• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Forager Chef

Foraging and Cooking Mushrooms, Wild and Obscure Food

  • Home
  • About
  • Mushrooms
    • Mushroom Species Archive
    • Posts by Species
      • Other
        • Lobster Mushrooms
        • Shrimp of the Woods
        • Truffles
        • Morels
        • Shaggy Mane
        • Hericium
        • Puffball
      • Polypores
        • Hen of the Woods
        • Dryad Saddle
        • Chicken of The Woods
        • Cauliflowers
        • Ischnoderma
        • Beefsteak
      • Chanterelles
        • Black Trumpet
        • Red Cinnabar
        • Yellowfeet
      • Gilled
        • Matsutake
        • Russula / Lactarius
          • Candy Caps
          • Saffron Milkcap
          • Indigo Milkcap
        • Fairy Rings
      • Boletes
        • Porcini
        • Leccinum
        • Slippery Jacks
    • Recipes
      • Fresh
      • Dried
      • Preserves
    • The Basics
  • Plants
    • Plant Archive
    • Leafy Green Recipes
      • Leafy Green Plant Varieties
    • Wild Fruit
      • Wild Plums
      • Highbush Cranberry
      • Wild Grapes
      • Rowanberries
      • Wild Cherries
      • Aronia
      • Elderberry
      • Nannyberry
      • Wild Blueberries
    • Wild Herbs and Spices
    • From The Garden
    • Nuts, Roots, Tubers and Grains
    • Stalks and Shoots
  • Meat
    • Four-Legged
    • Poultry
    • Fish/Seafood
    • Offal
    • Charcuterie
  • Recipes
    • Pickles, Preserves, Etc
    • Fermentation
    • Condiments
    • Appetizers
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Side Dishes
    • Entrees
    • Baking
    • Sweets
  • Video
    • The Wild Harvest
    • Foraging Videos
    • Lamb and Goat Series
    • YouTube Tutorials
  • Press
    • Podcasts
  • Work
    • Public Speaking
    • Charity and Private Dinners
    • Forays / Classes / Demos

Ricotta-Ramp Tart With Morel Jus

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

A recipe for a ricotta cheese and ramp tart with morel mushroom jus.For the first 7 or so years of my kitchen career, I was addicted to cooking Italian food. There’s a mystique about it that seemed to epitomize fancy to me as a kid, so making high cuisine must mean I have to be in an Italian restaurant, right?

Now I understand that Italian and French cuisine share a lot of similarities depending on the region, but back then I knew nothing. Everything was new and exciting, coming from a little town in Midwestern Minnesota where most restaurants served pre-prepared food from plastic bags.

A turning point for me after my first few years working for different guys from Italy was getting a job at Pazzaluna, which I thought of as one of the best Italian joints around. These days It’s glimmer has dimmed, mostly due to the fact that corporate money grubbing leaders refuse to let the chefs have complete control of the menu and do away with things like chicken parm and marsala that are pretty tired.

Back when I started there though things were white hot, and the new chef was the former personal chef to the princess of monaco (he’s since been fired for sexual harassment). On my station, the cold side, I was charged with setting up a rotating antipasti bar which I could change daily to my liking, a number of salads, desserts, and hot appetizers. It was a huge station, and if you didn’t have time to set up before service, you should’ve come in off the clock to make sure you were for ready.

ricotta cheese and ramp tart with morel mushroom jusI still remember most of the things on my station, but one hot appetizer stands out: a little tart filled with cheese served with sauce of veal glace and porcini mushrooms. The tarts had to all be made by hand, and par baked, then they were finished off a la minute to order. As far as pickups go, it was a long one, about 10-15 minutes depending on how prepared you were.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A couple years ago I decided I had to remake the little tart. I didn’t use homemade crust, I just used some puff pastry, but if you’re ambitious, feel free. The filling I modified a little, and gave a spring makeover with some ramp leaf puree to turn it green. Going with the spring theme, I switched the dried porcini mushrooms for dried morels. It turned out great, and made for a fun afternoon of remembering where I’ve come from, and looking forward to the future.

