Things to do with Ramps, Part 2: Make pasta. Yes, I’ve been on a bit of a pasta making kick these days anyway, but I figured that this wouold be a good experiment to see if the rampiness-flavor would shine though, even if you make pasta out of it. And I am happy to report that it does, almost to the point where it didn’t need any more dressing up, so I just rendered some panchetta and added some parm, and voila.
As always, my home made pasta directions are designed to use an old-fashioned hand-crank pasta machine. I don’t use my KitchenAid for this, but I am sure that you could. Just follow those directions staring with paragraph three.
Ingredients
for the pasta
6-8 ramps, bulbs and leaves, separated
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Coarse salt
for the remainder
6 slices pancetta, 1 1/2 to 2 inch dice
1 additional ramp, finely minced
1/4 Parmesan cheese, to taste
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Separate the ramps, bulbs and white parts from the leaves. Very finely mince the bulbs and white parts and coarsely chop the greens. Set greens aside. In a small sauté pan, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Briefly sauté the ramp bulbs until just fragrant, about 45-60 seconds. Set aside to cool.
Add flour to your food processor, along with the ramp greens. Pulse until the flour starts to turn a little green from the ramps, about 8-10 1-second pulses. Add eggs and yolks, as well as the salt and the sautéed ramp bulbs and process until dough just comes together, about 20-30 second. Transfer dough to a well-floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, 5 to 8 minutes. Place on a piece of parchment, and cover with an inverted bowl, or wrap tightly in plastic; let rest for 1 to 2 hours. At this point, the pasta dough can be refrigerated for up to 48 hours, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. Let it come back to room temperature before rolling.
Divide the dough into four equal portions. Dust the portions with flour and cover with a clean dishtowel. From this point on, keep everything well-floured to prevent the pasta from sticking to itself or the roller as you work. If the dough starts to feel sticky as you roll it, sprinkle it with flour. Also sprinkle flour on any pasta you’re not working (rolled, cut or otherwise) with and keep it covered with a dishtowel. Set your pasta machine to the thickest setting (usually marked “1”). Flatten one piece of dough into a thick disk between your hands and feed it through the pasta roller. Repeat once or twice. Fold this piece of dough into thirds, like folding a letter, and press it between your hands again. With the pasta machine still on the widest setting, feed the pasta crosswise between the rollers. Feed it through once or twice more until smooth. Begin changing the settings on your roller to roll the pasta thinner and thinner. Roll the pasta two or three times at each setting, and don’t skip settings (the pasta tends to snag and warp if you do). If the pasta gets too long to be manageable, lay it on a cutting board and slice it in half. Roll the pasta as thin as you like to go. For fettuccini, I normally go to 6. Cut the long stretch of dough into noodle-length sheets, usually about 12-inches. Switch from the pasta roller to the noodle cutter, and run the sheet of pasta through the cutter. Toss the fettuccine with a little flour to keep them from sticking and gather them into a loose basket and cover with a towel while you finish rolling and cutting the rest of the dough.
To cook the pasta: Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt the water, and cook the pasta until al dente, 3-4 minutes. While the water is coming up to a bowl, finely mine the remaining ramp (both bulb and leaves) and the pancetta. In a medium pan over medium heat, render the pancetta. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the sauté pan, flipping and tossing to coat the noodles with the pancetta fat. Add approximately half of the parmesan and flip a few times. Plate 4 portions of pasta with the pancetta sprinkled evenly over all the portions, then sprinkle with remaining Parmesan and ramps. Serve immediately.
