Ham Sandwich Indicted!

Ramp season is rapidly fading, so last weekend I stocked up on a bunch while I had the chance.  Since I still had some pickled from last year, I decided to try something a little different.  Inspired by the almighty internet, I tried my hand at making a ramp confit. To confit something is to cook an ingredient in fat, then store it in that same fat. Most typically, meats are confited--duck or goose confit is fairly common, and while it sounds fancy, it's essentially duck pieces slowly cooked in rendered duck fat then submerged and stored in the cooking fat.  It is an ancient means of preservation, as the fat keeps out air and bacteria, and was used (back in the day) to store food without refrigeration.  Vegetables can also be preserved via confit, and there are recipes out there using mushrooms, onions and garlic.  With ramps being part of the same family as onions and garlic, it made sense to give it a go and try to hang on to ramp season a little whil...

It's been a crazy few weeks at Ham Sandwich HQ.  A murderer got his just desserts (don't kill people, kids, it's not cool...and you'll go to prison), the Ham Sandwich celebrated another year on the planet ( Ad Hoc at Home AND The French Laundry  cookbooks? swoon ), and triathlon training started. Along with that last little project comes a revamping of some eating habits, which is good, I suppose, but unfortunate since I've been in a baking mood for a while. (I'm looking at you, butter-loaded recipes by Ree Drummond and sweet dough recipes in April's Bon Appetit... ) Week 1 of training started with this dish for dinner (and several lunches): polenta cakes with black bean and corn salsa (two times the corn!) and a shrimp and mango ceviche, courtesy of the talented and charming BF.  Polenta, essentially coarse grain cornmeal, is easy to cook with and pairs wonderfully with a million different things.  You can cook it and eat it right away, spooned o...