Farm Table’s Ramp Butter

We’re big on ramps around here: they grow in the wild, for one. Plus, they are delicious. Plus, like so many of the foods we serve here in our restaurant, we only feature them when they are in season—and ramps grow in the beautiful season of spring, a harbinger of flowers, green leaves, warmer temps, gardening, time to lounge on a lake shore, and all that summer will bring.

Chef Sarah, as we might expect I suppose, doesn’t have an official recipe. She makes the ramp butter by taste and look. But, in general, here’s what she recommends:

Ingredients

• 1 pound of butter
• 12-15 ramps (to make 4-5 tablespoons of grilled ramp purée)
• Olive oil (enough to lightly coat the surface of the ramps), or other vegetable oil
• Zest from 1-2 lemons
• Salt to taste

Instructions

Purée: 

1. Chop off the ramps’ root crown. Oil and salt whole ramps. Place on a hot grill; you want to see some brown and black grill marks on the ramps. Do not allow the whole ramp to char: you want some of the original ramp color to remain.
2. Add grilled ramps to a blender. Add just enough oil for the blender to pick up on the ramps and make a purée.

Butter:

1. Mix room temperature butter and 4-5 tablespoons of the ramp puree in a stand mixer until combined. Taste butter and adjust for lemon zest and salt. 
2. Enjoy on roasted veggies, steaks, and crusty bread!