Lately I have been absolutely obsessed with all things ramps, including ramp pesto. If you haven’t tried them already, I highly suggest it. Their season will only last for about two more weeks! Ramps can be used in place of garlic and are wild leeks. I speak of them often this time of year. If you haven’t tried, they remind me of a cross between an onion and garlic and in my opinion they are the perfect ingredient to make pesto.  I have disclosed my Aunt Laurie’s recipe in prior columns, but this one is my own recipe and I absolutely love the addition of lemon in this. I have been eating this incredible pesto with crudité, spreading it on sandwiches, freezing it to place in soups and stews, and, of course, mixing it with pasta. I will be making this ramp pesto pasta salad this weekend for my lovely mother Regina. It travels very well and is perfect as a bbq side dish.

To make the pesto:

 4 cups of ramp leaves

1 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup olive oil

½ cup parmesan cheese grated

Squeeze of lemon (2 tbsp)

Salt/pepper to taste

For the pasta salad:

1 box of your favorite pasta (cooked al dente and cooled down)

2 small cans of sliced olives drained

½ cup sun dried tomatoes chopped into small thin slices

1 cup marinated mozzarella balls

½ cup ramp pesto

While placing these ingredients into a blender, make sure to put the olive oil in first. This is going to help emulsify all the ingredients together and make things a whole lot easier to blend. Blend for about 30 seconds, taste, season, and check on the consistency. I like mine on the chunkier side so I typically only pulse my pesto and stop when I see it getting mixed thoroughly. I also add a decent amount of salt to this recipe, especially because this pesto is going to flavor the pasta and all other ingredients in the pasta salad.

Next, combine your fresh ramp pesto, cooled down pasta, olives, sundried tomatoes and mozzarella balls. If you can find marinated mozzarella balls with sundried tomatoes and basil already in it, buy it! I drain and add it to my pasta salad, and just discard the oil it sits in. You should have some pesto left over, but it won’t last long.

If you don’t have plans this weekend, please come see me at Catskill Cuisine at Bethel Woods this Saturday! It is an incredible event shining a spotlight on chefs and restaurants locally in Sullivan County, with some appearances by select Food Network chefs. I will be promoting my best friend Chef JP Medina’s bbq (Smokd), but there will be plenty of delicious food to sample and chef demonstrations to watch! Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms. Be well.