Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Wild Things Pasta

There may not be a lot to harvest from vegetable gardens in Minnesota this time of year but, there are plenty of tasty things available right now in the wild to help curb our cravings for fresh foods. We were lucky enough to pick up some of those wild things this weekend at the farmers market. According to the vendors at the market the ramps & morels we bought were foraged just the day before we bought them.
Pasta with Morels & Ramps
We decided to use the two together to make a simple creamy pasta. The end result was a tasty, comforting dish that was super easy to make. Unfortunately, I think the ramps overpowered the morels just a little bit (a real shame when you consider how much morels cost!). There was a mushroomy flavor to the sauce but I think one that we could have easily gotten from just some common brown mushrooms.

WIld Things Pasta

4 oz penne pasta
1/2 T olive oil
1/2 T butter
5 - 6 morels, chopped
8 ramps, sliced including leaves, separate the whites & the stems from the green leaves
1 T all-purpose flour
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 c chicken stock
1 T sherry
1/2 c milk
1 T grated parmesan + extra for sprinkling on top
salt & pepper

Cook pasta according to directions. When done save 1/2 c of the cooking water. Drain & set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil & butter in a large skillet over medium-heat. Add the morels plus the whites & stems of the ramps. Sauté until tender.

Reduce the heat to medium-low. Sprinkle the flour everything then stir while cooking for 1 minute. Stir in the red pepper flakes. Add the chicken stock & stir until thick & creamy. Stir in the sherry. Add the milk & stir until thick & creamy. Add the cheese & stir until melted. Season with salt & pepper.

Add the cooked pasta & cook until heated through. Add cooking water as needed to thin out the sauce.

Serve topped with grated parmesan.

2 servings.

Now if I can only find some nettles, they make one heck of a pizza!

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted.© 2007-2010 Kathy Lewinski

12 comments:

Lori said...

This sounds so good. Wild things seem to be lacking around here, or maybe I'm just not looking in the right places. I honeslty just learned about ramps. I hear you about the flavors too. When you pay good money for a special ingredient you want to make sure the flavor comes through!

Amanda (Two Boos Who Eat) said...

I've never heard of ramps before. I'm going to have to scout them out now! Love Morels in pasta.

Tangled Noodle said...

Thank you! I was looking forward to this and although the ramps may have been a bit too strong for the morels, I bet it was still all so delicious.

Sandy said...

This looks and sounds amazing. I can't wait to get to the farmers market this weekend, I hope they still have ramps and morels! I always get side tracked by the cheese vendors at Mills City. And the bread guy. And Chef shack. Now I'm going to have to find those rhubarb pies too!

Beth (jamandcream) said...

Still looks yum though Kat

vanillasugarblog said...

i need to try ramps finally. i thought everything went with pasta?

grace said...

so creamy, so dreamy. even my aversion to mushrooms can't keep me from craving this just a little bit. :)

Deborah said...

I have never had a ramp or a fresh morel before. This sounds like something I'd love though.

Fresh Local and Best said...

I like the title of this dish! Wild things indeed. What a shame that the ramps overpowered the morels, the mushrooms are certainly special and deserve to play the star. This pasta dish looks terrific, I'll try it with brown mushrooms.

tamilyn said...

The farmer's market is now open in Northfield-I need to go get some rhubard since I have already used all mine! I olanted another one this week-maybe should have planted 2.

Peter M said...

You've got Morels in here...I submit - I want.

TheNicFit said...

Thanks so much for this recipe!! I bought some ramps on a whim at the farmer's market but had no idea what to do with them. I found your recipe and hit gold! I love mushrooms more than life itself, so having the combo was spectacular. I used cremini mushrooms also from the farmers market, and sliced them instead of chopping them, and it helped them stand up to the ramps. Delish, I will make this again!!

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