Farfalle with Ramps, Morels and Smoked Chicken

Where to post this? Ramps 2009? Morels? Low and Slow? A bit of leftovers, a bit of luck, a great dinner:

6oz shredded leftover smoked chicken from Gary's "Low and Slow" Lesson 1 from Monday
4 slices thick-cut bacon
6oz fresh ramps
Pinch of chile flakes
1 lb Farfalle
6 oz leftover sauteed morels (that my brother foraged and cooked on Sunday)
6 oz shredded parmegianno or romano
salt and pepper, olive oil

Cut bacon into 1" squares, cook on medium-low in a large sautee pan, about 8 minutes until well rendered and crisp
While the bacon is rendering, clean the ramps, and cut bulbs and stems into 1" pieces, splitting large ones in half, and leaves into 2-3" pieces.
Set 4 quarts of water to boil with 1 tbs salt
Add chicken to bacon (there was some extra fat on the chicken, adding to the rendering). Remove the meat to a bowl, and put the bulbs and stems in the pan with 1/2C water. Simmer 10 minutes with the chile flakes, and put the farfalle in the boiling water for the same time.
Drain the pasta, reserving about 3/4C water.
Turn the heat on the pan up to medium. Add ramp leaves and cooked morels to the pan for a minute or so to wilt, then add pasta and reserved water. Cook for a bit until the water is mostly absorved. Add black pepper, 2/3 of the cheese and stir.
Serve with the remainder of the cheese and an optional garnish of olive oil.

Mmmmmm

MMMMmmmmmm!

Sounds excellent. Inspired flavor combos. I may have to steal it.

One question, I find it a bit odd that you blanched the ramps instead of sauteed them. Any particular reason?

Jazzfood wrote:Sounds excellent. Inspired flavor combos. I may have to steal it.

One question, I find it a bit odd that you blanched the ramps instead of sauteed them. Any particular reason?

The bulbs were more of a braise than a blanch. That's what the first result I found on a google search of "RECIPE PASTA RAMPS" suggested, and it seemed like a good idea to make them tender and flavor the fat. The smaller bulbs/stems sort of melted away into small strands.

The combination of ramps, smoke and lots of black pepper is really, really nice. The morels didn't add much, to tell the truth, mainly because they had been cooked separately and just added at the end.