Photos: Ramp Pickle

While I am tossing up photographs, I thought I would include a few pictures from earlier this year that never made it onto the blog, due to startup mayhem.  Back in April, when ramps were in season, I had compared two pickle recipes: Stephane’s (which he had adapted from someone at the Union Square Farmers’ Market) and one from Amanda Hesser.  Stephane’s recipe continues to be my favorite.

With no further ado, here are the pics:

This was getting near the end of the ramp season, so they were pretty fat.

On the off-chance that Stephane’s blog one day disappears, here are the key ingredients:

  • 3 bunches of ramps, white parts only
  • 1 cup rice wine vinegar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon juniper berries
  • 1 tablespoon coriander seed
  • 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
  • 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon dried chili flakes

And then a final still life from even earlier in the year that never quite made it up here, but which I liked:

Strawberry and Buttermilk Cake (1 year later)

A year ago, Gourmet Magazine lit up quite a few food blogs with their Raspberry Buttermilk Cake recipe.  Munchkin and I made it and everyone loved it.  This year I found myself at a crossroads of two nice happenstances.  The first was a surplus of delicious strawberries from a farm in the Catskills.  The second was leftover buttermilk after making Alice Waters’ delectable chocolate cake (from the Art of Simple Food).

So we brushed off the recipe, and made it again — this time with strawberries.  It’s extremely easy to toss together, and a delicious summer lunch dessert. Here are the ingredients, and you can get the full recipe over at Epicurious:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh strawberries, washed and quartered

It is a shame Gourmet was shut down, especially since I vastly preferred it to Bon Appetit, but such are the woes of the publishing industry right now. Aside: this was my first time using the iPad in the kitchen to follow a recipe, and it is great for that purpose.  Epicurious’ iPad app is nicely done, and it’s a marvelous device for browsing food blogs.