Ramps and Mint Compound Butter

Butter it Up.

Butter doesn’t have to be plain or boring. For me I love butter in any form, plain or not. However adding the seasonal ingredients to the butter just adds so much flavor to it. These ramps and mint compound butter are loaded with spring flavors. It’s the best way to preserve the spring ramps in a creamy rich way. I suggest you make this now while the ramps last and thank me later.

As I’ve mentioned I really enjoy having butter. In fact would you believe, I used to eat plain butter when I was a child? No kidding! I grew up eating freshly churned home made butter every single day. If you haven’t tried that kind of butter, then I suggest you try it. Every single morning soon after tea, my mom used to churn fresh butter by separating butter milk from butter. The fresh butter on almost everything is the best kind of butter you could ever enjoy. This routine still continues back home, though not as much or as frequent as it used to be. What has not changed though is making fresh butter milk for the hot summer afternoons. This is among the best of drinks you can ever have. I plan to make my own butter some day. Hopefully soon!

Spring Things.

Finally! I can smell the spring in the crisp air. In fact it may as well be spring already. Okay well we still have some bit of snow left to melt and blooming to start. The river water is rising from all the snow from winter that melt hence it’s causing flooding. However, the birds have started to come back, and it’s so lovely waking up to the birds now. Ah! There are so many wonderful things about spring that I have been waiting for and I can start to feel them now. I feel like I have a new life suddenly or I have just been woken up after so many months of winter sleep.

Something else I was looking forward to is for the spring produce to be in full bloom; especially the ramps. When they start appearing in the market, I know for sure that spring is here. What’s your favorite spring produce? I have plenty – asparagus , beets, carrots, ramps, the list goes on and on. When the fresh tender greens start appearing in the market then I know that spring is officially here. Can’t wait to transition myself from all the cosy winter flavors to the exhilarating fresh spring flavors. For instance I made these ramps and mint compound butter last year and froze them in batches. This made it possible to enjoy the spring flavors for the rest of the year especially in the dead cold winter. This is when I really needed the refreshing spring flavors to brighten my mood.

Ramps and Mint Compound Butter.

Have you cooked with ramps before? What’s your favorite dish to cook with it. From pickling, to adding to my eggs, pasta or even chopping some in my salads, I love this wild spring produce. Not sure how much you know about ramps, but to keep it short, they are wild onions or leeks that literally grow wildly on their own. They are in season for the smallest amount of time and grow only in certain areas. Their strong garlicky flavor makes it super delicious.

The mint in the butter adds a revitalizing flavor that goes perfectly with the ramps. I also added lemon zest for a light, airy citrusy flavor. For any compound butter, it’s best to use good quality butter. Personally I like Irish butter or any European style butter. They are rich and have much creamier taste. Higher butter fat content in European butter makes the compound butter so creamy and delicious. American butter on the other hand have slightly higher water content, which works fine but certainly not the best to bake or cook with. 

Oops moment!

Make sure you use unsalted butter for this recipe. This does not totally disqualify the salted butter, what you would have to do is, adjust the salt to balance it out with the salted butter. This reminds me of how I did a major blunder when I made this butter. I didn’t read the wrapper, before I bought the butter and made the whole recipe without tasting it, wrapped and froze it. Since I made a few logs I gifted one to a friend. She messaged me saying that it tasted good. Of-course, that made me smile and super happy. Next day when I used it, I realized, how salty it was. It was really kind of my friend to be nice about the butter, I know she didn’t want to be mean, but in reality it was not. What I learnt from that mistake – always read the wrapper, and tasting as you cook or make a recipe is a Key. 

Butter Up.

If you love creamy herb flavored butter, then this ramps and mint compound butter is full of bright spring flavor. You have to make it this season. You can make logs and store in batches either in parchment paper or cling wrap. This makes it easy to slice as you need. It freezes well for a long time. You could also store in a butter jar in the refrigerator for 4-5 days or up to a week. If you are like me, you can make enough to enjoy all year long. 

It goes so well with white fish. Grill the fish and add a slice of this ramps and mint compound butter to add delicious flavor. You could even poach your fish with this butter. It doesn’t have to be white fish, it goes perfectly even with salmon. Fresh pasta and compound butter makes an amazing pasta meal. And a slice of this compound butter on a savory waffle, is beyond scrumptious; you know nothing beats a morning toast with compound butter. I could go on and on. This butter is so versatile and can dress up any dish with it’s flavorful and delicious spring flavor. 

If you make this Ramps and mint compound butter, I would love to see your favorite version to enjoy it with, so do share with me on my Facebook page , or Instagram.

If you want to preserve ramps in another delicious way then this Spring pesto would be something you would love. And who doesn’t like pesto right? Enjoy the spring and its beautiful green produce while it lasts. 

5 from 9 votes

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Ramps and Mint Compound Butter

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

5 mins

Total Time

15 mins

 

Ramps are in season for the smallest amount of time and grow only in certain areas. Their strong garlicky flavor and subtle onion notes makes them super delicious. The mint in the butter adds a revitalizing flavor that goes perfectly with the ramps. A little lemon zest for a light, airy citrusy flavor does the trick to give it just the edge that it has. The best thing is that you can put it away in the freezer and get to enjoy all year round.

Course: Compound Butter

Cuisine: French, American

Keyword: ramps and mint compound butter

Author: Esha

Ingredients

• 500 grams butter, unsalted
• 175 grams ramps
• 30 ml lemon juice
• 5-7 grams lemon zest
• 10 grams mint leaves, fresh
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 tsp freshly crack black pepper

Instructions

1. Clean the ramps thoroughly as they can have a lot of dirt. Wash the mint leaves as well and keep them aside. Make sure the mint stems are not included as they can add a bitter taste into the butter.

2. Cut the greens from the bulbs and set the bulbs aside.

3. Bring a large pot of water to boil and in another bowl putt ice cold water next to the boiling pot.

4. Switch off the heat and put in the leaves for 10 seconds and transfer them into the bowl with ice cold water to stop them from cooking. 

5. Strain the water and squeeze the leaves gently to remove all the water from them.

6. Lay them flat on a towel for 8-10 minutes to dry them.

7. In a food processor, add butter, ramp bulbs, ramp leaves, mint leaves, lemon juice, zest, salt and pepper. 

8. Process it for about 20 - 30 seconds or until it's well combined and butter becomes creamy.

9. You can store this in an air tight container in a refrigerator for 5-7 days. Or, divide the butter on to parchment or cling wrap and roll the butter to form tight logs. This is what I prefer. You could freeze these logs for however months you like and it's easy to slice when you need it.

10. Enjoy over your toast, on pasta or cook fish with it. The ways to use butter is endless. Enjoy!