Bacon and Corn Sauté with Ramps is a perfect mélange of sweet corn, smoky and salty bacon, earthy asparagus, and bright tomatoes. And Ramps! What a delicacy. Forage for ramps in the springtime, or it you’re lucky, you may find them at your local farmer’s market. However you encounter them, do not take a pass!
We discovered ramps on our property last spring. It was a revelation – I’d heard about ramps of course, but I didn’t understand what the fuss was about. We grow chives, and scallions, and leeks, and red onions. Who needs one more allium? How special could it possibly be? Well, I’ve learned just how special they are, and this Bacon and Corn Sauté would be nothing without the smoky, sweet, and mellow ramps.
We actually have five different patches of ramps growing alongside what we call our pollinator pathway. Our pollinator pathway winds through a stretch of wildness south of our solar panels. We had it brush-hogged a few years ago, and we’ve been attempting to eradicate the area of all invasives since – Canadian thistle, garlic mustard, Morrow’s honeysuckle, multi-flora rose, Asian bittersweet, and mugwort. The dreaded mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)! It seems to be a losing battle because it’s all intertwined with poison ivy. I finally gave up because I had poison ivy all over my body for months last summer. Ron still fights the good fight and keeps the path mowed so that we can continue to venture down there and peer at all of the native plants that are struggling to hold their own – Joe Pye weed, mountain mint, anise hyssop, evening primrose, daisy fleabane, wild bergamot, Gray’s dogwood, native geraniums, goldenrod, sumac, black chokecherry and American hazelnut shrubs, spotted bee balm, nannyberry, Virgin’s Bower… And of course – ramps!
Earlier this spring I was walking the pathway with my friend Lorraine, and we were delighted to find all five patches alive and thriving, but by the time I was inspired to harvest some, weeks later, all of the patches except one were obscured by the overgrowth, and I wasn’t going to bushwhack to find them. I was careful not to stray off of the pathway when I harvested ramps for supper from the one patch I could reach. But alas – I have poison ivy again. Under my chin, on my belly, in between my fingers. Argh! But it is so worth it because I was able to dig up four beautiful and aromatic ramps for this Bacon and Corn Sauté with Ramps dish.
I’ll be making and serving this dish every spring for as long as the ramps can hold their own against the mugwort. It’s a perfect side dish for a delicate white fish like cod or haddock. But I prefer to serve it as the main course with some quinoa.
Bacon and Corn Sauté with Ramps
Equipment
- saucepan (for blanching the asparagus)
- 12" skillet (for sautéing the bacon and building the rest of the dish)
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon
- 8-10 spears fresh asparagus
- 4 ramps
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 4 ears fresh corn (or 2 cups of frozen corn)
- black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Sauté the bacon – Slice the bacon lengthwise, then cut the strips into 1-inch pieces. Cook over medium heat until browned and crunchy. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside on a paper towel-lined plate.
- Prep asparagus – While the bacon is rendering, clean and chop the asparagus into 1/2-inch pieces. Blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Prep ramps; slice tomatoes; shuck the corn (if using fresh) – Separate the white oniony bottom from the green tops of the ramps. Thinly slice the bottoms and roughly chop the tops. Slice the tomatoes in half, pole to pole. Slice the corn from the cob if using fresh corn.
- Sauté the corn and whites of ramps – Pour off any excess bacon fat, leaving about 2 T in the skillet, then turn the heat up to medium-high and add the corn and the sliced ramp bottoms, cooking until the corn plumps and begins to turn a golden brown. Don't stir more often than you must to prevent the corn from sticking to the pan.
- Add the tomatoes, asparagus and the ramp greens – Stir in the tomatoes, asparagus, and the ramp greens. Cover and cook for 2 minutes longer.
- Finish and serve – Add a crank of black pepper and scatter bacon bits over each serving. Enjoy!
