RAMP LASAGNA

This is the best thing I have made or eaten in a long time. I LOVE RAMPS and when the season comes I get really excited and start asking around trying to find them. My local grocery messaged me they were in and I was like,” be right there!!!!”

The issue was that I was going to be heading out of town in the morning and didn’t want to leave leftovers behind for my husband or trust him to do something creative with them. He‘s an awesome hands on Dad but more in the “let’s go out for pizza kids” kind of way...so I didn’t want to do a major grocery run either. Ramps are native to mountains of Appalachia and believe it or not, Appalachian cooking has strong Italian roots (hence the pepperoni roll being the state snack food of WVA). I didn’t want to do a boring pasta dish and had lasagna noodles that had been sitting in the pantry a while. This was one of those great dishes that was built out of what’s in the fridge and I could not have planned it better if I tried. SO rich, satisfying, and sumptuous. I can’t wait until I get the opportunity to make this again.

What you need:

1 bunch of ramps (about 8) cleaned thoroughly

2 strips of good quality bacon

1/2 lb ground beef

pinch of dry parsley

salt and pepper

1/4 cup of dry white wine

oven ready lasagna noodles

1 cup cottage cheese or ricotta cheese

2 eggs

1/2 cup shredded parmesan

1/2 -3/4 cup of fresh mozzarella

1/2 -3/4 cup of heavy cream or half and half

To begin clean and chop up the whole ramp from tip to the end of the leaves, I like to do the whites in relatively small pieces and the greens in about 1 inch ribbons. Place a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan and place in your ramps and diced bacon and begin to render down the bacon, next add in your beef and begin to brown seasoning with a bit of salt and pepper. When the beef has browned and the ramps have wilted deglaze your pan with the white wine and add in a pinch of parsley and a touch more salt and pepper.

Scoot the meat to the edge of the pan, freeing up the center. Pour in your cream and allow to simmer for a moment (bringing the cream slowly to heat will ensure that it doesn’t curdle or break later when it goes in the oven). When the cream begins to bubble turn off the heat and stir in the meat ramp mixture so its all thoroughly combined. Set aside.

I always use cottage cheese in my lasagna because thats what is always in the fridge, I love cottage cheese! I use whole milk cottage cheese in this recipe because its so creamy and delicious. Combine with your two eggs and Parmesan cheese and a pinch of parsley, salt, and pepper. At this stage I also hand picked a couple of the cooked ramp pieces out of the meat mixture and stirred them into my cheese mixture, I like multiple layers of flavor.

Now its time to build your lasagna. In a small baking or casserole dish ( I used an 8 inch Pyrex). With a spoon, scoop out some of just the cream from your meat mixture and cover the bottom of your baking dish and place one layer of noodles on top. Now add your meat mixture another layer of noodles and then alternate with the cheese mixture. There is no pattern other than one you like and keep layering until you have run out of everything. Top with fresh mozzarella (crucial, you want wet blobs not dry pre-shredded since you aren’t using a lot of sauce and don’t want it to be dry) and a bit more parmesan if you have it. Cover with foil and bake at 400 for about 20 minutes then remove foil and cook another 5-10 minutes until bubbly and brown on top. Enjoy!