanted to use a really decent amount in my muffins. I started counting as I trimmed them and  stopped when I had a cup and a half. It turned out to be 100 flowers. So now, if you want to make this recipe, you will know when you can stop picking!!!

If you can’t beat them, eat them. I actually am a big fan of dandelions. I have organized dandelion cook-offs and edited a dandelion cookbook. I eat the leaves, and  a tea made from the roasted roots. The flowers are a wonderful ingredient in cooking, too. They are used to make dandelion wine and I enjoy adding them to fritters, pancakes and other baked goods. So here is my recipe for dandelion muffins.  They are pretty tasty, tender, light and not too sweet.

100 Flower Dandelion Muffins

2 c. flour

1 T. baking powder

½ t. salt

1 egg, beaten

1½ c. half and half

1/3 c. honey

¼ c. melted butter

1 t. vanilla

1 t. orange zest

1 ½ c. dandelion petals*

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or grease them, set aside. In medium bowl, combine flour with baking powder and salt and set aside. In another bowl, combine egg with half and half, honey, butter, vanilla and orange zest. Beat by hand until well mixed. Stir in dandelion blossoms, then stir in flour mixture. Do not over mix. Stir just until flour is mixed in. Spoon batter into prepared pans, filling them about ¾ full. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Great served warm with butter and honey. Makes 12.

* To prepare the dandelion blossoms you want to trim of the tough base and just use the petals in the recipe. Some of the green sepals will get mixed in, and that is OK. Measure the petals after trimming. I picked 100 flowers and ended up with about 1½ cups of petals.

Pineapple Cake Roll

This cake roll makes a great dessert for almost any occasion. The tender sponge cake is filled with a mixture of sweetened pineapple, chopped nuts and coconut. Then it is topped with more pineapple and toasted coconut.

It looks difficult, but it is really easy to make. Most cake rolls are baked, then rolled,  cooled and filled. In this recipe, the filling is baked in the roll. The pineapple mixture is placed in the baking pan, then the batter is  spread on top, before baking. Once baked, the cake is rolled up and cooled. Once cooled, it is topped with the pineapple sauce and toasted coconut. You can make the cake a day or two ahead, wrap and pop in the fridge, then just add the toppings before serving. It also freezes well.

We made this recipe in a recent cake rolls class and it was the favorite recipe of the night.

Here is the recipe. Hope you will give this one a try. I think you will love it as much as I do.

Pineapple Cake Roll

1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup flaked coconut

1/4 cup chopped nuts

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

4 large eggs

2/3 cup sugar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Powdered sugar

Topping, see below

Drain pineapple well; reserve 3/4 cup juice and 1/2 cup crushed pineapple for topping. Combine in a large mixing bowl the drained pineapple, brown sugar, coconut, nuts (your choice), 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, cinnamon and cloves. Mix well and spread over the bottom of an ungreased 15 × 10 × 1-inch jelly-roll pan. Set aside. Place egg whites in a bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/3 cup sugar and beat until stiff but not dry. Set aside. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks until thick and pale yellow; gradually beat in remaining 1/3 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Gently fold egg whites into egg yolk mixture. Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Gently fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Spread batter evenly over pineapple mixture in pan. Bake in preheated 375° oven for 20-25 minutes. Carefully loosen cake around edges. Invert cake onto kitchen towel which has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Let stand 3-4 minutes then roll up, jelly-roll fashion. Cool cake then garnish with pineapple topping.

Topping: Combine 3/4 cup reserved pineapple juice, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon cornstarch in saucepan; blend well. Cook until thick and clear. Stir in reserved pineapple; cool. Spoon on cake roll and sprinkle with toasted coconut.

Fresh out of the oven

Inverted onto powdered sugar coated towel

Green Beans with Potatoes

A friend mentioned to me recently that she was trying to eat more vegetables, but having a hard time. She just isn’t crazy about most veggies. I don’t think she is alone. A lot of people know they should eat more vegetables, or have kids that won’t eat veggies, but they just don’t like them.

A simple way to eat more veggies is to combine them with foods you do like. Adding some veggies to a pasta dish works pretty well.  Vegetables added to soup works well, too.

Most people I know love potatoes. If you add veggies to a potato dish, maybe, at least, they will try it.

For this dish I just sauteed up some onions, added potatoes and then the beans. Served it to a friend at dinner. It was eaten right up. Since my friend doesn’t eat bacon I didn’t add it, but it would make a nice addition.

It is a nice dish, even if you love green beans already, like I do.

Green Beans with Potatoes

2 T. oil- or butter or even bacon fat

1 large onion, sliced

4 potatoes, sliced, peeled, if you like

1-2 c. chicken stock- you could use veggie stock

1 lb. green beans, washed and ends trimmed

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in large skillet and cook onion until tender. Add the potatoes and cook until potatoes start to turn a little golden. Add one cup of stock and cover skillet, cooking over medium heat until potatoes are tender. Add beans and cover skillet, cooking until beans are tender- you might need more stock. Season to taste and serve. Serves 4.

Fresh Sage

I will be giving my 4th library program on growing herbs in Parma tomorrow evening. The program is free, but you are encouraged to call ahead, so enough chairs can be set up.

The first three programs in Gates Mills, Solon and Richmond Heights have all gone well. Now it is time for me to teach a class on the west side.

Here are the details.

Herb: Spice Up Your Garden program on Tuesday, April 23 at 7pm at the Parma-Snow Library.  The branch address is 2121 Snow Road, Parma, OH  44134 and the branch phone number is 216-661-4240.