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 1 more week, and you should be able to find them at your local farmer’s market. 

Ramps can be used in place of garlic and are wild leeks. I speak of them often this time of year. 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. 

This pesto pasta salad 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

Optional cut slices of pepperoni

To make the pesto, 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. 

Add in your ramp leaves, pine nuts, parm, lemon juice and salt and pepper. 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, mozzarella balls, and optional protein. 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. 

Be well.