Seared Hosta Shoots, with or without Ramp Butter

Full Recipe: Hostas are harvested in Japan where they’re known as Urui-a type of Sansai or “mountain vegetable“ that also include bracken ferns, Japanese knotweed, the shoot of the angelica tree (Aralia elata) and others. They’re a delicious vegetable to get to know. All hosta species should be edible, the only trick is getting big, thick ones like I’m cooking here. Look around at garden stores and sellers for the largest plants you can find, as the smaller ones aren’t as good, and will cook much faster than larger ones. I serve them here with a quick pan sauce made from white wine, ramp butter and lemon, but they’re good any way you would enjoy asparagus. This is a nice example of how you can use ramp butter though. I prefer to put some color on hosta shoots in a pan as opposed to blanching them.