Ramps, if you've never heard of them, are basically the scallion's wild cousin. They're in the Allium genus and look like scallions with extra wide leafy tops. The leaves are much less stiff and more tender than your typical onions or chives and very flat and broad. Their season is very short and they are extremely difficult to propagate so they are, as far as I know, exclusively harvested from the wild.

I am generally very wary of buying anything that is harvested from wild populations (plant or animal). These were available through our produce basket though and I know that Mama Earth tends to curate their offerings pretty carefully. I also took a look at the supplier and it does seem like they are trying to follow sustainable harvesting practices. So, provided it is, in fact, being done sustainably, I'm okay with buying some and supporting that.

It took me a while to decide what I wanted to do with my lovely ramps. I wanted something to really showcase their flavour. I debated just grilling them with a little olive oil, but that wouldn't really be substantial enough to be a meal on its own. I was tempted to try a ramp risotto, but it looked a little more complex than I was willing to deal with this week. In the end I settled on a very simple quesadilla recipe. It was simple, quick, easy, and should showcase the ramps nicely while still being substantial enough to be a (not very balanced) meal. Perfect!

I know you can't actually see the ramps here, but trust me: they were delicious!

Ramp & Chorizo Quesadillas

Slightly adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients

• 2 uncured chorizo-style sausages
• 1 bunch ramps, chopped
• ~1 c. grated Cheddar cheese
• 2 (10") whole wheat tortillas
• butter (optional)
• crème fraîche or sour cream, to serve

Directions

1. Remove sausage casings and crumble sausage meat into pan.
2. Cook on medium-high until meat is cooked through and starting to brown.
3. Remove sausage from pan with slotted spoon and set aside.
4. Add ramps to pan and cook in rendered fat from sausage. Add a couple Tbsp. of water to help deglaze the pan if necessary.
5. Remove ramps from pan and toss with chorizo.
6. Add cheese to ramp mixture and toss.
7. Add a very small amount of butter (if using) to pan.
8. Place a tortilla in the pan and cover 1/2 with ramp mixture.
9. Fold tortilla in half (sandwiching the ramp mixture between) and cook until tortilla is slightly browned and crisp.
10. Flip quesadilla over and cook until second side is starting to brown, cheese is melted, and quesadilla is hot all the way through.
11. Remove from heat, cut into quarters, and top with a dollop of crème fraîche (or sour cream).