I had a foodie faux pas this weekend. I admitted that I had never heard of ramps before. (omg! you’re kidding me?!)

All of a sudden, like they appeared out of nowhere and were the most anticipated thing since the release of No Strings Attached (ok, maybe only I understand that excitement…). After hearing about ramps all over Twitter and reading about their spring debut on Metrocurean I felt like I was missing out on something. I didn’t have to wait much longer until I got to try my first ramps at Poste that night. Eh, they tasted like spinach. Nothing special. (I was focused more on the incredible strawberry rhubarb crumble that was made to order. yum!)

I didn’t expect to give ramps another chance, but when I came across them at the Dupont Circle Farmer’s Market on Sunday (and was so surprised there were any left at 11am with everyone talking about buying them all up) I bought a bunch. Why not, I’ll give it a shot. Ramps are sooo the “in” veggie right now.

So I made creamy parmesan pasta with sautéed ramps and tomatoes. And I think it was some of the best past I’ve ever had. Seriously. Win.

I could really taste the garlic that makes ramps so special. It was a perfect spring dish and although it has heavy cream in it (gotta stop keeping that in my fridge!) it was really light.

I hope there will be more ramps again at the market this Sunday, but if not and the window has closed, I’ll be prepared and waiting for next year.

I couldn’t really tell you the recipe, because I seriously just improvised as I was cooking…. but here’s an idea:

• Cook pasta in salted water.
• In a separate pan, sauté grape tomatoes in olive oil until they start splitting.
• Cut off the bottom white parts of the ramps and sauté in butter until translucent. Add the leafy parts and a little water and continue to cook. Mix in some heavy cream and a lot of parmesan cheese.
• Add the tomatoes to the ramps and cream sauce and pour over cooked pasta. Add a little more cheese on top.