Ramps, Mushrooms and Spinach Tart

Ramps…so beautiful, so flavorful, so unbeknownst to me! Until now that is. And as soon as I learned about their existence, I was itching to get my hands on some. So imagine my sheer joy when I found out I would be getting ramps in my CSA box this past weekend. But I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with it. Then I saw a post on Closet Cooking for Mushroom and Goat Strudels. The combination of savory and phyllo dough intrigued me, so I adapted the recipe to incorporate the ramps I got…with delicious results!

So the thing is, I have never worked with phyllo dough. In fact, I steer clear of it because of the horror stories I hear from others. “It’s too delicate to work with”…”It tears so easily, it’s hard to keep a filling in it”…”What is phyllo dough?”. Okay that last comment was from one of my friends who can’t even boil water, but it still counts, right? Either way, I didn’t relish the idea of using the dough in this recipe. But lately, I have been taking on more and more daring cooking challenges, so I threw caution to the wind and laid the smackdown on the phyllo dough!

1 bunch ramps

1 package portabello mushrooms

2 cloves garlic

3 cups spinach

1/4 cup fig infused vinegar

1/4 cup port

Salt and pepper to taste

2-4 cups Gruyere cheese, grated (depends on your level of cheese love)

9 sheets phyllo dough (take them out of the refrigerator to thaw)

Olive oil to brush phyllo sheets

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Chop off the ends of the ramps and dice the remaining stalk, including the leaves. Turn to the mushrooms, chop them up and set aside. Place a little olive oil in a saucepan on medium heat and saute the ramps, mushrooms and garlic for about five minutes, or until the ramps have wilted a bit. Throw in the spinach and continue cooking until the spinach has wilted. Lower the heat a bit and add the vinegar and the port, cooking until both liquids have reduced. Add the salt and pepper to taste and remove the mixture from the heat.

While the ramp mixture cools, turn to the phyllo dough. Place a large sheet of parchment paper on a clean surface. Carefully place one sheet on the parchment paper and with a light hand, brush it with the olive oil. Place a second sheet on top of the oiled sheet (again using a light touch) and brush it with olive oil. Repeat with the third sheet. Place a line of the cheese along one of the long ends of the phyllo dough and then spoon some of the ramp mixture on top of the cheese. Now it’s time to roll the dough (I stopped and prepared myself before continuing…how could I let dough intimidate me?). Fold in the short ends of the dough to about a 1/2 inch (thanks for the rolling tips Kevin!) and then carefully start rolling the dough lengthwise. Place the tart seam side down on a baking sheet and continue the process for the remaining pieces of phyllo dough (this recipe makes three long tarts). Bake the tarts for 10-15 minutes, or until the sheets are golden brown. Allow to cool and then cut each tart into 3 or 4 equal parts (it depends on how big you want each individual tart to be).