Ramp Roll-Ups

This recipe was something I thought of earlier this year during the ramp harvest. I have almost an over abundance of ramp leaves this spring and wondered if I stuffed the Ramp leaves and baked them if they would be any good. So I thought out the filling and decided on fresh rainbow trout and ricotta palatable cheese.

Ramp Leaves, Fresh Trout, & Ricotta Salata Cheese.

The trout is something I had often read about pairing well with Ramps as the fish and the leaves used to be in abundance at the same time. Sadly the rivers of Connecticut are still too polluted with mercury to make fishing them a safe source of weekly protein. But fortunately they do sell trout in the store so we used store bought instead of locally fished.

Main Ingredients for Ramp Roll-ups

The ricotta salata is a favorite cheese of many people in my Calabrian mother's family and also one of mine. It's a creamy crumbly salty piece of heaven that tastes a little like the ocean and I thought the juxtaposition of the sweat onions leaves, the slightly fishy fatty trout and the salty briny taste of the cheese would harmonize.

My instincts were correct and I found these rollups to be an utterly delight to not only eat but also to make.

I took some of the largest ramp leaves I had. Washed them, turned them over so that the tip of the leaf was facing away from me. I place my thumb on the end of the stem and the other thumb just above that. Then ran my finger down the central vein to break it and make the leave easier to roll. I prepared between 30 and 40 leaves which was enough for the pound piece of trout I had purchased.

Breaking the main vein.

The trout was cut into bite sized pieces and tossed with a little white pepper and salt. Julia Child liked white pepper better for fish and I agree with her. I think it's more delicate flavor pairs a little better with the less aggressive taste of most fish.

The ricotta salata was cut into pieces slightly smaller than the fish. This cheese doesn't really shrink or melt due to its rather low moisture content and I wanted the finished product to have an almost equal proportion of fish and cheese inside.

The filling of the ramp roll-ups

After placing a piece of fish and cheese on each leaf and rolling them up. I placed them all on a baking sheet and drizzled some good olive oil over them and seasoning with salt pepper and the dried crumbled leaves of northern bay and sweet fern; two of my favorite wild seasonings.

Uncooked ramp roll-ups on the baking sheet

I then squeezed a little juice out of half a lemon over the roll ups and put the lemon half in the center of the sheet, and placed the sheet in a 425°f oven for about 15 mins. The leaves will look browned and pleasantly wilted.

Cooked ramp roll-ups fresh from the oven

These were delightful warm but they were even better cold straight out of the fridge as they were when I had them for lunch the next day with some artichoke and parsnip fritters.

Ramp roll-ups cold on top of parsnip and artichoke fritters