Dgourmac's Blog

This may not be a nationally-recognized celebration, but it is in my kitchen.  I experimented a few times with ramps (essentially a wild leek, available about three weeks a year) eight or ten years ago, but had little culinary success.  Then I met Pickled Ramps as done by Mike Anthony, the talented Chef at Gramercy Tavern, and I’ve been a fan of these little wonders ever since.  I’ve written before about how well they go with a good Negroni, for example.

But until yesterday, I had never pickled them myself (although on rare occasions, I myself have been pickled).  On Thursday I found some beautiful fresh ramps on sale at Russo’s, so I bought three bunches.  After discovering at least seven different recipes online (among them is one from Chef Anthony), I studied the common and different elements, and then selected an approach that seemed appropriate.

The process goes quickly.  Even at my usual, slow and meticulous pace (so as not to ruin the hard-to-find principal ingredient), it took less than an hour.  Results: Good.  Analysis and critique: modify the vinegar choices and drop the star anise, to lighten the flavors a little.  All the recipes suggest large quantities of vinegar, and the best choice may well be rice vinegar, although plain white vinegar and red wine vinegars were recommended, too.  Since I did not want to use all the rice vinegar we had, I decided to use 1/2 rice vinegar and 1/2 organic apple cider vinegar (which has been a great digestive aid for us the past two years).  While this combination worked, the flavors were a bit too full to my taste, and the otherwise uncalled-for addition of an especially fragrant star anise I bought in a street market in Shanghai, also pushed the flavor a bit too far.  So next time, I’ll try a lighter touch.

I did do one other thing right.  That was to reserve a bunch of the ramps before pickling to use in a pasta dish.  Inspired by this recipe from Babbo by way of Serious Eats, I created a simple Spring dish for last night’s dinner.  It featured:

• fresh ramps and green garlic, sauteed in olive oil
• chopped carrot and cremini mushrooms added for a sweet woodsiness quality
• greens trimmed from the ramp bulbs and thinly sliced
• chopped pieces of haricot verts for more vegetable content
• penne rigate al dente
• bread crumbs (and some matzo meal, since it was the last night of Passover)
• olive oil from Puglia
• a faux Parmesan/Pecorino-style cheese from Veganomicon, made with ground raw almonds, toasted sesame seed and lemon zest

Delicious dish; no photos.  Next time.  Ciao.

I almost forgot one other delightful vegan dish we discovered this Fall: Sweet Potato – Beet Stacks.  The original recipe (non-vegan) was here on the web.  I substituted Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Cashew Ricotta for the goat cheese, and we were good-to-go.

We made it again at Pat and Pete’s in Portland last weekend:

Here is the Ricotta recipe:

I have so much to tell you!  I’ve been away from blogging for six weeks, but not from cooking.  In fact, in addition to the teaching work, this has been a very productive period in our kitchen.  Among the most exciting developments:

• next level of Tartine breads — including grinding my own flour, and rye bread
• savory flavors in vegan cooking
• salads of all kinds — and great julienne tools
• vegan spring rolls
• smoothies galore (vegan version of Pussy Galore)
• seitan stew

First, the breads.  Having progressed through the Tartine book from artisan white (70% white bread flour, 30% whole wheat), to true whole wheat (70/30 the other way), I decided to try the rye bread version.  I ground some rye berries in my new grain mill (photo below), and made a dough with 70% white bread flour, 20% rye, and 10% home-ground whole wheat.  Since I was so tentative, it was a half-recipe, i.e. one loaf.

It was a very sticky, very difficult dough, taking approximately forever to develop, so I stuck it in the refrigerator (actually on the screened-in porch when it was 42 degrees that night).  The next day it was more manageable.  It took some extra time the next day to rise sufficiently (and to bake out), but the results were superb.  I was amazed at the well-developed crumb structure and the slightly sour rye flavor.  Since we couldn’t eat it all in a few days after baking, I made melba toast (thinly-sliced by machine) with the remainder, so it would last a bit longer.

Another expedition was an attempt to create some of my favorite savory tastes from my omnivorous days only six months ago.  For example, I remember vividly sautéing pancetta with onions as a base for some of my pasta sauces, and a bit further back in time, using some thinly-sliced Shanghai ham to add richness and umami to a dish with baby bok choy.  How does one do similar things in vegan cooking?

The opportunity to address that dilemma presented itself one day this fall when I had some very fresh Swiss Chard from the local Hmong gardeners in Lancaster, MA.  As usual, I stripped away the leaves for cooking, and was left with the chard stems.  Normally, they are not worth keeping, but these were so fresh and crunchy, that I had to try.  I remembered Mike Anthony (Chef at Gramercy Tavern) and his pickling expertise from cooking in Japan, so I pickled the ribs.  The next day they were ready to use.

I cut them into a very fine dice, then diced up some young beets, as well, and cooked them in a bok choy stir fry that exceeded my high expectations.

I have subsequently used a small amount to spruce up some pasta sauces the same way.  Next on the list was fresh raw vegetables, inspired by the bounty at the farmer’s markets late this Fall.  A simple Japanese-made julienne tool made it especially easy to shred a single carrot, a bit of daikon, a small zucchine.  I also used a small, hand-held, ceramic bladed thin slicer for fine pieces of red onion, red pepper or cucumber, and proceeded to place those items on almost everything for a few weeks.  When combined with my whole wheat raisin currant bread and some Fastachi pistachio nut butter, along with home grown leafy sprouts, the results were delicious.

Barbara applied the julienne tool and her Asian food prep ability to create some wicked good spring rolls.

And of course, every morning, my smoothies were gratifying — all the more so with the addition of a single Peppadew Pepper from South Africa and some home-brewed Rejuvelac, from home-sprouted rye berries.

Tonight I was in the mood for a hearty stew (it IS late November in New England, after all).  So I put together a seitan stew which I’ve been contemplating for awhile, and it turned out just fine.  Recipe is below; sorry — no pictures, we were too hungry.