Recipe Time : Wild Garlic

Daddy Native is starting to get bored with eating Wild Garlic in every single meal.  I'm not though! So I thought I'd share some of the many uses with you while it's at it's best at present and just about to bloom here.

My absolute favourite is simply wilted in a pan with some butter an served either as a side to roast chicken or inside a goey parmasan omelette.  My knees go weak at the idea, I'm easily pleased in Spring.

But to make the most of this glorious free vegetable and get even more fresh vitamins and minerals into your family you can also add it chopped up to smashed potatoes, all over salads (ramp up the vitamin count even further by throwing in some young dandelion leaves. If you chop them finely no one will even suspect they are there!) 

It's also good in stir frys with some ginger and a splash of soy sauce.

Wild Garlic Pesto




a big bunch freshly picked wild garlic leaves

50g shallot, spring onions or leeks

a small handful of shelled walnuts or whatever needs using up in your cupboard

200 ml olive oil, sunflower oil or rapeseed oil

50-60g mature hard cheese (like Parmesan or similar), finely grated

small tsp sea salt

a pinch of sugar

Put the garic leaves, walnuts, shallot and 150 ml oil in a food processor & blitz for about a minute until the everything is finely chopped up.
Fold in the grated cheese, salt and sugar
Fill into clean sterilised jars to within 5-7 cm of the top of jar.
Press down firmly with the back of a spoon to remove any pockets of air (trapped air can cause contamination) allowing sufficient room to swirl the remaining oil over the top of the pesto to seal the surface. Stir pesto well before using and make sure the surface of any pesto remaining in the jar is completely covered with oil before you return to the fridge. (important if it is to keep well).

Basic Wild Garlic Soup, with optional Pesto

For the soup

50 g butter 

1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped

2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

300 ml hot chicken or vegetable stock

1 big bunch of fresh wild garlic 

2 tbsp cream

For the pesto

2 handfuls wild garlic chopped
extra virgin olive oil 
50 g Hazelnuts, skins removed and toasted
50 g parmesan, roughly cubed


Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions and potatoes, cover with a lid and cook gently for 10 minutes or so until the onions are translucent. Add the stock to the potato and onion & bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook until the potatoes and onions are tender. Stir in the wild garlic leaves and cook for 1 more minute. Add the cream if using and stir.
Blend to desired consistency either in a food processor or using a stick blender as I do. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

For the pesto : crush together the hazelnuts, parmesan and wild garlic leaves in a pestle and mortar or beat them up on your chopping board depending on level of aggression that day.  Season with some pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and mix well. 

Serve with the pesto drizzled over the top.





Wild Garlic Risotto




100g pancetta, chopped into small cubes (i normally just use bacon bits as I'm a tight arse)
1 litre chicken stock
2 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
350g risotto rice
100ml dry white wine
4 big handfuls of wild garlic leaves (torn in half) and 1 handful of wild garlic flowers, if possible
25g parmesan, grated




Heat a shallow saucepan or risotto pan & add the bacon and cook over a gentle heat for a couple of minutes until it is starting to brown and release its fat. Meanwhile, heat the stock in another pan and keep at a very gentle simmer.
Add 1 tbsp butter to the bacon pan, then throw in the onion & cook for about five minutes until soft.
Tip in the rice and stir for a couple of minutes until it is coated with the butter.
Pour in the wine and stir.
Add a ladleful of the hot stock and cook until it has been absorbed, stirring constantly. Add another ladleful and repeat. Carry on adding stock and stirring until the liquid has thickened and the rice is just al dente. It should be slightly resistant in the middle, but without any hard chalkiness. Try not to let it turn into pudding! This should all take about 17-20 minutes from the moment you add the wine.
When the risotto is cooked, stir in the wild garlic, cheese and remaining butter.
Season, cover and rest for 4 minutes.
Divide into 4 bowls, stir a couple more whole wild garlic leaves into each one and finish with a scattering of garlic flowers, if you have them.

I do LOVE Nigel Slater. How I wish he was my next door neighbour..... Nigel Slater's nettle and wild garlic recipes

You can always rely on Eat Weeds to trump with a great wild recipe like this Wild Garlic Focaccia
 There is a theory, and a very attractive one at that living in Scotland that wild garlic detracts midges! Look here!