Saturday Morning Breakfast

We sat outside today, weather was beautiful. The usual iPad games were played while waiting for the food. The fence you can see in this picture has those gardenia flower vines growing on it, and the flowers were in bloom .... smelled out of this world good!

They only do breakfast at the Golden Truffle once a month, on the last weekend of the month. And, it's gooooood! Their food is not the typical stuff, but still familiar and always gourmet. Crab or lobster Benedict, chicken livers and gravy on toast, huge English Breakfast platter, scalloped potatoes, fried chicken biscuit & gravy, tamales, chili omelette - all homemade. We just order all sorts of stuff and share. Today we ate too much though and all had to take a nap when we got home. It's nice to do that once in a while though. Just do .... nothing.  

Ramp Shrimp Scampi & Trout Stuffed with Ramps and Bread

It's ramp season again!

Q: What are ramps?

A: They're sort of like an onion, sort of like garlic. Taste is similar to both the onion and garlic, but then again, not really.

Q: Where can I buy ramps?

A: From Doug. :) He sometimes lists them here while in season. Or you can e-mail him at wrn453(at)aol.com

Hope that helps. :)

I get my ramps from a guy in Ohio. He picks them fresh each season, and ships them to me. This year I got my package in the mail with beautiful young and tender ramps, and the first dishes I made were Ramp Scampi, and Stuffed Trout.

For both dishes, the ramps are cleaned of course, then diced. Each dish was made for just 2 people, so adjust according to servings needed.

Do this first, then set aside:

For the trout stuffing, I simply sauteed 1/4 cup of ramps (mixed white & green parts) with 2 small stalks chopped celery in some butter & olive oil, and then added some cubed dry bread, about 2 cups, chicken broth added until right consistency for stuffing was achieved - not too dry, not too mushy - then salt, pepper, 1/2 tsp of poultry seasoning, pinch or two of dried thyme, and some parsley. Then it was put into a 350 oven for about 20 min to set up.

Then the trout, which I bought already cleaned, was simply stuffed with the stuffing. I then took 1 large egg, scrambled it, and poured it over the stuffing inside the two pieces of trout. This will help glue it together a little. Plus, egg is just good. Cooked in the oven at 450 for about 10 min.

While the trout was cooking, I made the shrimp:

I sauteed 1 lb of shrimp in butter and a little olive oil, 2 diced garlic cloves, the diced ramps (about 1/4 cup) and salt & pepper. Once cooked through, I added 1/2 cup of white wine and 1/2 cup of chicken broth and continued to cook on medium until liquid was reduced by half. Adjusted salt & pepper to taste and a squeeze or two of lemon. If not garlicky enough for you at this point, you can add some more fresh chopped garlic to punch up the garlicky-ness. If you like spicy, some red pepper flakes are good in this too.