Shame on me, ramps season is almost over again, isn’t it? I’m still pretty sad about the fact that I am not living next to that small forest in Göttingen, a small university town in Lower Saxony, anymore. Every spring there was an amazing garlic smell which would lead you directly to a giant ramps carpet. We could pick several bunches and there would still be much more left than anybody could wish for. And I knew exactly when ramps season started and when it ended. These days are over and whenever I see ramps now, it’s in a store. Although you can still pick them if you know the right place, they have also turned into a fancy herb you can buy at organic foods stores for way too much money and in way too small packages. Fortunately I have a wonderful neighbour who’s growing ramps and other herbs in her garden. She just gifted me with a huge bunch of both ramps and chives. If you’re not familiar with ramps (ramsons, wild leek, wild garlic), they have a similarily sharp taste as chives, but mostly they do taste like young garlic. It’s very easy to turn ramps into pesti or sauces. They will make every dish very aromatic and special only by adding a ridiculous amount of flavour. I had several pictures of our fantastic ramps pesto pizza topped with only grilled asparagus. I had to make those pictures fast, hungry people were waiting for me and of course not a single picture had turned out. So I wanted to redo the pesto and take some more pictures. But then I changed my mind and made a chimichurri sauce instead. (I’ll post the pesto recipe at the end of this entry, too.)
Chimichurri is great for tofu, tempeh, or even seitan. But when I made the sauce it turned out I had been too quick with my meal planning. We had no tofu, no tempeh, no seitan. But a head of cauliflower! So here’s a recipe for a wonderful caulflower chimichurri that you can serve over some cooked grains or legumes. It’s also a great addition to a brunch table or a buffet. If you don’t have ramps on hand, you can make this with all kinds of herbs, especially fresh parsley, or use chives and scallions.
Ramps Cauliflower Chimichurri
- 1 small head cauliflower (300 – 400 g)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 50 g 2 oz fresh ramps, roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 onion (minced)
- 3 cloves garlic (optional)
- 1/2 jalapeño or red chili pepper (chopped)
- 1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder or smoked paprika
- salt to taste
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut the cauliflower into florets about the size of a golf ball.
- Place on the baking sheet and drizzle or brush with oil.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the cauliflower starts to brown. Toss from time to time.
- Meanwhile prepare the chimichurri sauce by combining all ingredients in a blender or food processor.
- Pulse until relatively smooth.
- Add salt to taste.
- Pour half of the sauce over the cauliflower and use a spoon to distribute the sauce well. Make sure to cover most of the vegetables in sauce.
- Bake for another 10-15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and serve. Pour more sauce over the cauliflower.
Pistachio Ramps Pesto
Ingredients
40 g (1/3 cup) roasted and salted pistachios
30 g (1 oz) ramps
30 g (1 oz) chives
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons oil
4 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 glove garlic
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
1. Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor.
2. Blend until relatively smooth, season with salt and pepper.
9 comments
Wow sieht das toll aus!Ich habe leider keinen Bärlauch, aber da es schmeckt wahrscheinlich auch mit Basilikum. Wobei Bärlauch schon irgendwie unersetzbar ist, so ein toller Geschmack;)Werde ich probieren!
Liebe Grüsse,
Krisi
Oh, how I wish I could easily find ramps nearby! I love chimichurri (it really is amazing on tofu) but I’ve never had it on cauliflower. It looks amazing!
I live in Vermont and wild ramps grow in the forests on the tops of mountains here. They are also called wild leeks, so I think that wild onions and ramps may be the same thing. Look at the picture of the leaves above…..so the leaves of the wild onions look like that? That’s what my wild ramps look like here in Vermont. Good luck!!!!
Wonder if the wild onions that grow in the US taste like ramps? They are viewed like weeds here in the US, which makes me think of my nieces birthday party. The yard was full of them so I started pulling them, and all the kids were asking what they were. I showed the, that they were little onions and next thing I knew all the kids started to pull weeds. XD you think you could sub garlic scapes in the recipe?
I don’t know, you should try it! I have never had wild onions and I don’t think we have garlic scapes, but after what I’ve read they all sound related. And that’s a great way to get your kids to help you gardening:) We have a lot of dandelion in our garden, which is a weed, too. But I sometimes pick some for salads.
BÄRLAUCH ! Ach ! Totally underestimated plant, not only for its use in cooking but also in the garden – a wonderful plant to have if you want to keep moles away, apparently they are not too fond of the garlic smell. After having made the ramps sauce according to your recipe, I decided that I will never call Bärlauch a substitute for garlic again! Your recipes are always new creations – thank you.
Ha, yeah. Not a garlic substitute at all. Imagine that sauce made with garlic alone.
I’ve never come across these but it is the sort of thing that when I do I draw a blank – they sound so lovely and living near a field of them sounds very pastoral. I am never sure what chimchurri is but I always love the name of it. And it looks lovely
It’s just the green sauce that is called chimichurri. I wasn’t familiar with it before starting to read US cookbooks (although the sauce is from Argentinia) and it’s really good!
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