Justin Bittner, executive chef at District Distilling, is lucky enough to have a tremendous supply of ramps at his disposal. At his family's farm in Berlin, Pennsylvania, thousands of ramps carpet the forest floor. Each year he invites a bunch of his chef friends out for "Rampsmas" to forage the vegetable and throw a big dinner. A crowd favorite that always makes an appearance at the annual celebration is ramp peanut pesto on pizza. "A pesto is anything green with some type of nut, garlic, olive oil and cheese. It doesn't have to be basil and pine nuts," he says. Bittner uses the ramp leaves in lieu of the more traditional basil (he recommends pickling the leftover stems), and subs regular peanuts for pine nuts in his version.
Get the recipe for Bittner's ramp peanut pesto below.
Ramp Peanut Pesto
Recipe courtesy of executive chef Justin Bittner, District Distilling, Washington, D.C.Ingredients
3 to 4 ounces ramp leaves
3 garlic cloves
½ cup peanuts
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Olive oil, as needed
Method
1. Add the ramp leaves, garlic, peanuts and Parmesan cheese to a blender and blend until finely chopped, scraping down the sides of the blender as needed.
2. Stream in some olive oil until a smooth consistency is reached. (Not so thin that the olive oil breaks out, but not so thick that it's a dense paste.)
Hero image courtesy of The Hungry Hutch.
