Ramp & leek fritters

Spiced ramp and leek fritters with cilantro-garlic dipping sauce – a perfect vegetarian lunch or side dish!

Do you want to know what kind of food dork I really am? Rewind a week or so. I was heading into Whole Foods for my new favorite BluePrint Organic juices (Lunch of Champions. Well, maybe not champions, but lunch of working mom with no breaks in between conference calls.) As with every Whole Foods, you enter to a beautiful floral and produce display, with the season’s finest right there in front of you.

I stopped. I stared… And I squealed. Literally. People looked. I could tell they thought I was nuts. Village crazy lady on the loose.

There in front of me were ramps. A gorgeous display of one of Spring’s most fleeting visitors. I walked (ok ran) over to them and quickly started picking through and claiming some for my own.

Yep. I’m a dork. But those ramps found their way into these leek fritters along with some shallots and the gorgeous leeks from my CSA haul. Well worth the squeal I think. This is my riff on a recipe from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi; it’s the only one of his cookbooks I have and it’s growing on me the more I use it. I made quite a few edits, so my version is below. Biggest change was that his do not include ramps. So, if I have already beat you to Whole Foods and bought out the ramp supply, just substitute more shallots.

Loving leeks? I’m usually not this creative and make simple potato leek soup. Or if I’m feeling more ambitious, homemade gnocchi with sausage and leeks.

Ramp & leek fritters

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Ramp and leek fritters spiced with coriander, cumin, turmeric and cinnamon with cilantro-garlic dipping sauce - a perfect vegetarian lunch or side dish!

Author: adapted from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

Recipe type: side dish

Cuisine: Turkish

Serves: 8 fritters

Ingredients

For the sauce

• ¼ cup Greek yogurt
• ¼ cup sour cream
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• Pinch of salt
• A few sprigs of parsley leaves
• 1 cup cilantro

For the fritters

• 3 leeks
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 15 ramps, chopped
• ¾ tsp. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• ¼ tsp. ground turmeric
• ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• ⅛ tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. sugar
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 egg white
• ¾ cup plus 1 Tbsp. self-rising flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 egg
• ⅔ cup milk
• 4 Tbsp. butter, melted

Instructions

1. To make the sauce, put all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside.
2. To make the fritters, cut the leeks into 1-inch slices, wash and drain well. Saute the leeks and shallots in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat for about 15 minutes. You want them soft, but not browned. About 4 minutes before they are done, add the chopped ramps. Remove from heat and stir in the spices, sugar and salt.
3. Whisk the egg white to soft peaks and stir it into the vegetables.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, egg, milk and butter to a smooth batter. Gently fold in the vegetable mixture.
5. In a large frying pan over medium heat, heat a couple tablespoons of oil. Spoon the mixture into the pan in large spoonfuls. You should be able to fit 4 fairly large fritters. Make them smaller if you prefer. Fry for 2-3 minute per side, then transfer to paper towels and keep warm. Continue cooking the fritters adding more oil to the pan as needed.
6. Serve immediately with the sauce.

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