Posted by Raphael, May 6, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Dirty, dirty ramps.
Ramps are only in season for about a month or two, but there are a few ways to preserve them so you can enjoy their flavor all year long. My favorite long-term preservation technique is making ramp compound butter and storing it in the freezer. The ramps, locked inside the confines of the frozen butter like Han Solo in carbonite, are essentially stored indefinitely, capturing the "rampy" essence of early spring at any time of year.
The most common compound butter is beurre maitre d'hotel, or hotel butter, composed of shallots, garlic, fines herbes, lemon zest, salt, and pepper; the recipe that follows is a variation on this theme. Generally used for broiled or grilled meats or fish, hotel butter functions as a sort of flavor-inducing sauce. You may find a slice of it sitting, slowly melting, on top of a steak in your steak frites.
Ramp compound butter is great in a pinch, as you can easily pull a log out of the freezer and cut off a slice or two. It's especially good on pasta, in a risotto, or—my preference—tucked underneath the breast skin of a chicken. If you can keep it until fall, it works great under the skin of a Thanksgiving turkey. Don't delay—ramp season is short and is almost over.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, January 2, 2008 at 4:30 PM
This looked way, way too simple to possibly be any good, and I probably would have never given it a chance had it not had the clever title that is catchy and quite literal. The first butter is actual butter, and the second is the Boston Bibb lettuce, which is in the butterhead lettuce family. These two ingredients only need a little lemon juice and salt and pepper to make a quick and unique dish.
The recipe came from my brand new copy of the North Market Cookbook, which is my local destination for all things food in Columbus, Ohio. It was written by the cheesemonger of Curds and Whey, which seems a little odd considering not an ounce of cheese comes anywhere close to it. But it’s only a problem in theory, as the salad doesn’t need anything else. Somehow the clarified butter lightly coats the lettuce but never gets too heavy. The numbers by the ingredients are only a suggestion. I like to lightly dress my salads and then crank up the salt and pepper. But that’s just me.
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Posted by Mario Batali, December 24, 2007 at 4:00 PM
Christmas Eve this year is the Feast of the Two Fishes. We are doing my linguine with clams, hot chiles, and pancetta, but I'm subbing my dad's "mole" salami for pancetta to give it a deeper spice component. The main course will be super jumbo stone crab claws from Joe's—yes, served with their mustard sauce—a green salad, and some Guido's garlic bread.
Desserts will be espresso drops and coconut balls (first step, find the coconut's legs) both from Martha Stewart's magazine Everyday Food because my kids find it very accessible and there is a photo for every cookie. I will make a version of Gina DePalma's chocolate hazelnut kisses, and we will surrender early to a deep mug of hot buttered rum from my mom's recipe file, which I'm sharing with you in this post here.
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