#19 - The Wild Garlic Special - by Sophie Wyburd
It’s wild garlic season!! The time when British woodlands are overgrown with these floppy green leaves. Even in London, you can find patches of it in some parks - my local spot to forage it is Crystal Palace Park, in the wooded area alongside Crystal Palace Park Road, heading down towards Penge. You can buy it from retailers like Natoora, available from sites like Ocado and Waitrose, but it can get pricey, and it is FREE when you go and pick it yourself.
If foraging feels scary to you, fear not! Take a plastic bag and a pair of scissors, and follow these tips for a good time:
Go for patches as set back from pathways as possible to avoid any dog pee contamination.
The best leaves are the young ones - they are small, shiny, and bright green. Avoid anything that looks too damaged or tough.
Cut the leaves, but leave the stems and flowers on the ground
Yes, dogs and other animals might have peed on it, no matter how far away from a path you went to pick it. It’s important you give it a really good wash, and also blanche it in boiling water before doing anything with it to avoid contamination.
Now you’ve got your wild garlic, here are some recipes you can cook it up in! Happy foraging, and happy cooking x
Pesto does seem to be the most common way that wild garlic is prepared, and that is because it is delightful. It is very important that you blanche the leaves, though, to banish any nasty park germs. A happy side effect of this is that you get a really vibrant green colour. Creamy burrata is the perfect thing to swoosh through the mix.
Serves 4
120g wild garlic
70g parmesan
100g pine nuts
1 clove of garlic
2 shallots
500g orzo
1.4L chicken or veg stock
1 ball of burrata
salt, pepper and olive oil
Get a frying pan over a medium heat, and add your pine nuts. Toast them until they are golden.
Add 70g of your pine nuts to a blender, setting aside 30g of your pine nuts for a garnish later. Get your wild garlic and garlic clove into the blender, then grate in your parmesan. Add about 50ml of olive oil, then blend it until it's smooth. You may need to add a splash or two of water to get it to a smooth sauce.
Peel and finely dice your shallots.
Heat your sauté pan over a medium heat, and add a few tbsp of olive oil. Tip your shallots into the pan, and cook them over a low heat for about 10 minutes, until they are softened.
Tip your orzo into the pan, and give it a mix. Pour your stock in the pan, and bring it up to a boil. Turn down the heat, and simmer it for 8 minutes, stirring it frequently to prevent it from sticking to the base of the pan.
Add your pesto to the pan, and give it a good stir. Season it to taste with salt and pepper.
Spoon your orzotto into bowls and top with your burrata, a little parmesan and a handful of pine nuts. Serve it up.
I recently got a copy of Spasia Dinkovski’s fabulous book Doma, filled with incredible Balkan recipes, and it got me inspired to make a big filo pie. Spasia owns the phenomenal Mystic Burek, a shop in Sydenham selling enormous pies filled with all kinds of exciting things (think beef and jalapeño ragu, smoked potato and taleggio). I’d say these are a top 10 London nibble for me.
The pie recipe I’ve got for you here is slightly more traditionally flavoured, with lots of wild garlic, herbs, leeks and cheese to give you a mild and creamy middle. It’s great hot, but will keep for a few days and is still excellent at room temperature. It’s one of those dishes which is beautiful enough to be a centrepiece, but is still relaxed enough to bring to a picnic or as a meal for a long journey.
Serves 6-8
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