Plate to Plate

It makes no sense at all, but for some reason, I feel less guilty when I have compound butter than I do when I have regular old butter, the kind without awesome little bits mixed into it. There’s something about the very act of making the compound butter that makes eating seem justifiable. Well, I usually think to myself, I did do all this work just to make the butter. I might as well indulge.

Of course, by all this work, what I really mean is just a little bit of chopping and stirring — or, if you prefer, food-processoring. Compound butter is a snap to make, and is a most excellent way to preserve the fleeting flavor of those robust spring greens, the wild leeks known as ramps.

A few weeks ago, Dan and I had dinner down at Allium in Great Barrington. Dan’s steak came topped with a pat of creamy, pungent, bright green ramp compound butter. At the time, I imagined the butter was preserved from last year’s ramps — I usually don’t find any until later in the month, or even in May — but the recent warm weather here soon had me thinking otherwise. I headed out to the woods to see what I could find, nervous that I’d missed the season altogether.

Two stream crossings and one garlic-scented car ride home later it was clear that I hadn’t. Thank goodness.

Inspired by Dan’s fantastic ramp-doused steak, I made up a couple of logs of compound butter to enjoy over the next few months — if they last that long. The recipe that follows is more like a suggestion; modifications are encouraged. Ramp butter is slightly sweet and garlicky and tastes amazing with scrambled eggs or crusty country bread. What else do you use it for?

Ramp Compound Butter

1 lb. good quality unsalted butter, cut into 1″ chunks, at room temperature
About 6 oz. fresh, cleaned ramps
About half the zest from one organic lemon
Drizzle of olive oil
salt

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, roughly chop the ramps. Add the ramps to the boiling water and cool, stirring gently, for a minute or two, until the ramp greens are bright and the bulbs slightly softened. Using a slotted spoon, remove the ramps and immediately plunge them into an ice bath to stop the cooking. (You can save the ramp cooking liquid to add to a stock, or boil some potatoes in it.) Once the ramps are cool, drain them and pat dry with a kitchen towel.

Add the ramps, butter, lemon zest, olive oil, and a pinch of salt to a food processor and pulse several times to combine. You may need to scrape down the sides and mix by hand occasionally. Alternately, add the whole lot to a large mortar and pestle, or even a large bowl, and smash/mix accordingly, as chunky or as well-combined as you like.

Arrange the butter on one or two long sheets of parchment paper, and roll it tightly into a log. I’ve stored one log in the freezer, for later, and one in the refrigerator, for now.