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I got some ramps at the NYC Union Square farmers market today and I am amped to use them. Any suggestions on preperation, I was thinking of sauteeing (that can't be spelled right) them with some broccoli rabe that I got.

A friend gifted me this: It's about a pound+ of ramps, sustainably harvested. So I got a little busy: Couple of cups of ramp pesto, and some rather "rustic" ramp butter. Like, it could have been finer had I used the food processor, but I chopped the ramps and mushed them with the butter by hand. AS I do when I make pesto with basil, this has no cheese added at this point. I learned from an old Italian cook not to add the cheese if it's not going to be used right away, as the cheese doesn't get any better sitting in the pesto. And for this ramp pesto, pistachios.

This piece from Eater pretty much sums up how we on the west coast feel about ramps. For two or three weeks a year we have to listen to east coasters ranting on about these over-picked and over priced alliums. I've eaten them. They are delicious on a pizza. Every year I look forward to the end of ramp season. . https://www.eater.com/23706623/ramps-seasonality-overrated-wild-leek-garlic

There is actually some medium-rare rib eye cap hiding under the mushroom/shallot/mustard sauce, but it's hard to see. Green beans sautéed in ramp butter. Yukon golds.

A couple of recent dinners... Penne with chick peas and green beans - ramp pesto. Large salad accompanied. Crispy-skinned chicken thigh, pan gravy. Sautéed green beans with shallots. Potato salad on the side.

An omelette. By request of Mrs Dr Teeth. Fromage blanc with ramps from the farmer’s market (think Boursin, only a fair bit better and a good deal more pricey) with asparagus from the CSA. Sliced the asparagus as per Chinese asparagus stir fry, then tossed in the wok with butter.

Not meatballs, but chicken balls (well, not the balls of a chicken) - which are a royal pain in the ass to make, at least this first and possibly only time I'll make them. Thing is, they were very tasty - just a pain in the ass to make into a ball shape. The mixture is so sticky they're almost impossible to roll. I used a pound of breast meat from the freezer, which I ground up in the food processor and mixed with 2 large eggs, bread crumbs, some chicken stock, parm, percorino, ramp greens, parsley, salt and pepper. Sautéed them in butter and olive oil, and finished cooking in chicken stock enhanced with a tomato sauce I was making at the same time. So...pasta with chicken "meatballs" in tomato sauce. Ramp greens, chives and parsley to garnish.

Colour me sceptical. The whole idea of a properly set up PID controller like used in sous vide is to ramp up the temperature quickly when it is far from the set temperature and then reduce the rate of increase so the temperature is approached without overshooting. For some things it doesn't matter if the outside overshoots the temperature, but the whole idea is to cook very close to the ideal final cook temperature. I'm not sure how the instrument would control for the initial internal temperature of what you are cooking. It probably would have to guess but then would you want to ramp the temperature faster to warm up a cold piece of meat or slower so the outside doesn't overcook as the inside is coming up to temperature? Personally, I'd just set and forget.

I’m really disappointed. Earthy.com, my supplier for ramps and fresh motels was bought out. The new companies web site only list dried mushrooms and no ramps.

My ramps patches are dwindled. I lost one when we cut down a big tree and the other has so few its pointless to harvest them. I wonder, would we value ramps so much if they were in the store every week all year? Ramps and paw paws are the only two hyper-seasonal foods we have in the Northeast.

First course: Main course: Wild gulf shrimp, ramps and hot cherry peppers with linguini.

I buy scallions, garlic and chives every shopping trip. I've only had ramps once, but I would buy them routinely if they were available. Of course here in CA they don't exist, seasonally or otherwise. There's another seasonal treat you have in the northeast: fresh apple cider and apple cider doughnuts.

