Ramps

While this recipe features scallions, Korean pancakes can be filled with almost anything: garlic chives, ramps, chrysanthemum leaves. If you want something a little more substantial, add squid or shrimp cut into  bite-sized pieces.

The combination of garlic and ramps may seem like overkill, but we promise it’s not. The garlic will mellow as it cooks while the ramps stay pungent.

Seasonal greens get even better when they’re decked out with cream, cheese, butter, and crispy torn bread.

Vegetables that are best served crisp-tender are a great accompaniment to a slow-roasted fish because they will come out perfectly cooked at the same time.

The lamb for these wraps—bursting with flavorful spices and herbs—is cooked in the oven, but it would also be amazing cooked on a grill.

These crispy little fritters taste like a three-way cross between onion tempura, blooming onion, and onion rings. If you can't find ramps, use thin scallions.

Guanciale, a type of Italian bacon, and ramps, an early-spring green onion, make this pasta unforgettable—but if you can't find them, pancetta and scallions will work too.

The pungent garlic notes in ramps make them the perfect accompaniment for any pasta dish.

Roast or grill ramps (technically a wild leek) to bring out their fragrant garlic notes.

I love savory jams and this one is a winner. The pectin will gel up the jam faster than just cooking it down to a paste, preserving the fresh flavor of the ramps. This is a go-to for a shaved pork loin or with steak and eggs on a Sunday morning. The recipe makes a lot, but it's worth canning and keeping through the year.

If you don't feel like making aioli, use prepared mayonnaise and season it with mustard and garlic.

The super-seasonal, crowd-pleasing chicken your Passover Seder needs.

When ramps are in season, stock up and make this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Swap in any soft cheese you like: Try ricotta, cream cheese, or an oozy burrata.

Ideas for serving: When I've got my grill going, I like to make my almost-Oaxacan tlayudas: I spread out commercially made tortillas (I buy them from a local tortillería and let them cool off completely) into a single layer, brush both sides of each one lightly but thoroughly with oil, then grill them until they're crisp. Once they cool, I break them into big rustic pieces for dipping into this guacamole. Wedges of grilled pita make a delicious and unexpected vehicle for dipping. For a pass-around appetizer, slices of crispy grilled baguette topped with a dollop of bacony guacamole are always a hit.

Every spring people make a hullabaloo about ramps, the wild leeks that grow in the forests of the East Coast, for good reason: they're wonderful, with a garlic-heavy leek flavor and a subtle sweetness. I pickle the ramps, put them in just about everything we eat (they're particularly great in omelets), and give them away by the armload. This pasta is a simple way to highlight their flavor.

Quickly grill ramps to make the most of their wild, earthy flavor.

White asparagus, ramps, and morels are the caviar, foie gras, and truffles of the vegetable world. Simply sautéing them together in brown butter and serving them with creamy polenta is one of my favorite ways to enjoy these edible trophies of spring.