Wild Leek Pesto Penne

Ramp up your Pasta or Salads. Foraging Season is coming on this spring and finding some new places to search is my goal. This culinary wild leek is making good dishes taste so much better. It’s what most culinary foodies and the top chefs are twittering about.
I will check out some sources as I travel to the Ontario river watershed. I just talked to a friend grower who is going through the stages of a long wet winter. Start up is ongoing and have been hit with frost here is turning up a limited supply.
I will check out some more known sources as I travel to the other back road patches here in Oxford county. Now living in Ontario I found a small amount as field to farm markets.
Because of its short supply and high demand, this flavourful ingredient has sky rocketed in price. It’s hard to get because the original strains are more common on the east coast.. A general tonic of the plant was used by the Iroquois Indians to treat intestinal parasites’. Looking forward to making a few recipes using Wild Leeks, Water Kress and Fiddleheads also.
The plant’s flavor, a combination of onions and strong garlic, is adaptable to numerous cooking styles. In central Appalachia, ramps are most commonly fried with potatoes in bacon fat or a new potato salad and good scrambled with eggs and served with bacon, pinto beans and cornbread. Ramps can also be pickled or used in soups and other foods in place of leeks onions and garlic. The best is making a quick pesto sauce in a blender using olive oil pine nuts cashews and flat parsley. A small amount of blanched penne noodles, parmesan cheese mixed with some cream white wine and ramp pesto.

Looking forward using ramp pesto in a few more pasta recipes.