Hot Curry chicken thanks to Patak's curry paste. It's amazingly good and easy to make, just add a sauteed chopped onion, tomato puree, water and a bit of sugar. It's a bit pricey here (Mexico) but one-half a jar makes 4 generous servings with a whole rotis chicken. Not sure if this brand is sold in US but will look for it next trip north. I did not need to ramp up the spice level at all. Raita made with Persian cukes which are very popular here and cheap, compared to what I pay in US where they must be considered some sort of delicacy given the price. Also had Lime Pickle (also Patak's) and some mango chutney (made by my local deli) on the side. Would have been even better with some naan to dip in the finished sauce, but we are on low carb kick.

Potatoes, par baked with onions, shallots, pimentón, saffron and olive oil. Topped with Long Island Striped Bass (from the freezer), tomatoes, Spanish olives, ramps, and more olive oil. Back into the oven. Checked at 15 minutes, they still needed another 5 (these were thick hunks of fish), after which they flaked perfectly and were still super moist.

I got two bunches yesterday at the farmer's market, 6 bucks apiece. I'm planning to sub in one bunch for a leek meatball that I make. As written, the recipe calls for 8-10 leeks per pound of ground beef, so it's supposed to be, uh, highly flavored, and I'm hoping the ramps will work. The other bunch I'm going to use in Diana Henry's beef 'n green soup, again instead of leeks.

Had a lot of shredded zucchini left after lots of baking. Didn't want to bake anything else so I made Cheesy Zucchini patties. Sauteed shrimp with Vadouvan Curry spices and stir-fried Bok Choy = supper. I became friends with a gardener on facebook a couple of years ago. She lives in Winnipeg, about 2.5 hours from me. She has sent me special lily bulbs for my flower garden, and this time, she asked to bring them out and plant them for me. In exchange, she was some guidance in doing a versatile veg stir-fry. So along with gardening chatter, we cooked up 4 dishes. She enjoyed some for supper, then packaged it all up for her to take home, to analyze and to eat for a couple of days. LOL! We put together Yaki-Udon Noodles, Cantonese Noodles and Mixed Veg, Black Bean Garlic Beef with Bell peppers, and Mushroom Fried Rice that she can ramp up. We also made Wonton Soup for lunch. After my friend left at 9 PM, hubby and I had A & W burger, fries and onion rings for supper! With leftover vegetables and a chicken breast that we didn't use, I made Chicken and Veg Stir-fry for our supper tonight. Leftover rice became friend rice with diced salted egg yolks.

This looks lovely! We had a cheaper version last night. I was tired out after making 3 doz Char Siu Baos! Microwave cooking at its finest: Costco Polish weiner in Brioche bun, can of Pork 'n' Beans, and ramped up coleslaw. I had raw onions with my dog.

Saw a recipe for homemade Hoisin sauce for ribs. Don't think it was better than using commercial Hoisin sauce. Might just check out the recipe again and see if I can just ramp up the can stuff. Coconut Curry Chicken eaten with fry at home Paratha Had 4 small lamb chops. Not enough for a meal so I trimmed the meat and did a Cumin Lamb stir-fry with lots of fresh mint. Eaten with Basmati rice. Haven't made Gumbo for quite sometime, so too the plunge the other day. The roux took the most time but worth it. Turkey sausage (no andouille to be had around me), chicken and shrimp. Steamed ground pork with Shitaki mushrooms and Chinese sausage. I had picked up a bundle of Ong Choy / Water Spinach. It was SO fresh and I loved it when we had it on our trips to Asia. But I have never been able to cook it properly. It always seems to come out stringy. Would appreciate any suggestions on technique! @liuzhou @liamsaunt and anyone who cooks this lovely vegetable.

