Spring Roots with Ramp Pecan Pesto and Feta

If and when I have a restaurant of my own, it will be the type with a prix fixe menu of whatever-I-feel-like-making from the ingredients in season, hopefully from my own farm. Oh, and it will feature this recipe. Making the most of spring vegetables - Garlicky Ramps, Fingerling Potatoes, Spring Onions, Heirloom Carrots, and huge White Turnips - this dish is simultaneously decadent, healthy, and good for the earth, the local community, and your wallet. How can you beat that?

I roughly chopped a few fingerlings, spring onion bulbs, turnips, big orange and purple heirloom carrots, and tossed them with a bit of olive oil and salt. I threw these in a 425 degree oven until they smelled good and were toasty golden. I chopped and sauteed the tops of the spring onions - the green parts - and a big handful of ramps in some olive oil. When they got soft, I added a few splashes of dry sherry. This mix went into the food processor with some Parmesan cheese, garlic, toasted pecans, salt, pepper, and more olive oil. This is SO GOOD, I could eat it on EVERYTHING. Yes. Everything.

When the roots were done, I topped them with the pesto and some good crumbled feta. A sprinkling of fresh chopped oregano from my garden and it was dinner time. There's no exact recipe here - and substitution is the name of the game. Use what you can find in your area or what you have in your fridge. Add your favorite herbs, play around with the roots, change up the cheeses, and use whatever toasted nuts you have.

Eating consciously is about enjoying locally grown and raised products in season, and meals like this prove how that never has to mean deprivation. Eat well, and keep your fingers crossed for my future restaurant. Blog readers get a discount.

A girl can dream.