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Wild garlic dishes
Wild garlic
Allium ursinum, Ail des Ours, Bärlauch
Bears, it seems, really do like wild garlic - hence the plant's name in almost any language but English. Fortunately there aren't too many bears left around here - the only other company I meet as I venture off into the beech forests with my basket is the woodsman with his chainsaw. He takes a welcome break from cutting up firewood to chat. He seems a bit puzzled - maybe even wistful - that these days few people in the village still come to pick it, recalling the time when it was a familiar element on most spring tables - in soups or salads.
Like the bears, I love wild garlic and am always delighted when it emerges punctually again each spring, carpeting the forest floor with its spear-like green leaves, always growing close to boggy bits or beside streams and often joined by a few brilliant yellow King Cups (marsh marigolds). It's one of those plants that the body somehow craves at the end of winter - sort of cleansing, clean, fresh and pungent, after the stodgy tedium of winter. Here are some nice ideas, including some more modern ones (pesto, risotto) for putting it to good use.
WILD GARLIC SOUP
The woods around the little village of Kiffis in the Jura are heaving with wild garlic at the moment. Here’s a classic recipe from André Walther, chef at the Cheval Blanc in Kiffis, one of our favourite country auberges.
Serves 4
2 good handfuls of wild garlic leaves, trimmed and chopped
1 litre water
100ml whipping cream
25g butter
2-3 spring onions or shallots, finely chopped
2-3 large floury potatoes, peeled and cubed
salt and pepper
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Bring the water to a boil and cook the wild garlic for 5 minutes
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Lift out leaves with a slotted spoon and reserve the water
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Put the leaves and cream in the liquidizer or food processor and reduce to a purée
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Heat the butter in a saucepan and soften the spring onions gently in it without allowing them to brown
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Pour on the reserved cooking water, bring to the boil and toss in the potato cubes
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Simmer for 20 minutes, cool a little, then pour into the liquidizer or food processor and blend with the puréed garlic leaves until smooth
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Return the soup to the saucepan, bring to the boil and season to taste
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Adjust if necessary – don’t allow to boil for more than a couple of minutes, otherwise it will lose its brilliant green colour
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Serve at once with croutons or good, crusty bread
WILD GARLIC PESTO
This makes a brilliant green pesto, great on top of soups, or for pasta, or stirred into a risotto or pilaff. It also goes well with lamburgers – burgers made from cut-offs from a well-trimmed shoulder of lamb.
Makes about 300ml – a generous cupful
100g wild garlic leaves, weighed after de-stalking
1 tsp salt
25g pine nuts or blanched almonds or walnuts
100ml (4-5 tbsp) olive oil
50g freshly grated Parmesan, Pecorino or Grana Padano
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Wash the wild garlic leaves and chop roughly
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Put them in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth with the remaining ingredients
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Pack into small screwtop jars or other perfectly airtight containers
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Keep refrigerated and use within 1-2 months
FILET MIGNON OF PORK WITH WILD GARLIC SAUCE
The pork in this yummy spring recipe is done using the low temperature roasting (actually, baking) method. The oven is at a mere 80oC - cool enough for you to heat the plates at the same time (or bake a batch of meringues). I almost never use any other method nowadays to do meat, provided it’s a tender, boneless piece. It stays beautifully moist and doesn’t shrink, there’s no mess in the oven and timing is pretty elastic, allowing for forgetfulness/late arrivals/prolonged sessions checking your emails. Best of all, after the initial searing in a frying pan (not sealing, which is a myth), the meat pretty much takes care of itself. Give tenderloins at least 1 hour in the oven, but if you leave them another half an hour, they won’t overcook or dry out. The same sauce, BTW, is brilliant with lamb.
