MY OCEAN FRESH HALIBUT with RAMPS & BACON IN A EGG YOLK CREAM SAUCE

This is a post from last year that I am reissuing. Because it's made with ramps, and it's ramp season! I don't see them at my Farmer's Market here in Southern California, so I get mine from Doug, who lives in Ohio. He sells them on eBay. Really, it's OK. Buy some! They're perfectly good, and I actually got the tip from Claudia at Cook Eat FRET. She also bought some from him. If you've never had them, you need to try them. They're really good. Sort of a cross between an onion and garlic -- but not really -- just totally unique! And delicious!


So, as mentioned yesterday, I got this Halibut on Sunday. Gorgeous, fresh caught Halibut. Sunday morning it was swimming, Sunday afternoon it was in my fridge. I had also bought the live sweet shrimp (see below, they were out of this world!) so we had those on Sunday night, and I saved the Halibut for Monday.

So delicious looking, it was hard to keep my husband from eating raw! He loves Hirame.

Anyway, since I only got a half pound I decided to cube it and toss it with some noodles. I also had some ramps in the fridge, so I thought this would be a good time to use them.

The ramps came from Ohio. I cleaned them and diced them. Into a pan with a few slices of bacon, also diced.

Oh what the hell.... Let's get this party started! Add some butter! And a little garlic!

After the ramps were tender and the bacon crispy, I added the Halibut for a quick roll in the buttery goodness, cooking to just above medium rare. The fresh Halibut was so tender I had to be gentle to make sure it didn't fall apart. In a separate bowl I had the noodles waiting. I added fresh diced tomatoes, a few diced artichoke hearts, and then 3 raw egg yolks that had been whisked with 2-3 tablespoons of half & half. It added just enough creaminess to make this all come together without overpowering the delicate halibut.

Finished with a sprinkle of Parmesan. This was really, really good. Those ramps are so flavorful. Everything was just perfect. :)

Q: Where can I buy ramps?

A: We get ours from Doug. :) You can e-mail him at wrn453(at)aol.com and he will gladly add you to his mailing list to remind you when it is ramp season, and you can order fresh ramps from him too! He also sells them here during season.