Spring is a glorious time of the year to cook fresh, wild and gathered food. Take a walk in the woods and there are swathes of wild garlic leaves to gather. Its lush, tender green leaves are topped with a globe of tiny white flowers. Wild garlic grows close to bluebells and nettles in the shade. Brush a hand across the leaves and it sends up the unmistakable aroma of garlic. Unlike its cultivated relative, wild garlic is prized by chefs for its leaves and edible flowers. Its flavour is stronger than chives but milder than cultivated garlic. The leaves can be used to wrap around fish and then baked or chopped fresh to add to salads, herb mayonnaise. Throw in a tablespoon of chopped wild garlic leaves and flowers with freshly steamed Jersey Royal potatoes or strew them over crisp roasted potatoes. Both leaves and flower heads are edible but must be washed carefully before eating.
In the garden herbs are beginning to show. Mint is one of my favourite herbs and works well in both savoury and sweet dishes. I love it finely chopped with melon or as in the recipe below – an Asian inspired salad – teamed with pink grapefruit.
Angelica leaves are good at the moment. They look rather like the young leaves of celery and have the aroma of Chartreuse. These fragrant leaves can be used chopped over strawberries or other fruit such as stewed rhubarb. The young stems can be candied and used in cake making. Most garden centres sell angelica plants for about £3.00 a pot and it grows quickly into a stately plant with glorious white or purple umbels.
Some of the best seafood is available now until the end of July. Wild sea trout is an expensive treat and is very different from its farmed relative as it spends time at sea feeding naturally and getting fit. This gives it a sweet, firm flesh coral coloured flesh which lends itself to gentle cooking like poaching or baking in a parcel. A cheaper option at this time if the year is a white fish called hake. Hake is related to cod and lives in the cold deep water surrounding the British Isles. It has few bones and has firm clean white thick flesh and pairs beautifully with oven roasted tomatoes and chopped wild garlic leaves.
Fish parcels with wild garlic and oven roasted tomatoes
To serve this fish ‘en papillote’ is delightful. As each person unwraps their puffed up parcel they are mesmerized by aroma of wild garlic.
Serves 4
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 small tomatoes cut in half and oven roasted
- 4 leaves of fresh garlic, finely shredded
- 4 x 150g pieces of hake or other white fish
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the oven roasted tomatoes
Preheat the oven to 200C/ Mark 6. Lay the tomato halves face up on a baking tray and sprinkle with a little salt. Cook for about 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 150C/Mark 2 for a further half an hour or longer if you have time. Remove from the oven. The oven roasting concentrates the flavour of the tomatoes.
To make the fish parcels
Raise the temperature of the oven to 220C/Mark 7. Cut four 30cm (12 inch) squares of greaseproof paper and foil. Place the foil squares onto of the greaseproof paper ones and brush the foil lightly with oil. Place two halves of oven roasted tomato in the centre of each square of foil followed by a piece of fish and s scattering of chopped wild garlic leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Bring the edges of the foil and greaseproof paper together to make a parcel. Fold over the edges several times so that when the fish cooks, the steaming juices will make the parcels puff up. Place the parcels on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Lift the parcels of fish onto warmed plates and serve still wrapped.
Quick roasted potatoes with wild garlic
This is a quick, way of producing crisp potatoes packed with loads of flavour. There is no need to peel the potatoes. Just give them a good scrub and dry them carefully.
Serves 4
- 1 large old potato per person, scrubbed and cut roughly into approximate 2cm squares
- Olive oil
- Sea salt
- A handful of young wild garlic leaves, washed, dried and chopped roughly.
Preheat the oven to 220C/Mark 7. Dribble a little olive oil oven the base of a deep roasting dish or large cast iron frying pan. Place the cubed potatoes in the pan and toss them in the olive oil. Sprinkle a little ground sea salt over them and place in the hot oven for about 40 minutes. Half way through cooking turn, the potatoes over in the pan to make sure they are evenly browned. Just before serving scatter the chopped wild garlic leaves liberally over the crips, brown potatoes.
Strawberries with lemon verbena
Strawberries taste beautiful by themselves but their flavour also goes well with other herbs such as lemon verbena. This dish would pair up well with a few homemade meringues if you have time – if not good quality shop bought will do fine. Lemon verbena is a fragrant small bushy plant which can be used to flavour food and make a soothing tisane. Its leaves can also be picked, dried and placed in rooms to scent the air. Another great value herb which can be bought from most garden centres for around £3.00
Serves 4
- A small handful of lemon verbena leaves
- 45g granulated sugar
- 340g strawberries, hulled
- 250g Greek yogurt
Put the lemon verbena leaves into a mortar (or herb chopper) with the sugar and pound with a pestle until the sugar is crushed and the verbena leaves have been broken up. Roughly chop the strawberries and mix with the Greek yogurt. Add enough of the lemon scented sugar to sweeten.
Grapefruit and mint salad
Pink grapefruit is both sweet and sour and works well with mint in a bowl of fresh salad.
Serves 4
- 1 pink grapefruit, cut into thin segments
- 1 tbsp mint, finely chopped
- Salad leaves
Dressing
- Juice of 1 lemon, plus zest
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp honey
- Salt and pepper to taste
Mix the grapefruit, mint and salad leaves in a bowl. Combine the ingredients for the salad dressing in a jar and shake well. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and serve.
