The Wild Leeks of Spring-time
Filed under: Food & Cooking Tips, Living Green, Potatoes & Veggies
Some call them Ramps, others Ramsons. Folks from the far South and the West of
our country don’t know them at all because they’re a wild spring vegetable
of northern hardwood forests from South Carolina to Ontario.
Ramps are a delightful relative of the onion family (also closely related to the lily family). Their flavor is strong and earthy. They have tones of garlic, shallot and onion, yet have an elusively unique gingery spiciness.
Pioneers made certain to hunt their ramps for the nutrients they offered, being one of the very first green edibles of spring after a long winter of subsistence on stored vegetables. They say that the city of Chicago got its name from the native Potawatami “Checagou” which means “onions” or “skunk”, most likely due to the aroma from the proliferation of ramps that could be collected in the hardwood forests on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Roasted Carrots
Don’t let the simplicity of this recipe fool you. Carrots and olive oil; that’s it. But something happens when you roast carrots in the oven for a while. They get so sweet, just a little color from roasting.
I always make these whenever I roast chicken or beef. The oven is running anyway. Might as well take full advantage of it.
Garlic French Fries
We all love french fries… but we know that deep fried foods can add so much fat to a meal.
We’ve solved the problem with our Garlic coated oven baked “fries”. The entire batch (serving for 4) is made with only 2 tablespoons of oil.
Your family will never know they are not deep fried.
Green Beans w/Mushrooms and Shallots
Sometimes it’s amazing how three simple ingredients, put together, can become an elegant dish.
Everything is cooked in one pan, but two seperate steps. Very simple and takes only 15 minutes to get it to the table.