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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Ramp Leaf-Goat Cheese Dumplings

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Ramp Leaf Gnudi DumplingsWhere the hell did all this cream cheese come from?!

Maybe someone forgot to check something off the list they ordered, maybe someone hit a wrong button, maybe the driver was new and he had no idea that the regular par was cut in half for the week–I’ve seen it all.

After the person doing the ordering (typically a sous chef) gets a reprimand and a print out of the food cost if it was something big, like a couple cases of steaks or a box of vanilla beans, the new puzzle at hand becomes what to do with the excess product.

You know where this is going. One week during the spring at St. Pauls Heartland where the other cooks and I wrote a new menu every day, we wound up with a with what you would call a metric shit ton of cream cheese. Without being able to return the product, cream cheese festival got underway. There was cheesecake, dips and spreads, stuffings, and, dumplings.

I’d made plenty of dumplings out of ricotta before (see true gnudi, the cousin of these dumplings over in this post) but when one of the prep cooks showed up on my station with a bunch of batter and starting painfully quenelle-ing (making an egg shape with two spoons) batter to poach for dumplings on my vegetarian tasting menu, I learned a new thing. Lots of different, soft cheeses can be worked with a touch of egg and flour to make a great, tender dumpling (quark, marscapone, and labneh, to name a few).

Ramp Leaf Gnudi Dumplings

So. Green.

These ramp leaf dumplings are a little different in that they’re a deep sylvan green and powerfully (but not offensively) rampy, where most dumplings I see like this might just have herbs mixed into them, since chunks of greens can make the delicate dumplings cook unevenly, and, even fall apart if the pieces are too big.

If I remember correctly my goal at the time (and a yearly spring tradition) was to use them for an all-green, spring study-of-monochrome sort of vegetarian entree. In the summer and other seasons, I’d do similar themes with plates here and there: red and yellow in summer, golds and oranges and blacks in fall–you get the idea. The dance partners would change throughout the week depending on availability.

One day it might be a juicy stew of fiddleheads, asparagus and hop shoots in a wine sauce, the next day it could be mushrooms, brown butter, nettles and sage, and so on and so forth. In your kitchen, you can serve them with whatever, but remember, less is more, and simply baked with sage butter and parmesan as I have pictured here for a side dish, is a tried and true classic that won’t fail you. That being said, feel free to add some roasted mushrooms if you have them.

Instead of using cream cheese, like original dumplings we made to get through excess product, the ramp leaf dumplings use chevre. Soft chevre is just so versatile, I’d be hard-pressed to find something it wouldn’t improve, especially the world-class chevre from Donnay Dairy that I would drive across the state to get during the season.

The gentle tart/sour of the chevre is a perfect foil for the rich ramp leaves, and it’s slightly heavier weight on the palette makes for dumplings that eat like a meal. Decadently rampy comes to mind.

Ramp Leaf Gnudi Dumplings

Ramp Leaf Gnudi Dumplings
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Ramp Leaf-Goat Cheese Dumplings

The original recipe I made in 2016. It's decadent, and uses goat cheese instead of ricotta. Makes about 30 dumplings, enough to serve 4-6.
Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time15 mins
Course: Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Ramp Leaves
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 12 ounces ramp leaves stems removed
  • 16 ounces soft goat cheese
  • 8 large egg yolks
  • ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
  • ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
  • Pinch of fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 cup flour preferably 00 (substituted all purpose in a pinch)
  • For serving optional
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 teaspoons sliced fresh sage
  • ¼ cup dry white wine
  • Pinch of salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons grated parmesan

Instructions

  • Bring a gallon of salted water to a boil, add the ramps, cook for 5 seconds, or until just wilted, then remove, squeeze dry, and chop fine. In the bowl of a highspeed blender, combine the ramp leaves and the egg yolks, then puree until very smooth. Alternately, if a highspeed blender isn’t accessible, the ramp leaves can be processed in a food processor for a more rustic look.
  • Transfer the ramp leaf puree to a mixing bowl and add the cheese, salt, pepper, egg yolks and flour, then mix until just combined. Allow the mixture to rest for 20 minutes.
  • To cook the dumplings, bring a pot of lightly salted water to a simmer, then, using a 1 ounce portion scoop or heaping tablespoons, for balls of the dough and drop them into the water. Cook the dumplings for exactly 5 minutes at a brisk simmer, turning occasionally with a spoon to make sure the top and bottom are evenly cooked. When the dumplings are done, remove them to an oiled pan to cool, then serve immediately or transfer to a labeled, dated container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.

Notes

To serve the dumplings per the photograph, put the dumplings in wide, shallow baking dish, then melt the butter in a saute pan and cook until browned and aromatic. Add a teaspoon of sliced fresh sage, then deglaze the pan with ¼ cup of dry white wine. Drizzle the sage butter over the dumplings, sprinkle with parmesan, and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until hot throughout.

More 

Ramps: Harvesting, Sustainability, Cooking and Recipes 

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Previous Post: « Wild Herb Gnudi Dumplings
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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
James Beard Award ‘22
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Alan Bergo
I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so much we filmed it instead of the original dish I’d planned. 

Cooked natural wild rice (not the black shiny stuff) is great hot, cold, sweet or savory. It’s a perfect, filling lunch for a long day of berry picking. 

I make them with whatever I have on hand. Mushrooms will fade into the background a little here, so I use a bunch of them, along with lots of herbs and hickory nut oil + dill flowers. 

I’m eating the leftovers today back up in the barrens (hopefully) getting some more bluebs for another shoot this week w @wild.fed 

#wilwilwice #wildrice #chanterelles #campfood #castironcooking
Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine caps on hardwood sawdust from my lumberjack buddy.

Next up blewits. Spawn from @northsporemushrooms

#winecaps #strophariaaeruginosa #allthemushroomtags
It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from my favorite spot tomorrow a.m. and have room for a couple helpers. It’s at an event on a farm just south of St. Cloud. 

If you’re interested send me a message and I’ll raffle off the spots. Plenty of cherries to go around. I’ll be leading a short plant walk around the farm too. 

#chokecherries #foraging #prunusvirginiana #summervibes
Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking it up with on-site garnishes. Beach pea flowers taste strong and leguminous, similar to vetch, or like a rich tasting pea shoot. 

#lathyrusjaponicus #beachpeas #peaflower #foraging #northshore #bts
Great, long day of filming in near the south shore Great, long day of filming in near the south shore of Lake Superior yesterday. 

Blueberries were sparse, and some kind of blight seems to be affecting the serviceberries. Chanterelles weren’t as good as 2020, but they were there. 

Quick dip in the Lake Superior after we broke set was a bonus. 

W/ @barebonesliving  @misterberndt @jesseroesler

#barebonesliving #foraging #lakesuperiorrocks #serviceberries #chanterelles #bts
Green ramp seed make a great lactoferment. Just pu Green ramp seed make a great lactoferment. Just put the green seeds in brine in a jar, leave for 2 weeks. 

After they’re sour they can be water bath processed, although I’ve stored them at room temp without an issue too. 

Finished product is great minced or puréed into places where you’d like garlic, capers, or both. 

Makes a great tzatziki with a little crumbled, dried bee balm. 

#tzatziki #ramps #rampseeds #foraging #fermentation
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