Daily Slice gives a quick snapshot each weekday of a different slice or pie that the folks at the Serious Eats empire have enjoyed lately.
[Terrible iPhone photo because I never bring a camera to Motorino because we've already written about everything there, right?: Carey Jones]
I can never, ever see ramps on a menu without thinking of Adam Kuban. Two or three springs ago, every time we'd read about, write about, or tweet about the mellow green alliums, Adam would cut off conversation with a gutturel and slightly crazed RAAAAAAAMPS!!!!. If I had it recorded, I'd embed it here. Presumably, he was just poking a bit of fun at the food blogosphere's worship of the things.
This does a pretty good job of capturing Adam's rammmmmp voice.
So, Kuban, it's with you in mind that I'm Daily Slice-in this ramp pizza. If you've read Slice even occasionally, you know that we're huge fans of Mathieu Palombino's Motorino, with its puffy crusts and beautiful char and just-interesting-enough toppings. It wasn't too much of a surprise that this pie was awesome. It's just a tomato-based sauce with pecorino and no small amount of chopped-up ramps, both the green parts and the base, more than enough that they're the predominant flavor even in the midst of those other ingredients. In a way, their slightly garlicky, slightly sweet character is a perfect match for pizza, where so many pies already sport sweet tomato sauce and plenty of garlic. Ramp fiends, get this one before it's gone.
Motorino
349 East 12th Street, New York NY 10003 (near First Avenue; map)
212-777-2644; motorinopizza.com
About the author: Carey Jones is the Senior Managing Editor of Serious Eats. Follow her on Twitter (@careyjones).