Serves 6
2 filet mignons of pork (about 350g each)
salt and pepper
olive oil for searing the pork
a good handful (about 100g) of wild garlic
250ml crème fraîche liquide (whipping cream)
2 tsp cornstarch (Maizena)
salt and pepper
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Season the pork with salt and pepper
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Heat the oven to 80oC and put in some plates and a serving dish to heat
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Pat the pork dry with paper towels (otherwise it won’t brown)
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Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan
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When the oil is thoroughly hot, sear the pork fillets on all sides (the ends too) until evenly golden-brown and a bit crusty – between 5 and 10 minutes in all
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Transfer the pork to the serving dish in the oven and bake for 1-1½ hours
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While the pork is in the oven, boil 1 cup of water in a saucepan with a pinch of salt, blanch the wild garlic for 5 minutes
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Tip greenery and water into the liquidizer, add cornstarch and cream and blend till smooth (or blend in the pan with a hand-held blender); set sauce aside till needed
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Shortly before serving, bring the sauce to a boil in the pan and simmer 5 minutes; season with salt and pepper as needed (taste it)
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Slice the pork and serve with some sauce on the warm plates
BOULGOUR SALAD WITH STIR-FRIED VEGETABLES
AND WILD GARLIC
This nutty salad of cracked wheat (also known variously as bulgur or burghul), assorted vegetables, olive oil and lemon juice has an earthy, peasant flavour and great texture. Use whatever is in season now: young carrots, baby turnips, coco beans, broad beans, asparagus, plus some shredded wild garlic leaves for colour and punch.
Serves 4-6
2 spring onions, finely chopped
olive oil
250g bulgur/burghul/cracked wheat
500ml water + 1 stock cube
salt and pepper
2 lemons
3 spring onions, sliced in 5 cm bias-cut pieces
a walnut-sized piece fresh ginger, cut in thin strips
2 cloves garlic, sliced
about 500g assorted spring vegetables, trimmed (baby carrots, turnips, shelled broad beans, green beans etc.)
salt and pepper
a handful of wild garlic leaves, finely shredded
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Soften the onions in 2 tbsp olive oil without browning
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Add the cracked wheat and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes
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Boil the water and dissolve the stock cube in it
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Add it to the cracked wheat, cover the pan and turn off the heat
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Leave for 10 minutes to allow all the liquid to be absorbed
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Fork up the wheat, season to taste and put it in a serving dish
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Add juice of 1 lemon and 3 tbsp olive oil, mixing well
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Heat a wok or large frying pan, add 1 tbsp olive oil and get it good and hot
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Add the spring onions, ginger and garlic and stir-fry for a minute
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Toss in the harder vegetables - carrots, turnips - and stir-fry for 4-5 minutes, add the rest by degrees, stirring madly the while – keep stirring and tasting - stop cooking when they are just tender
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Stir in the wild garlic and the juice of another lemon
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Add the vegetables to the bulgour, stir to mix well
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Serve the salad at room temperature
WILD GARLIC RISOTTO
Here’s a great, spring green risotto. If you have a few green asparagus spears loafing around, they make a nice addition. The method suggested is the one used in restaurants for risotto – you stop the cooking halfway through, let it cool down and finish it off later at your convenience.
Serves 4-6
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
300g round-grain (risotto) rice
200ml dry white wine
1 litre [about 4 cups] chicken or vegetable stock
a little butter
a handful of wild garlic leaves (about 40), trimmed and chopped
garnish: shavings of Parmesan/Grana Padano or some cooked, shelled prawns
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Heat the oil in a deep saucepan or small casserole and soften the shallot gently in it without allowing it to brown
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Stir in the rice and fry it gently for 5-6 minutes or until thoroughly glistening - it shouldn’t brown
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Add the wine and cook, stirring, until completely absorbed
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Add a cup of stock, and cook, stirring until absorbed once more
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Add two more cups of stock, repeating the procedure each time. (You should have a cup of stock left). If you don’t want to complete the cooking yet, pull the pan off the heat and tip the rice into a shallow dish or plate so it can get quite cool. The risotto can then be refrigerated and finished later
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About 10 minutes before serving, reheat the remaining stock
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Put it in the blender with the wild garlic and blend till smooth
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Melt a little butter in the pan, add the cooled risotto and the hot, garlic-infused stock
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Cook, stirring, until the stock is absorbed
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Start tasting – the risotto should be quite liquid, and the grains just. Add more stock if necessary
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Serve with shavings of Parmesan or Grana Padano, pared off with a potato peeler, or with the prawns
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