ALLCAPS COOKBOOK PRESENTS: Wild Ramps, Lemon, and Pink Peppercorn Biscuits (Patreon)

Ramps! They are amazing!

If you don't know what they are, it's more or less like onion and garlic got together and had a crazy leafy baby. And they grow wild all over my yard and the forest behind it. As soon as spring starts, they come shooting up out of the ground before anything else, bright green patches in the grey and the brown.

I started looking for things to do with them beyond slicing them into my scrambled eggs or to fancy up ramen, and ended up with this. They're soft and savory and lovely with a real ribbon of earthy wild flavor--fantastic.

I would highly recommend the grilling/sauteeing step with the ramps as they won't cook much in the oven. Cooking them slightly first evens and sweetens the sharpness of the ramps.

If you don't have ramps, you can easily use scallions for this. It'll be a bit brighter, not quite the same, but ramps are a brief thing, and these can be great all the year.

Ingredients

3/4 cup cold buttermilk

3/4 cup grilled or sauteed ramps (the whole plant, leaf, stalk, and bulb) sliced very thin

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teapoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon ground pink peppercorns + more for sprinkling on top

Zest of one lemon

6 tablespoons chilled butter, cubed

1 egg (for egg wash)

IT'S BISCUIT, IT'S BISCUIT TIME

Preheat oven to 425 and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, then grease parchment with butter.

Slice ramps or scallions very thin and scatter over a hot cast iron grill or hot nonstick pan and cook at medium-high heat until browned and wilted. Set aside in a small bowl. Once ramps have cooled, add buttermilk and allow flavors to mellow.

Combine dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine. Tip butter cubes into processor and process until a fine meal forms. Turn out butter/flour combo into buttermilk mixure and stir until you get a nice dough ball.

Turn out dough onto a floured surface and gently press into an 8 inch circle about 1/2 inch thick. Use a small mug or glass, about 2.5-3 inches in diameter, to cut circles, doing the old "make those scraps into another dough circle until there's no more scraps" trick.

Place biscuits on prepared baking sheet, brush with egg wash, sprinkle ground pink peppercorns on top and bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Bacon and egg breakfast sandwiches are these bad bois' best destiny!