How To Make a Simple Ramp Compound Butter
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How To Make A Simple Ramp Compound Butter: In the spring here in the Midwest we have ramp season. It goes along with morel season, but that’s another post. Follow along as I show you how to make a simple ramp compound butter using the ramp leaves.
What Are Ramps?
They are a foraged vegetable that has long green leaves and a white bulb, and are also referred to as wild leeks or wild spring onions. These alliums have a pungent onion/garlic smell so if you eat them EVERYONE will know you have eaten a ramp. Their season is very short, therefore, their quantities are limited and they can be pricey when purchased.
How Do You Cook Ramps?
You cook ramps very much the same way you would cook onions. You can sauté the whole leaf and bulb in butter or oil, or you can use the leaves to make a compound butter like I’m going to show you now.
What Is Compound Butter?
Compound butter is when you take softened butter and add herbs, spices, or sweeteners.
What you’ll need
Ingredients:
- Butter
- Lemon
- Ramp leaves
I always have salted butter on hand so that’s what I use. If you use unsalted butter, just know you may need to add salt to taste when you mix the ingredients. You don’t need lemon zest. I’ve made this using just lemon juice when in a pinch.
Instructions:
Prepare Your Ramp Leaves
Remove the bulbs from the leaves. Save the bulbs and use them as you would onions. You can also dehydrate them for long term storage. Give the leaves a quick rinse to remove any dirt and debris. Lay them flat on a clean towel or paper towels to dry off. If you don’t get all the water off when you make this it’s totally ok.
Add The Ramp Leaves To Your Food Processor
Roughly chop the leaves and add to a food processor. It helps to have a food processor for this step. Otherwise you’ll need to finely chop the leaves by hand. Blend them up really good so all the stems and leaves are finely chopped scraping the sides down as needed.
Add The Additional Ingredients
Add the butter, salt (if using unsalted butter), a bit of lemon zest, and a bit of lemon juice. Process everything scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally to make sure all the ramps are chopped and it all comes to a creamy consistency.
At this point you can add some to a mason jar and store in the fridge for up to one month. Otherwise, you can prepare for freezing.
Prepare Your Ramp Butter For Freezer Storage
Add the ramp compound butter onto saran wrap and roll it into a log. Put it in the refrigerator to firm up. Once it’s firm remove it from the saran wrap and slice the butter into discs. You can then store these little pucks in a silicone storage bag in the freezer for future use. You can also keep it in it’s log form in the saran wrap and cover with freezer paper, label, and date.
And there you have it! I hope you enjoy the taste of the ramp compound butter as much as we do.
Ramp Compound Butter
This delicious ramp compound butter is full of flavor and makes a great finishing butter on top of your steak, fish, mashed potatoes, and so much more!
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter, salted or unsalted
- 4 oz ramp leaves
- 1 T. lemon zest
- 1 T. lemon juice
Instructions
- Remove ramp leaves from the bulbs
- Gently rinse leaves with water and pat dry
- Roughly chop leaves and place in food processor. Chop until fine.
- Add butter, lemon zest, lemon juice.
- Process until leaves are finely chopped and butter is creamy
- Put in a piece of saran wrap and wrap into a log
- Store in the refrigerator for up to one month or in the freezer for up to one year
Notes
If you are going to freeze, I would suggest keeping the butter in the saran wrap and into a freezer bag or wrapping it with freezer paper. Label and date.