Clay pot cooking is pretty niche where I live but I use a few variations. I would be interested to hear what type of pots and what type of cooking you do. I have a lidded terracotta pot that I made and generally used like a romertopf - you soak the pot and then put in a cold oven and ramp up to steam/roast the food. I have also used it on the stovetop but it has a crack that I haven't sealed yet (you can boil milk in it and it might seal the crack if it isn't too bad). I use my La Chamba earthenware pot that makes beans I prefer to the faster pressure cooker method I use. I also have one of their open pans that makes decent Spanish rice in the oven. Probably similar to the Mexican bean pots Rancho Gordo sells, except for the shape. I have a glazed stoneware bean pot that sometimes comes into service for baked beans but is usually used to store dog biscuits. Since it is not porous, the main difference from steel is heat retention. My tagine is not earthenware so not the same as traditional ones. It is an industrial high spodumene clay designed to handle stovetop cooking with minimal porosity. There are a few potters who hand-throw high-spodumene flameware but you have to know what you are doing. There are also potters around, particularly in the southwest US who make functional micaceous pots like some of the Pueblo pottery. The mica helps avoid thermal shock. Not that the Pueblo pots, aren't functional, but they command a pretty high price from collectors. Have a small sand pot I picked up in Thailand that can easily take stovetop. Not sure exactly how they are fired. Glazed on the inside. I don't use it that much but it worked out really well in the gas barbie to get a bit of smokey flavour into eggplant by putting woodchips and herbs on the flame. I don't think the terracotta tortilla warmer I made quite counts as cooking but gets a fair bit of use. Sometimes I soak it first, but usually just put a dampened cloth inside and microwave it. Oh, and I have some small terracotta pots with no lid glazed on the inside that were used to sell a brand of hummus. Mainly eye-catching, I guess. I do think they are cool and use them as small baking dishes sometimes.

It was a busy day yesterday as I was making my yearly stash of Peach Apricot Pineapple conserve. I had 2 frozen Dr. Oetker pizza in the freezer. Hang my head in shame as I always see @Ann_T and others who make beautiful pizzas from scratch... However, I doctored up the Dr: the 4-Cheese one I added veg and lots of black olives. The Sun Sugar tomatoes were a lovely addition. The Pollo Pizza, with very little pollo, I ramped it up with salami and lots of black olives. Both had an addition of Tex-Mex cheese. They were edible and I was soon back at the stove boiling up the fruit!

Thank you all, Jvalentino, kayb, Okanagancook, Shelby, liuhou, huiray, patrickamory, Anna N, CatPoet, Dejah, mm84321, btbyrt, scubadoo, Ann_t, Kim, ------- and many others, you have been such an inspiration to me. Your mastery of the culinary arts is truly impressive. I bow to you all. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spring is in full swing. I have been busy taking advantage of the bounties from my backyard. Foraging for every meal. dcarch Swai on daylily shoots Salmon on violet greens Lamb, ramps

Late at night... 薑蔥牛河: "Ginger – scallions – beef – hor fun". (a.k.a. 幹炒牛河: "dry – stir-fried – beef – hor fun") Sort-of similar to this recipe, with proportions adjusted amongst other things. The amount of ginger was greatly ramped up, for one. IMO there needs to be a lot of ginger in this dish. I used ribeye, sliced against the grain.

Very Thick Asparagus, prosciutto, ramps from the back yard, pasta. A bit of butter, a bit of half-and-half, some grated parmesan to garnish. It looked very pretty but I couldn't remember where I'd put the camera. It tasted even better than it looked. I owe Paula Wolfert for the inspiration. The bases of the Very Thick Asparagus Spears were tough. I peeled them, cut into matchsticks and began dicing them for a last-minute addition to the skillet dinner above. A bite or two (before adding) convinced me that these were too tough to be so used. I'll save them to make Weinoo's asparagus risotto instead.

I'm jealous of all of you ramp people.

I believe Ithaca is not far from you, yes? Is there a Farmers' Market there? Or, would it be an idea to scope out fancy restaurants there? In both cases with an eye to harvesting your ramps and selling them there - possibly for a good price too. After all, Cornell is there...lots of rich students...lots of professors and intellectual/"sophisticated" types there... See here...or here...