I had no idea that there were ramps in Spain.

Actually, I’m pretty certain that there are none, but tonight, after bringing home an exceptional cut of pork which I associate with Spain, I took a few liberties with what I still saw as a rather Spanish dinner, and the ramps were a part of that.

The meal was absolutely delicious, meat and vegetables, and I will definitely be revisiting both.

• one pound of pork secreto, from Brooklyn’s The Meat Hook, dried, seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground Telicherry pepper, and a little finely-minced garlic from Trader Joe’s, seared and sautéed in a very large (13″) seasoned cast-iron pan over high heat for 2 minutes on each side, removed, placed on 2 plates over beds of watercress from Lucky Dog Organic Farm which had been washed, dried, and dressed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, the pork then sprinkled with a little local Lisbon lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, some olive oil, with a small amount of homemade French Basque piment d’Espellate (purchased in a small town north of Baie-Comeau, Quebec last year from the producer’s daughter) placed on the table as a condiment
• twelve ounces of red thumb potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, boiled in salted water until tender, drained, dried in the same pot in which they had cooked,, allowed to cool most of the, way, seasoned with salt and pepper, tossed with 2 ramps and the olive oil in which the chopped  bulbs had been sautéed and the sliced leaves wilted, drizzled with a freshly-made alioli
• the wine was a Spanish (La Mancha) red, Bodegas Volver Single Vineyard La Mancha 2013, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was Leif Segerstam’s Symphony No. 16, ‘Thoughts at the Border’