ricotta cheese and ramp tart with morel mushroom jus

  1. A recipe for a ricotta cheese and ramp tart with morel mushroom jus.
    Print Recipe
    0 from 0 votes

    Ricotta-Ramp Tart With Morel Jus

    Serves 2-4 as an appetizer
    Prep Time30 mins
    Cook Time30 mins
    Course: Appetizer
    Cuisine: French, Italian
    Keyword: Morels, Ramps, Ricotta
    Servings: 2

    Ingredients

    • For the morel jus
    • 2 cups chicken stock preferably homemade
    • 8 grams dried morel mushrooms
    • 1 fresh or dried bay leaf
    • 1/4 cup dry white wine
    • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
    • Kosher salt to taste
    • Pinch of fresh chopped Italian parsley
    • For the ramp-ricotta tart
    • 1/2 cup high quality ricotta cheese my favorite brand is calabro
    • 1/4 cup high quality brie with the rind, diced 1/2 inch
    • 2 tablespoons pureed ramp leaves or ramp pesto see a recipe for that here
    • Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
    • Prepared puff pastry or your favorite pastry crust as needed
    • 1 egg beaten

    Instructions

    • The morel jus can be made well ahead of time, so do that first. Heat the stock with the wine, bay leaf and morels to loosen any natural gelatin which would prevent proper infusion of the morels. Add the dried morels to the warm stock and infuse for 20 minutes. Agitate the mushrooms to remove any grit, then remove, strain the stock through a chinois strainer and recombine the two, cutting the morels into bite size pieces if they're too large. Reserve the morel infused stock.
    • For the tart, mix the ricotta with the brie and ramp leaf puree, season to taste with salt and pepper and reserve. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out two 6 inch or so rounds, then fill with the cheese, brushing egg around the edges to seal it. Put the other round of pastry on top of the cheese filling, then press down to remove any air pockets.
    • To finish and plate, preheat the oven to 350. Brush the tart with beaten egg, then put on a piece of parchment and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until browned and hot throughout.
    • Meanwhile, heat the morel just and reduce to about 1/4 cup of liquid. Whisk in the unsalted butter to thicken it slightly, then double check the seasoning for salt and adjust as needed, lastly add the parsley. The sauce should be creamy and thick enough to lightly coat the back of a spoon.
    • Spoon the morel jus onto a preheated plate, then place the hot tart on top. Serve immediately

ricotta cheese and ramp tart with morel mushroom jus

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Print
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit

Related

Previous Post: « Baptisia, A Wild Asparagus Look-Alike
Next Post: Japanese Knotweed Sorbet »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bobbie Jo Wasilko

    April 8, 2016 at 11:54 am

    That looks wonderful!! I make a similar tart with ricotta and chestnuts that can be a main dish with salad or made mini for a warm appetizer.

    Reply
  2. eric tischler

    April 8, 2016 at 8:03 pm

    Wow, you are my hero.

    Reply
  3. eric tischler

    April 8, 2016 at 8:06 pm

    I think I can do this, so much to do this spring, morels, fiddle heads, wild asparagus, ramps, stinging nettles. I love spring.

    Reply
  4. Dotty

    April 9, 2016 at 3:39 pm

    Drool!

