Wild Garlic Soup

This soup is one of my favourite things to make with wild garlic. It's vibrant green colour really reminds me that spring is here, things are growing and colour is appearing everywhere! This soup broke my immersion blender! Even though the garlic was chopped fairly fine I'm assuming it got tangled around the blade so I reckon you'll be best off using and actual blender unless you have a sturdier stick one than I did!

Wild garlic soup

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 large handfuls wild garlic, roughly chopped
3-4 potatoes, cubed

1 onion, chopped
4 cups veg stock

Squeeze of lemon

Oil
Salt and pepper

Optional:
Wild garlic pesto
Toasted pine nuts

Method
Heat a little oil in a saucepan over a medium heat, add in the onion and potatoes, coat in the oil and fry gently for a few minutes, stirring regularly. 

Add the veg stock, bring to the boil and simmer until tender.

Add the wild garlic, salt and pepper and continue to simmer for a couple more minutes.

Blend, add a squeeze of lemon and serve.

Toast pine nuts in a frying pan for a couple of minutes and top with a blob of wild garlic pesto and toasted pine nuts.

Wild Garlic Pesto

This recipe is actually pretty tricky for me to write even though I've made it loads. I usually make a big batch to fill up a few jars. I start with a basic recipe and just keep adding extra of everything until the food processor is pretty full. Pesto is traditionally made with pine nuts but in the interest of keeping the cost down I usually opt for cashew nuts. Non vegan pesto contains Parmesan, you could sub it for some nutritional yeast if you like but I just miss it out entirely.

Experiment with nuts to give the pesto slightly different flavours, try subbing in some walnuts.

Wild garlic pesto

Ingredients

2 large handfuls of wild garlic leaves

1/2 cup cashew nuts

1/4 cup olive oil

Juice of a lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Add everything to the food processor and blend. I usually start with half of the lemon juice, give it a taste and add more if i feel it needs it (which I usually do, I like lemon!). Adjust the quantities to suit your taste.

If you make enough to fill a few jars you can pour a layer of olive oil over the top to 'seal' the pesto and store in the fridge. 

Foraging Wild Garlic

I thought I better get a post about foraging for wild garlic written whilst it's still wild garlic season and the stuff is growing like crazy all over the place! Wild garlic season is one of my favourite times of year.
Wild garlic, or Ramsons, can usually be found between April-June although I've noticed young shoots in late March this year.
Search in damp woodland areas, next to streams, boggy areas and next to hedgerows. You can smell the garlic way before you see it so you'll know when you've found the right place. Wild garlic can coat a woodland floor and it looks and smells glorious! I live in a valley and the conditions around here are perfect!
The leaves of the plant are long, spear shaped and fairly broad. The flowers are like balls of little white star shaped flowers on tall stems.
The leaves are edible, the flowers are edible, the entire plant is edible! The leaves can be used to make pesto among a whole host of other things. The flowers make pretty additions to salads and the buds can be pickled. Try to leave the plant's roots in the ground and follow these other tips for sustainable foraging to ensure the plant can regrow next year for more people to enjoy!