For real this time

Remember when I wrote a post about it being spring now? There were pictures of beautiful flowers and everything. Well, I got a little ahead of myself because when I wrote that post, there was really nothing exciting in the fresh vegetable arena except the standard cold weather potatoes, onions and carrots.

But now? Now it’s a completely new story. Last week, the market had ramps – the official sign of spring in NYC. With chefs everywhere waxing poetic about the joys of ramps, this humble weed can definitely seem a bit overrated. A friend of mine was complaining that in spring, all she ever hears about is “ramps, ramps, ramps.” And I agreed, however, in the fall, all we ever hear about is “truffles, truffles, truffles.” Like truffles, just because we hear about them all the time doesn’t make ramps any less delicious.


Garlicky and oniony, ramps have little white and purplish bulbs – kind of like a green onion – but with large floppy green leaves. Aside from the little rooty end, the entire piece is edible. The first week that I bought ramps, I treated them simply - sautéing the entire plant in a little olive oil with some red peppers. I served that with some sesame-crusted seared tuna and a bit of seasoned sushi rice and topped with a sesame oil vinaigrette.

Last weekend, I picked up a few more bunches (I really can’t resist buying at least two bunches every time I go to the farmer’s market – last week I bought three). I was excited to try a recipe I found from the NYTimes last year: potato and ramp gratin with cheddar cheese. This was definitely a case of all the component ingredients are delicious, so why wouldn’t the final product be? After all, this dish has sautéed ramps, thinly sliced potatoes, some thyme-steeped warmed half and half, and a mix of sharp cheddar and parmesan cheese. Sounds like heaven to me.

Well, I’m not sure where I went wrong, but it came out horrendously. The cheese and half and half separated and the potatoes did not cook through fully – they were weirdly chewy. I used a sharp cheddar from Murray’s Cheese and “Colorado rose” potatoes from the Greenmarket with the pretense of better ingredients equals better product. Not in this case.

And the day just got worse. I tried making buttermilk biscuits but they came out flat. After watching Jamie Oliver’s show on asparagus, I tried making soft-boiled eggs with bacon-wrapped asparagus. Unfortunately, I overcooked the eggs and asparagus and undercooked the bacon (in the oven, the asparagus cooked too quickly but didn’t crisp the bacon). Rough day all around.

And now it’s May, the temperature went back down to a chilly 50 degrees, and it’s been either overcast or raining the past five days. But this morning, I made soft-boiled some eggs and grilled some asparagus and both came out perfectly. I made another batch of biscuits, but forgot the salt. While salt does make quite a difference in taste, the texture and height was beautiful. The biscuits were still fairly tasty with some salted butter and jam.

But on to the big dish…I hope that there are still ramps in the market this week. I need to redeem myself on this gratin and “make it work”. It just sounds too good to not work. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Soft Boiled Eggs with Grilled Asparagus
Okay – I realize that this isn’t the most complex or really interesting recipe, but after hard-cooking what was supposed to be soft-b oiled eggs, I figured I may as well put this one down for the world (or at least, the eight people reading this). I’m taking some advice from Jamie Oliver and grilling the asparagus dry and then adding a little olive oil and seasoning after removing from the heat. For the eggs and the asparagus, I like using flaked Maldon sea salt, but kosher salt works perfectly as well.

4 eggs
1 bunch asparagus – washed and trimmed (rough ends snapped off)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Prepare ice bath and set aside.

Place eggs in small pan so that they fit as snugly as possible. Add cold water just to cover eggs. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once the eggs come to a boil, reduce heat slightly and cook for exactly two minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and put eggs briefly in the ice bath. In lieu of an ice bath, put eggs in a colander and run cold water over them. You don’t necessarily want the eggs to become cold, but you want to stop the yolks from cooking (since the beautiful runny yolk is what you’re after).

Heat grill pan over medium high heat. Add asparagus into dry pan and cook until lightly charred and bright green (I had to do this in a few batches). Place in a bowl and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.

To serve: I don’t have any egg holders, but shot glasses work just as well. Using a spoon, crack open the top of the egg and remove shell. Dip asparagus into yolks.