I love this time of year. Spring is in the air, and I can finally break out of my kitchen and head for the great outdoors in search of wild and wonderful ingredients.
Winter is not a great time for foraging, you see - what with the cold, rain and snow, you’d be hard pushed to find anything edible - let alone tasty - growing amongst the bushes. But now the sun is starting to creep through, it’s my sign that I’m about to get my hands on all sorts of deliciously wild ingredients from as close to home as the Brocket Hall Estate grounds where my restaurant, Auberge du Lac, is situated.
Despite my passion for foraging, I have to admit that I’m rather hesitant about encouraging people to forage. Not to sound boring, but picking mushrooms, for example, is not something that anyone should take on lightly – believe it or not, there’s a lot of skill involved in identifying the types of mushrooms, and getting it wrong can have very serious consequences.
However, there are some wild ingredients that I’m not quite so strict about – my favourite being the one that you can probably smell right now if you try hard enough… Wild Garlic! Foraging for wild garlic is a whole different ball game to mushrooms and the like – yes, you still need to be careful, but if you let your nose lead the way, you can’t go too far wrong.
Wild garlic is usually found in woodlands, near or among the bluebells. Once you’ve spotted it, you’ll probably notice just how much of it there is – some describe it as a carpet of wild garlic! It is identifiable by its lush leaves, and more importantly, its smell. Before collecting it, rub and crush some of the leaves in your hand to ensure the familiar scent of the garlic is released.
Unlike domestic garlic, wild garlic is championed for its leaves, rather than its bulbs – although everything is edible, from the bulb to the flowers. The leaves start appearing from early March and they only really last until late May. Late May is when the flowers arrive, though, so all is not lost, although they are much smaller in quantity than the leaves. In early autumn you can actually dig up the bulb itself and use it as you would a domestic garlic bulb – but be warned, you won’t find it split into handy cloves, and it would spell the end of your garlic plant.
Wild garlic has a very similar taste to domestic garlic, but it is slightly milder, and you may be pleased to hear that it doesn’t take hold of your breath in the same powerful way either! The leaves are absolutely delicious raw or cooked, and work very well in salads and soups. I personally love stirring them in to pastas and risottos too – here is one of my favourite risotto recipes:
Wild Garlic Risotto
Ingredients:
- Splash of olive oil
- 50g goat's butter
- 4 shallots - diced
- 2 cloves of garlic - chopped
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 200g risotto rice
- 100ml white wine
- 600ml chicken stock
- 100g parmesan cheese
- 100g mascarpone
- 200g wild garlic leaves - washed and chopped
- Lemon juice - optional
Method:
- Add the shallots, garlic, thyme, and a pinch of salt to a pan with the olive oil and butter
- Sweat down for 4-5 minutes, or until translucent
- Add the risotto rice and sweat down for a further 4-5 minutes, or until translucent
- Add the white wine
- Add the chicken stock 100ml at a time - stirring all the time. Wait until each 100ml of chicken stock has been absorbed before adding the next. This will take approximately 18-20 minutes
- Take the rice off the heat
- Stir in the parmesan and mascarpone, and check if it needs seasoning
- Pop a lid on and let it rest for 4-5 minutes
- Stir in the chopped wild garlic leaves
- If desired, finish with a squeeze of lemon juice
