We have reached that time of year where the hedgerows, woodlands and riverbanks start to produce a bountiful abundance of their produce that they have to offer.
With a small amount of foraging knowledge, a brief ramble in the countryside or maybe your local park can become as fruitful as a trip to even the most artisanal of food markets.
It’s hard to believe spring is well underway with all of the copious amounts of rain we have been having, as I sit here now the chilling wind is rapping at my door with its ghostly howls whistling at full speed around my yard. Winter may still be gripping on by her weak and brittle fingernails but the power of spring is not to be underestimated.
Elderflower buds are bursting, patiently containing themselves, hardened blackberry flowers stand firm and proud and wild damsons trees are contemplating starting to form their dark and pungent fruits. All these things and more are teetering on the edge of fulfilling their potential in life and providing not only us human folk but the entire countryside wildlife community too.
As a I am a budding pick your own type of person I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of nature’s finest, fortunately for me mother nature has provided us with two early cropping edible varieties of plants – Wild Garlic and Watercress.
I have to be honest, I have slightly jumped on the wild garlic band wagon, it is being mentioned and promoted everywhere from the food obcessed on twitter to the celebrity chefs we see on our TV’s. After seeing huge piles of the stuff on the vegetable stalls at London’s famous borough market ( at a premium price ), I decided to pull my hard working welly boots on and go on the lookout for the aromatic leafy greens myself. Donned with some helpful volunteers and some plastic bags we scoured the banks of a south Cheshire brook and came away a generous if not over enthusiastic amount of peppery wild watercress and bundles of gently scented wild garlic.
Each of these greens can be used in a similar way to spinach, normally a quick blanching is only recommended to retain as much flavour and greenness as possible, of course both can be eaten raw in salads or ground to a paste with some olive oil. Brave this discouraging weather, pull on your rain coats and go in search of some of spring’s earliest produce.
Watercress soup
A Glug of olive oil and a knob of salted butter
2 large handfuls of watercress – washed and thick stems discarded
1 large onion – chopped
1 leek – chopped
1 potato – un – peeled and diced
Around 500ml vegetable stock
2 large tablespoons crème fraiche
Wild garlic pesto to serve (recipe on my blog)
Put a heavy based frying pan onto a medium heat, add the olive oil and the butter then put in your chopped onions, leek and potato. Soften the veg for around 10 minutes on a medium to low heat, taking care not to let your vegetables colour.
Add your vegetable stock ( if you find there’s not enough to just cover the vegetables, top up with some water ) and allow to simmer for around 15 minutes or until your vegetables have softened.
Add the watercress to the soup and blanch for 3 minutes after this time take off the heat and blitz with a hand blender or in a food processor.
Once your soup is smooth season with black pepper, stir in your two tablespoons of crème fraiche and add a dollop of the pesto.
Wild Garlic Pesto
1 large hand sized bundle of wild garlic
1 small handful of parsley
1 small fist sized portion of grated parmesan
100g Brazil nuts
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Place your brazil nuts in a dry frying pan on a medium heat for around 10 minutes just to toast them slightly and release some of their tasty oils.
Place all of the ingredients except the olive oil into a food processor and blend until you have reached a paste like constancy (you can use a pestle and mortar, just bash the ingredients around a bit until you have the same paste like consistency). With the food processor slowly running drizzle in your olive oil until you reach your required texture.
Use as the same as you would normal pesto, add to soups, hot pasta and spread on toast instead of using butter.
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