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Ramps are Spring's gift.

Use accordingly.

By Mario Batali

on the rampage!

I have harped for years and years on the

joy and deliciousness of geo-speci� c and

local ingredients eaten “in season,” and with

some mirth have seen the crowds, certainly

not due to my rantings, at the Union

Square Greenmarket become quite intense

over the last 10 years. The search for the

uniquely regional starts at the beginning of

the very last phrase of spring in the mid-

Atlantic region, south to the Carolinas and

as far north as the Berkshires. Ramps are

the very � rst green leaves to force their

way up through the layer of last autumn’s

dormant foliage lying in preparation for its

transformation into next year’s soil.

The � rst ramp’s appearance in April is more

exciting than any Groundhog Day festival and

is fervently celebrated like opening day for the

Yankees by foodies all over, as the � rst sign

that local produce is, in fact, on its way again!

Ramps, the A Rod of the 860-or-so members

of the eligible lily family allium, are greeted with

a joy and nearly religious fervor much like the

annual reliqui� cation of San Gennaro’s blood,

as a reaf� rmation of faith to all locavores.

Sweet and pungent, green in the lily leaf and

white at the base, ramps look like a more

seductive scallion and grow only wild that

I know of, but who cares about cultivated?

They grow in vast, nearly in� nite numbers

in wet mulchy wetlands starting the second

week of April in the Hudson river valley

and are quite trendy at about 8-12 bucks a

pound. They literally show up for 3-4 weeks

max and then disappear again till next April.

We pick them for an hour or so each year up

at my wife’s family farm in Dutchess county

and I can be picky enough to pick them on

a gentle slope, just so I do not have to bend

down as far to unearth the sweet treasure. I

simply cannot get enough of the leeky � avored

leaves and plan more than a few meals each

April, around the weekend closest to my

son Leo’s birthday, where we eat full ramps

feasts. We start with soft goat cheese with

pickled ramps and a few slices of salami, then

proceed to spaghetti with ramps, toasted

garlic, hot peppers and pecorino. We � nish

the “rampage” with a roasted chicken with

ramps stuffed both inside the cavity and under

the crisp, salty skin and serve the bird with

sautéed ramps doused with a ramp-� avored

vinegar that my pal Jim Harrison sends me

from his secret ramp stash in Michigan, where

the � avor is slightly more herbaceous and a

touch more “winey.”

In the Appalachian Mountains in the ‘30s

and ‘40s, due to the fact that they were free,

ramps were often considered menu items

only to the poor. A ramp boil was a festival

with a country stomp and a giant pot of the

green � esta served as the main course. The

subsequent fragrance of the eaters was

recognized as a sign of the house “on the

other side of the tracks.” But in the sweet

and tangy 21st century, the ramp freak � ag is

� own with joy and pride at this point in time,

as the celebration of true local and seasonal.

SPAGHETTI WITH RAMPS

Ingredients:

1 pound spaghetti Barilla

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

8 ounces fresh ramps, trimmed of

root ends

1 tablespoon red chili fl akes

kosher salt

½ cup freshly grated pecorino

2 tablespoons breadcrumbs

Makes 6 nice appetizer servings.

Bring 8 quarts of water to a boil in a

spaghetti pot and add 2 tablespoons of salt.

Heat olive oil in a 12-14 inch sauté pan over

medium high heat. Separate ramps by the

white root ends and the leafy green top. Add

root ends to the pan and sauté until tender,

about 2 minutes. Add salt and chili � akes.

Add the greens and sauté until wilted, about a

minute. Remove from heat and set aside. Add

the spaghetti to the pot and cook according to

the package directions, until tender but still al

dente. Drain pasta and add it to the sauté pan.

Place over medium high heat and toss gently

to coat the pasta with the sauce.

Divide pasta evenly among four warm

plates. Drizzle olive oil over top and sprinkle

with pecorino and then breadcrumbs.

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