Butter Roasted Mushrooms & Ramps with Lemon
Did you get out in the beautiful spring sunshine yesterday? I tell you what, after the excitement that was last week, I enjoyed a quieter weekend outdoors, puttering in the garden and searching for wildflowers in the forest with the children.
Today there’s an ache in my shoulders I haven’t felt in a while, the result of turning the soil in the raised beds with a spade, and raking the last of the old leaves. It feels good.
With the arrival of warmer evenings, no doubt you are as excited as I am to move away from the kitchen stove and stand over the grill for a change. We scrubbed off the patio table and dined al fresco twice on the weekend, keeping thing simple with steaks and sausages – and a side of buttered mushrooms with ramps.
A salad is my longstanding preferred side to standard grilled fare, but I’ve recently fallen hard for heavily buttered, lemon-doused roasted mushrooms (a la Deb). I am finding them to be exactly what I want to pair with a steak or a burger. Oh, and grilled sweet potato rounds everything out nicely, while we’re waiting on the first asparagus up here.
I know it makes no sense at all to turn on the oven when you’ve already preheated a grill, but I think that once you try the mushrooms you’ll understand.
But before we get to the recipe, let’s talk about ramps, which I’ve paired with the mushrooms instead of the original garlic in Smitten Kitchen’s recipe. Ramps, or wild leeks (they go by many names) are in season now, and quite trendy, I should say. I wasn’t going to write about them, but this post on Smitten Kitchen inspired me to do so.
After all, they are the first harvest we welcome on our urban homestead. They deserve their share of accolades.
Where I live in Quebec, ramps are a protected species due to greedy folks pillaging the forests for a quick penny, however I have been cultivating a small patch on our homestead for our personal use and have seen tremendous growth.
If only people would nurture instead of plunder nature. Ramps grow in clumps quite tightly together, and I have found that if one bulb is removed from the group, and the patch delicately thinned, the expansion of the patch in the following year is substantial.
The flavor of a ramp hints of garlic, but is most like the tender yellow interior stalks of a leek. We’ve been spoiling ourselves by adding chopped ramps to our morning omelets, blitzing the tender greens into pesto for pasta, and -my favorite- roasting them with these mushrooms. Oh, and this warm potato salad with bacon and ramps is on tonight’s menu.
In this recipe, ramps are paired with another mild ingredient, button mushrooms, livened up with a spoonful of capers and finished with a squeeze of lemon juice. I say the recipe serves two, but you’re going to find it difficult to share. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
No ramps? No worry. Substitute chopped leeks (or green onion, in a pinch) for ramps in the recipe instead, and add a chopped clove of garlic for good measure.
Roasted Mushrooms with Ramps, Capers & Lemon
Ingredients
- 1 lb button mushrooms wiped clean
- 1/4 cup chopped ramps
- 2 Tablespoons capers drained
- Fresh ground pepper
- 3 Tablespoons salted butter cubed
- 1 Juice of half a lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F. Butter a small casserole dish.
- Place mushrooms in the dish and sprinkle with ramps, capers, and fresh pepper.
- Dot mushrooms with butter and place in the oven. Roast for about 15 minutes.
- Drizzle the lemon juice over the mushrooms and stir everything with a spatula. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to get up all the delicious caramelized bits.
- Serve hot. Top with raw chopped ramps if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Are you enjoying spring produce yet?
This looks and sounds so delicious, thank you for the recipe idea!
This looks so yummy! I am a new fan to mushrooms, I have been trying every type I can find at my local grocers.
Oh these looks so good! I need to get my hands on some ramps! I have never tried them before, but I really need to now!
Yep, get on it girl!
This looks delicious! I have done the same with ramps from my dad’s property- trying to cultivate my own patch. I only have 2 clumps but they haven’t spread like I’d expected. I planted them 2 yrs ago and haven’t harvested them yet because I was hoping to give them a chance to spread.
Thank you for the tip, I will try splitting them up and moving them around myself to get them to spread. Did you plant the bulbs in spring? I wonder if I should leave them until the fall to split out some bulbs to spread around.
I will have to indulge in your recipe now, too.
Hi Cindy,
I don’t move them, as in transplant. I merely thin them, and that seems to encourage spreading.
This dish looks lovely Aimee! And I love the photo of your and Clara – adorable!
These look delicious, Aimee! 🙂
Looooook how freaking fabulous that iiiiiiiiis.
Aimee,
I wouldn’t know a ramp if it reached up and tried to trip me as I walked past, but I do have some leeks from the farm share I put up last fall, and a spouse who loves mushrooms, wants to eat less meat, and is being spoiled before he leaves.
So I will be making this dish to add to my dip dinner (since he’s asked for salmon artichoke dip before he goes).
Thanks!
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the new design 🙂 And you!! Missed you this weekend
Sweet of you to say so! It looked like a really good time…
Love you too! xo
Your blog looks great as does this healthy recipe 🙂
These are gorgeous Aimee!! I wish I had ramps in my yard!! but they do grow well in the Northwest and are at most farmers markets. I will keep my eye out!
Lovin the new site design! The mushrooms look really good! I am definitely looking forward to the ramps this year.
I am drooling at these mushrooms. I had never heard about ramps before Deb’s blog. Will look for it at the farmers market soon
Love the new look! And we missed you at the potluck! xo
I have never had ramps, but I always read about them this time of year and I’m so curious. That recipe looks great, full of things I love.
I just had ramps for my very first time last week and LOVED them. And I’m a huge ‘shroom fan, so I’m thinking this dish would be love for me.
Funny, I thought of you this weekend while going for a walk in the woods…. I saw ramps and wondered if you’d be doing something with them. Looking forward to more 😉 delicious ramp recipes. (pretty please)
Loving the new site redesign!
Love ramps, and have cooked with them before… and know how/where to find them wild too! 🙂 But cultivating them? I never thought to do that. Arent they kind of touchy where they will and will not grow? Where are you growing them, in a hedgerow? How much water and what type of soil?
Love the new look! So fresh. I don’t know much about ramps but am glad you shared. This recipe looks right up my alley. And yes, I’m enjoying Spring produce. 🙂
Oh what I would give to have this dish in front of me right now!! Looks amazing!
I’m obsessed with ramps! They pair perfectly with mushrooms. So awesome that you have some on your property.
I’m staring out my window at a blanket of snow and definitely feeling pangs of envy at that beautiful green photo of you with the ramps. Hurry up spring! I want to enjoy all the greens and early fruits.
I’ve never tried making mushrooms like that before, it looks dangerously delicious
That is wicked cool that you’re cultivating your own ramp crop in your yard. I hardly ever eat them because of the demand, but I love the wonderful contribution the onion family makes to our kitchen this time of year. These mushrooms sound great!
Oh wow, my husband and I love mushrooms! This dish wouldn’t last long at our place 😉
This looks delicious. Me and my boyfriend loves mushroom so I will try this one in my kitchen. Looking forward for more recipes. 🙂