    Reply
  5. Karli

    April 12, 2016 at 12:08 pm

    Thanks for wonderful recipes! And informative site!! I’ve been gathering morel mushrooms for years but tried drying for the first time this year- in hopes of creating dishes like the one above. However , I’m not sure if I didn’t leave them too long in dehydrator- can you over- dry mushrooms? Not sure what the dehydrator is set on since temp knob is broken – but left them in for @ 6 hrs- definitely *cracker* stage! – following your drying directions.
    So the dried morels are very dark- I rehydrated a couple to see if they looked ‘burned’ seemed ok- haven’t cooked with them yet. Any suggestions on the drying process? It’s a great hunting year here so will be drying more.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      April 21, 2016 at 7:58 am

      You really can’t over dry them unless you’re drying with heat. Make sure to dry them with cool air and a fan only.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Categories

Forager Chef

Forager Chef

Instagram

foragerchef

Tres Leches soaked in candy cap milk was a fun var Tres Leches soaked in candy cap milk was a fun variation I did on the house dessert of a little restaurant I was at for a time. 

Don’t be surprised if you smell like maple syrup a few hours after eating it. Using ground dried golden chanterelles is another variation that’s on my list to try. 

Link in bio to see how to make your own. 

#candycaps #treslechescake #myteethfellout #wildmushrooms #wildfoodlove
ARISE #fungimancer #frostbite #morels #tisthes ARISE 

 #fungimancer 
#frostbite #morels #tistheseason #mushroomhunting #winter #offseasontraining
Big thanks🙏 to all of you who showed your suppo Big thanks🙏 to all of you who showed your support with the first line of spirits @ida_graves_distillery and I collaborated on. 

Brock did a great job wrangling the wild things, and we have plenty of fun ideas in store (think aging nocino in barrels, new flavor combos, etc). If you’re in the Twin Cities and still need some, the amaro is #soldout but @ombibulousmn has nocino, and should have the spruce  liquor (goes down like pine gin) soon. Thank you!

#distillery #foragedcocktails #nocino #craftspirits #drinkatree #mnspirits #smallbatch #godscountry
Let’s talk roadkill. Honestly, roadkill is too s Let’s talk roadkill. Honestly, roadkill is too specific a term for me—I don’t limit myself to vehicular-harvested meat. 

However you feel about the topic, grab some popcorn and head over to the comment section on my blog (link in bio) for the 🔥personal stories from readers have shared from around the world. 

There’s the kid who brought home a nutria after school, a wife getting 4 deer with the same car, a train hitting a herd of elk, a bear named squish, living in a house with weasels, and more. 

#budgetgourmet #gleaning #scavenging #meatismeat #roadkill #freefoods #finderskeepers #wastenotwantnot
Sam Thayer dropped 25 lbs of his highbush cranberr Sam Thayer dropped 25 lbs of his highbush cranberry cultivars (3 types!) on me before the last snowfall and I honestly don’t even know where to start after processing them. I’d already made jams and hot sauce already and I have enough for a year. 😅

Great time to practice the cold-juice which ensures the juice isn’t bitter. 

Anyone else have any ideas? 

You can still find some on the shrubs if the birds didn’t get them up by the north shore. 

#highbushcranberry #winterforaging #birdberries #sweetnectar #foragerproblems #juiceme #embarassmentofriches #wildfoodlove
100% wild candy bars. I don’t usually make raw v 100% wild candy bars. I don’t usually make raw vegan snacks, but when I read about Euell Gibbon’s wild hackberry candy bars I had to try them. The  originals were just crushed hackberries and hickory nuts, but, I’ve read that Euell grew to dislike the crunch of hackberry seeds later in life. 

Here’s the thing though, if you sift the hackberry flour, you get a fun texture, with no worries about cracking a tooth. 

These are equal parts ground hackberries, dried wild blueberries, and hickory nuts, with a splash of maple syrup to bind.

The end product is a shelf stable, nutrient-packed bite filled with protein, carbohydrates, fats and natural sugars infinitely adaptable to your local landscape.

The texture is chewy and nougat-like, and now I’m curious to see how they’d perform baked in recipes that use frangipane or almond paste. 

#euellgibbons #energybars #hackberry #crushin #paleobreakfast #tradionalfood #wildfoodlove #rawfoods
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Footer

Privacy

  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Pro & The Genesis Framework

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.