this little post should really have been published a few weeks ago, however as always life gets in the way of doing beautiful things like blogging!
The woodlands surrounding our house are filled with white whirls of wild garlic,
Anyway for those of you with any wild garlic filling the woodlands around you , here are a few little weekend recipes for putting it to good use!
one of my favourites is wild garlic pesto.
i dont really measure i do it by eye!
so you need a couple of big handfuls of wild garlic leaves - well washed and dried in a salad spinner or on a tea towel. a handful of fresh basil - stalks leaves and all, a handful of roasted almonds (cheaper than pine nuts yet just as tasty!) a handful of grated parmesan or pecorino, a good glug of olive oil and a pinch of seasalt. (NOTICE NO CLOVE OF GARLIC - THE WILD GARLIC LEAVES ARE GARLICKY ENOUGH).
put all of the ingredients into a food processor and blitz together adding a dribble more oil if needed till you get a consistency you like. - I have quite a powerful processor so if yours isn't give the nuts a quick whizz first to break them down a bit.
when you've made your pesto you can use it on pasta, under the skin of a chicken before roasting, dribbled over a tomato and mozzarella salad, or in these little cheese sable biscuits.
blitz equal quantities of flour, grated cheese and butter in the processor till a ball of soft buttery dough comes together. flatten it out on to a piece of greaseproof paper and spread with your wild garlic pesto, then roll up into a sausage shape , wrap in the peer and refrigerate for at least an hour. when the dough has chilled, unwrap it and slice into discs about half a cm thick and bake in a medium oven till just golden. - BE WARNED THESE ARE SERIOUSLY ADDICTIVE!
wild garlic flowers make the most delicious fritters served with a chilled glass of wine!
mix equal quantities (i use 1/4 cup measure) of plain flour and cornflour in a roomy bowl, season and whisk in very chilled lager till you have the consistency of double cream. heat a good 3cm sunflower oil in a small pan and deep fry your fritters a few at a time, sprinkle with a bit of seasalt and fresh ground pepper and serve with some sweet chilli sauce to dip into!
I'm sorry - i didn't get an after shot because my greedy family scoffed all of the fritters before i could photograph them!!!