Here in the Bay Area, we get more than our fair share of seasonal vegetables. Pomegranates, sunchokes, radicchio, kiwis... And all while the rest of the country is eating out of their root cellars! Call me spoiled, sure, but if there's one thing I can't stand, it's when spring finally happens on the East Coast. Do you know what season it is then?? Ramp season. Do you know where ramps come from? Appalachia. AKA NOT CALIFORNIA. The wonderfully garlicky, pungent members of the onion family do not dare cross the Mississippi (I'm not even sure they grow that far west!). Every food blog I read has been lauding the ramp season. I, myself, have partaken in them several times, and they are worth the hype, particularly because their season is only about six weeks long, and they are notorious for their short self life.
Despite knowing about their short harvesting seasons and their geographically limited preferences, I long for them in California. And when they showed up at my neighborhood Whole Foods, unmarked, unpriced, and seemingly cast aside without any thought for their true value, I was unstoppable. I grabbed handfuls, shaking, disbelieving my luck. I didn't care how much they were per pound, I wanted them. ALL OF THEM. In a rare moment of restraint I realized that perhaps I ought to take some home and try them before I came back and bought out the store.
The cashier had never seen them; it took 3 or 4 employees to discern what the weird scallion-looking vegetables even were. And when, at $19.99 per pound (a fair price for good ramps) I finally took my treasure home, I was ecstatic.
The first batch would be sauteed. The second, I presumed, would be pickled to be enjoyed year round. So sautee I did. First the bulbs, in a little olive oil, followed by the greens. Garnished with a touch of salt and a squeeze of lemon. I waited for them to cool, not wanting to ruin the flavor by scarfing them down while still piping hot. And when I finally tasted them...it could have been a scallion, only slightly more flavorful. And I mean slightly.
Ramps have a shelf life of maybe 2 - 3 days. Since they don't grow in California, we have to ship them in. And chances are, by the time the picking, the buying, the shipping, the displaying, and the buying have all happened, a lot more than 3 days have elapsed. And their flavor has dwindled to a mere shadow of its former self. These spring treats are left to languish in a truck or a plane, and then peddled to naive West Coasters for the same price, if not more, as those sold on the East Coast. Alas, the next time Spring Fever gets the better of me, I'll know it's better to hop on a plane than head to my local store. At least that way maybe I'll get some East Coast flowers too! (Lilac, crocuses, and peonies anyone??)
So instead of my anticipated ramp feast, I had a cauliflower feast (which was actually what I had gone to Whole Foods for in the first place). Cauliflower, according to my new Local Food Wheel (http://www.localfoodswheel.com), is a year round vegetable here in the Bay Area. I had found two recipes: a Moroccan spiced vegetable dish from 101 Cookbooks (http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/moroccan-mint-roasted-vegetables-recipe.html), by way of San Franshakti (http://sanfranshakti.blogspot.com/) and a cauliflower soup from food52 (http://food52.com/recipes/15247_paul_bertollis_cauliflower_soup). Despite the urgings of the community at food52 to leave the recipe alone, I couldn't help myself. There was fresh spring garlic at Whole Foods, and it looks delicious (it turned out better than the ramps, that's for sure) and the addition of it with the onions certainly didn't hurt the soup. For garnish I used a little bit of local olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, and a healthy dose of fresh ground pepper.
The soup and roasted vegetables may not have been ramps, but they sure tasted like spring to me.
