As of yesterday afternoon, Dirk's Fish had ramps (and fiddlehead ferns). I was there already, had a Groupon, and was cooking for company - - otherwise there's no way I would've bought ramps at $20/lb. Yikes!
Given that we only needed a small amount for the dinner party, we bought just a handful. Rich blanched the leaves and blended them with duck stock, mint from the garden, and white beans for a bright green puree. He placed a small piece of milk-poached wild Alaskan halibut atop the puree.
I took the stems and made my first quick pickle of the season. I combined Paul Virant's recipe from Preservation Kitchen with one on Serious Eats. Because I was dealing with such small quantities (about 20 ramps), I only needed a small amount of pickling liquid.
What I did:
> Blanched the trimmed ramps in salted boiling water for about 40 seconds, immediately followed by immersion in an ice bath.
> In a small pot, I boiled 1/4 cup champagne vinegar, 1/4 cup water, a bit less than 1/4 cup white sugar, one bay leaf, a few pinches of kosher salt, half dozen black peppercorns, and a pinch of yellow mustard seed.
> Placed the ramps in a pint-sized mason jar, and poured the boiling pickling liquid over the ramps. Put a lid on it.
> One the jar cooled, I put it in the fridge. The ramps were ready to eat as soon as they'd cooled off.
Because I had so few ramps, I thinly sliced some radishes and put them in the jar, too. Both came out great, and the jar was empty by the end of the meal. I forget how easy quick pickling is when working with small quantities.
Ronna