Spring Pasta with Ramps & Morels Recipe
This recipe is like spring on a plate. Save it for that moment around April when wild morel mushrooms and ramp leaves make a way too brief but splashy appearance at the exact same time. Here, the ramps are blended into a silky pesto, while the morels are sautéed in the salty drippings from crisped pancetta, then tossed with rigatoni for a vibrantly green pasta.
Recipe: Spring Pasta with Ramps & Morel Mushrooms
Serves 4
What You’ll Need:
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 ounces pancetta, diced
5 ounces morel mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed
1 pound rigatoni or other tubular pasta
3 tablespoons butter
For the homemade ramp pesto with pistachios:
8 ounces ramp leaves
1/4 cup pistachios, plus more for garnish
2/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup Parmesan, plus more for garnish
Salt and pepper
What To Do:
Set a large pot of water over high heat and bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pan over medium low heat. Add pancetta. Cook, stirring, until crisped. Transfer to a bowl using a slotted utensil, leaving oil in pan.
Add morels to the same pan and sauté until tender. Transfer to the bowl with the pancetta.
Set up an ice bath in a large bowl. Drop ramp leaves into the boiling water and blanch until bright green and just wilted, no more than 1 minute. Remove with tongs and immediately transfer to the ice bath, leaving pot of water boiling. Let leaves cool for a few minutes.
Cook the pasta in the pot according to the package instructions and drain, reserving some of the cooking water.
While the pasta cooks, remove cooled ramp leaves from the bath and gently shake off excess water. Roughly chop leaves into smaller pieces. Place ramps, pistachios, 2/3 cup olive oil, and Parmesan in a food processor. Pulse until smooth and somewhat uniform in consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
In a large bowl, toss together the pasta, 1/4 cup cooking water, ramp pesto, morels, pancetta, and butter. Add more cooking water as needed to create a loose sauce. Divide between bowls and serve topped with more Parmesan, pistachios, and pepper.