Ramped Up Crostini with Ricotta and Pea Shoots Recipe on Food52 (2024)

Author Notes

Chopped ramps add crunch, bite and attitude to pristine, fluffy ricotta which is smeared over crostini and topped with a jumble of sweet pea shoots. This simple recipe highlights the freshest ingredients and the contrasting nice and naughty flavors of springtime. If you can't locate ramps in your market, then try substituting spring onions. - TasteFood —TasteFood

Test Kitchen Notes

WHO: TasteFood lives in San Francisco and has studied at at Le Cordon Bleu.
WHAT: Springtime crostini with complex flavors that never let on how easy they are to make.
HOW: It's practically just assembly: aromatics -- ramp bulbs, lemon zest, and mint -- are stirred into ricotta that's spooned onto toasted baguette then topped with pea shoots.
WHY WE LOVE IT: You wouldn't think raw ramp bulbs would be appealing, but they are offset so well by the creamy ricotta that FOOD52er Rivka even ate them for breakfast. —The Editors

What You'll Need

Ingredients

• 8
  1/2" thick slices baguette
• extra-virgin olive oil
  
• ¹/₂ cupfresh whole milk ricotta
  
• sea salt
  
• freshly ground black pepper
  
• ¹/₄ cupfinely chopped ramps or green garlic, bulbs and stems only (or substitute with the bulb and pale green parts of spring onions)
  
• 1 tablespoonfinely chopped mint leaves
  
• ¹/₂ teaspoonfinely grated lemon zest
  
• generous handful pea shoots
  
• ¹/₂ lemon