It’s good to be back!  After a long break to recharge our batteries as Hungry Nation went through a transitional phase, we’re back and ready to take on the summer with lots of great episodes. 

Our first, HiB: Pittsburgh, explores the humble Ramp.  Because they’re the first signs of spring, chefs LOVE them. Though they’re no longer in season, you’ll probably be enjoying pickled ramps all summer long at local restaurants.  They’re essentially wild leeks, and can be used interchangeably with other cultivated crops in the onion and garlic family like scallions, spring onions, and garlic chives.  Check out the video, and as usual, the recipe is posted below! 

RAMP AND VEGETABLE SCRAMBLE: 

(serves 2)

1 TBSP butter 

1 TBSP olive oil 

1 cup chopped oyster mushrooms

1/3 lb. asparagus, chopped on the bias

4 ramps (or 4 scallions, if ramps are not available)

4 eggs

parmesan cheese 

salt & pepper

In a sautee pan over medium heat, combine the butter and olive oil.  Separate the ramp leaves from the cloves and set aside.  Chop the ramp cloves and add them to the saute pan along with the mushrooms and asparagus. Salt and pepper. Allow to soften, about 5 minutes.  Chiffonade the ramp leaves and add them to the sautee pan to wilt, about 1 minute more.  

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and the splash of milk, and pour into the pan.  Allow to set for about 30 seconds, add a generous pinch of salt and a crack of black pepper, and scramble until your desired consistency.  Grate parmesan cheese over the top, stir, and garnish with extra parmesan before serving.  

Enjoy! 

Ice cream is by-far my favorite dessert, and it’s actually really easy to make at home provided you have an Ice Cream Machine. The beauty in making your own ice cream is that you control everything about it.  Buy the freshest cream from the farmers market, the best milk from grass-fed cows, organic and fair trade vanilla beans, farm-fresh eggs…you get the picture. When you have taken care to source perfect ingredients, then put those ingredients to use in a decadent dessert, it tastes that much sweeter. Gives new meaning to “guilt free.”  

Here’s a quick demonstration on how to make the perfect vanilla ice cream, straight up. If you care to add anything to it-fruit, chocolate, marshmallow, cookie dough-do so in the last couple minutes of churning.  I served mine Paulie Gee style with Ovenly’s Spicy Bacon Caramel Corn, which I’ve been obsessed with ever since meeting them at Thrillist’s Bacon and Blues party last October.  It really is the perfect complex accompaniment to this super simple, classic ice cream. 

HOMEMADE VANILLA ICE CREAM: 

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 vanilla bean, scraped 

6 egg yolks

2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat the milk, sugar, scraped vanilla beans and pod, and salt over medium heat until warm. Whisk the six egg yolks and slowly temper the warm milk into the egg yolks, bit by bit until it’s all incorporated.  Be sure to take your time so that the warm milk does not cook the yolks.  Return the milk and egg mixture back to the pot and stir constantly over low heat until the custard reaches 170 degrees.  

Set up an ice bath in a large bowl, and place a smaller nesting bowl inside it with a strainer over the top.  Pour the cream and vanilla through the strainer, and then the heated custard.  Stir to incorporate and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, though overnight is best. 

Remove the vanilla bean pod, and freeze the ice cream in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer instructions.  Put it back in the freezer to harden before serving.  Dig in and enjoy!

I am who I am because of my mom. I owe so much to her, especially when it comes to cooking.  She is a fabulous cook who has honed her skills over many years, and never settles for anything less than the very best ingredients.  There was a time when maybe I didn’t appreciate her cooking; like when my friends in the elementary school cafeteria had bologna sandwiches on fluffy, white, never-go-stale bread; while my crusty, fresh-baked bread was soggy from how juicy and fresh (and probably homegrown) the tomatoes on my sandwich were. Farmers markets a recent trend?  Not in my mom’s world. She had been going to the Amish farmers markets outside of Pittsburgh since the eighties. And I’ll never forget the smell of vitamins and protein powder from my least favorite place of all: the health food store, which we frequented often.

Today she and my dad live in Minnesota, where there is quite an amazing food movement.  We bond every day over the food we’ve made in the past week, the specials at our local Whole Foods, and what’s in season at our respective farmers markets.  Even though we’re separated by a couple thousand miles, food brings us together.  And most of my ideas for recipes start with a seed planted by my mom. 

Most of all, I have her to thank for giving my brother and I credit when we were kids.  She respected us enough to leave the crust on our sandwiches, put green vegetables on our plates, and let us decide for ourselves whether we liked a particular food or not.  She didn’t treat us like children with children’s palates.  We were blank canvases ready to experience all the new and exciting things she too was discovering as the organic movement picked up.

Today she is an inspiration, staying healthy by eating an entirely organic diet, seeking out raw milk products in dark parking lots (raw milk is illegal in Minnesota), and developing relationships with her favorite farmers at the weekly farmers market where she gets her eggs, meat and produce.

So here’s to you, Mom, on this Mothers Day.  Even though I’m Hungry in Brooklyn, I’ll always know you’re cooking up something delicious and healthy back home.

P.S. Save me an organic lamb lollipop :) 


A RECIPE TO HONOR MOM:

Need a great idea for a Mother’s Day Brunch?  Why not buy your mom a cast iron skillet, and use it to cook up this delicious egg dish.  Breakfast in bed, and she gets to keep the pan!

BAKED EGGS IN CAST IRON

2 tablespoons butter
2 heirloom tomatoes - sliced
4 ounces sheep’s milk feta cheese
6 eggs
10-15 fresh (small) basil leaves
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon of creme fraiche
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 6-inch cast iron skillet.  Arrange the sliced tomatoes thoughtfully across the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle with crumbled feta.  Crack the eggs directly into the pan, making sure not to break the yolks.  Arrange the basil evenly, and drizzle with heavy cream.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven, add the tablespoon of creme fraiche, and place back in the broiler for about 1 minute, until the whites are set and the dish is bubbling.

The eggs prior to baking!

Enjoy the eggs with a blood orange mimosa or a bacon-infused Bloody Mary.