Egg salad with ramps

I know egg salad isn’t for everyone, but I think a lot of people could be converted to loving it through this recipe. I slice the eggs into large chunks and use a little bit of celery to add crunch. I think it’s important to keep some textural variety and not make a big bowl of mush. Ramps add a nice mellow garlicky flavor but if you don’t have them you could use scallions for a little zest.

What you need:

3 whole ramps, including green leaves

2 tbsp olive oil

2 stalks of celery including the leaves, finely chopped

8 medium boiled eggs (not totally hard boiled, directions below)

1/2-3/4 cup of mayonnaise

2 tsp yellow mustard

salt and pepper

pinch of fresh parsley

First boil the eggs. I think it’s important not to overcook the eggs so they have good flavor and texture. I like to place them in the pot and cover with water. Turn the stove to high heat and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to sit in the hot water for 5-7 more minutes. Dump out the water and fill with ice. Once the eggs have cooled you can peel them and set aside.

Finely chop the ramps and add to a pan with 2 tbsp olive oil. Bring the oil to a sizzle and cook for one minute. Turn off the heat and set aside.

Add 1/2 cup of mayonnaise to a large bowl. Mix in mustard, ramps and olive oil, a pinch of chopped fresh parsley (5-6 pieces), and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Cut the eggs in half and add them to the bowl. Using a fork, gently cut the eggs into slightly smaller pieces, it’s ok for it not to be uniform. I prefer to cut the eggs in the bowl versus chopping on a cutting board and transferring, that makes a big mess and the yolk always sticks to the board. Adding the celery and stir everything to combine. If it seems dry, add a little more mayonnaise. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

Best served on toasted bread, bacon is an excellent accompaniment. Enjoy!

Chipotle Chicken Thighs

When I say this recipe is the easiest chicken recipe for all your summer grilling needs, I’m not exaggerating. We have been eating these chicken thighs really often because the kids love them. My 9 year old exclaimed it was the best chicken in the world (she might be exaggerating, haha, but they are really good). You make a marinade in the blender using two ingredients and marinate the thighs for 1-2 hours before grilling them for about 15 minutes. We have been using boneless thighs and then chopping them up for tacos, but I bet these would be good if you wanted to use bone in/skin on thighs and serve them as an entree with rice or pasta salad.

I’m dubbing these my beach house chicken thighs, because they would be perfect for making on a vacation when you aren’t in your own kitchen. You don’t need a stocked pantry and should be able to find whatever you need in the local grocery store where you are staying.

What you need:

7 oz can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

1 navel orange

3 lbs of chicken thighs

Salt and pepper

If the thighs have an excessive amount of fat, trim some off so that the grill doesn’t flare up and burn them. Sprinkle the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and spread out on a baking pan. Pour the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce into a blender and the juice of one orange. Puree until smooth. Pour the chipotle/orange sauce over the chicken and allow to marinate (I leave them on the counter in the marinade for an hour and then grill). You could put them in the refrigerator for a few hours but remove about 15 minutes before cooking. Preheat the grill to 400° and place the chicken thighs on the grates. Cook for about 10 minutes and then flip for another 5-7 depending on how large they are. The are ready to flip when they pull easily away from the grill, they will stick if you try and do it too early.

Chicken thighs are so juicy and forgiving, they are hard to overcook and dry out, this is why we love them. Just keep an eye for flare ups so you don’t char them too aggressively.

For tacos, I like to make a sour cream and cilantro sauce in the blender to go with them. Don’t rinse out the blender, leave the remnants of the marinade in the blender and add 1 cup of sour cream and 1 cup of fresh cilantro plus the juice of half of a lime. Puree and serve with the chicken. The creamy sauce perfectly cools the smokey chicken.

Also, I should note that if you taste the chipotle peppers right out of the can they will be quite spicy. Once you have added to the chicken and cooked, its really not too hot. My kids don’t love super spicy food and they don’t think this chicken is hot at all.

RAMP LASAGNA

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This is the best thing I have made or eaten in a long time. I made this last year when the ramps were in season but updated it and I think it’s even better than it was before. This is made with fresh ramps, dark ground turkey, and smokey bacon.

**If you don’t have ramps you could use leeks and garlic, it wouldn’t be quite the same but definitely still good. I would use 1 large leek and add it as the ramps are called for but wait and add 2-3 garlic cloves until the turkey is halfway cooked. You don’t want to burn the garlic.

Ramps are native to the mountains of Appalachia and Appalachian cooking has strong Italian roots (hence the pepperoni roll being the state snack food of WVA). Highlighting their flavor in a pasta dish is a classic way to use them. This has a little bit of bacon that doesn’t overpower the ramp flavor but enhances it. This lasagna is rich, satisfying, and sumptuous.

This is the old recipe, scroll down for new version.

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. Use a 10-12 inch baking or casserole dish. 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 30 minutes then remove foil and cook another 5-10 minutes until bubbly and brown on top. Enjoy!

This is the better updated version (5.15.24)

I swapped out the ground beef for ground turkey and added a bit more of everything.

1 bunch of ramps (about 8) cleaned thoroughly

3-4 strips of good quality bacon

1 lb dark ground turkey

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 cup of fresh mozzarella slices (NOT pre shredded dry mozzarella)

1 cup of half and half

Chop the bacon into 1 inch strips and brown over medium heat in a large skillet. Clean and chop the ramps and add them to the bacon. Wilt the ramps and then add the turkey and a pinch of salt. Stir occasionally and cook the turkey. When it’s mostly cooked through add parsley and another pinch of salt and pepper. Deglaze the pan with white wine and scrape up all the brown bits. Allow the wine to simmer for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to low and stir in the half and half. Bring to a gentle simmer and then turn off the heat.

Combine cottage cheese, parmesan, and eggs in a bowl. Mix thoroughly. If you can easily scoop a few ramp pieces from the meat mixture stir them into the cheeses to add a little extra flavor.

Make sure the oven is preheated to 400°

Take a little bit of the cream (1/4 cup) from the skillet and pour it evenly across the bottom of the casserole dish. Put down one layer of noodles. Use a slotted spoon to spread half of the meat mixture on top of the first layer of noodles. Add another noodle layer and then spread the cottage cheese mixture evenly on top of that. Add another layer of noodles and then the remaining meat and top with one final layer of noodles. You should have some cream left in the skillet, pour that across the top layer of noodles so they are damp and then add the mozzarella evenly on top of that. Wrap tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and test the top noodles, they should be al dente at this point. Tamp them down into the bubbling liquid if they are still hard (this happened one time I made this, after pressing them down and giving a little more time they were good). Cook for another 10 minutes until the cheese is fully melted and browned on top. Allow to rest for a minimum of 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

It’s even amazing as leftovers the next day! 😋