Browned Butter Ramp Compound Butter with Lemon Zest

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Deeply browned butter is blended with sliced ramp leaves, fresh lemon zest and left to compound into a flavorful spring condiment. This browned butter ramp compound butter with lemon zest is made using browned butter instead of the traditional straight from the fridge butter stick. The result is a toasted butter base mixed with fresh garlicky ramp ribbons, flecked with bright lemon zest. A different recipe for spring compound butter with foraged ramps, but take the extra step of browning the butter before for a more complex flavor.

If you’re new to cooking with ramps, take a look at my Full Ramp Guide, Everything You Need to Know About Ramps.

Ingredients

The ingredients in wild ramp compound butter recipe with browned butter are simple; this recipe is all about technique. If you’ve been looking for what to make with fresh ramps in spring, look no further. This fragrant ramp condiment melts perfectly over steak or stirred into pasta.

The Browning

Browning butter is the process of cooking unsalted butter over heat, toasting the milk solids and transforming the flavor into a deep, nutty, and of course buttery flavor. Below are some tips to craft the perfect browned butter:

• Start with unsalted butter.
• Butter should be at room temperature.
• Cut into chunks before adding to the pan for even heat distribution.
• For this technique I used a stainless steel pan (I prefer using cast iron in the kitchen) the clear pan bottom makes it easier to see all of the toasted milk particles at the bottom.
• Make sure to stir the butter continuously to avoid burning, making sure to scrap up any little bits that stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Once the butter is browned, remove from the heat immediately and pour into container to stop the butter from burning.

Compounding the Ramp Butter

The technique for this ramp compound butter is a little different from the traditional butter as the butter will be in liquid form after browning. I add the ramps, sea salt and lemon zest at this point, blending, and then solidifying in the fridge until ready to use.

How to Use Ramp Compound Butter

This flavorful foraged condiment has tons of culinary uses. The question is not what to do with compound butter, but when can we make more browned butter compound butter? These are some of my favorite ways to use it:

Slather this flavorful ramp filled butter over grilled steaks.

If you love ramps in sauce form, this wild ramp cream sauce is another deeply flavored spring condiment worth making alongside this butter – together they cover every ramp craving of the season.

Spread over warm toasted sourdough bread.

It also works beautifully alongside this wild ramp ricotta calzone – melt a slice over the top straight from the oven.

Stir and let melt into hot pasta.

Slice a coin over softly scrambled eggs.

Finish with a pinch of roasted ramp salt for a double ramp moment that is deeply savory and completely worth it.

Storing Your Compound Butter

If you want to savor the ramp season flavor a bit longer, store this butter in the freezer for future use. You can also keep in the fridge, this compound butter will last 10 days in a sealed container or wrapped in a parchment paper log. Speaking of logs, if you want to shape this into a parchment paper log, take the compound butter out of the refrigerator after initial compounding and let sit for 10 minutes until softened. Scoop onto the center parchment paper square and fold the edges over, rolling gently to create a log. Twist ends to seal, and store in fridge until ready to use.

If you still have ramps left after making a batch of this butter, this wild ramp pesto with anchovy and pistachio is another deeply savory spring condiment worth making before the season ends.

Ramp season is short – find out what else is worth foraging this spring in the full spring foraging guide.