Wild Garlic

                   

We regularly go to the woods near our home for a walk and play in the muddy stream. I am a firm believer in outdoor play and try to take my children outdoors to play and explore as much as possible. Unfortunately, the grey and wet British weather does not always allow for such outings as much as I would like. It is fine and even fun to go out in the wind and rain some of the time, in fact, the children adore splashing in puddles - just try and stop them! However, I much prefer going out in the sunshine. There's just something about seeing the sunshine that puts a smile on my face.

During a recent trip to the woods, I picked some wild garlic. I had never used wild garlic in cooking before but knew it was edible and was intrigued to try it. I took a bucketful home and set to work searching for some recipes. Here is what I made...

Garlic butter

This was super easy and quick to make. I softened some butter for about 20 seconds in the microwave, chopped up some wild garlic, then combined the two. 

                  

                  

Next, I placed the garlic butter on some grease proof paper (baking parchment), rolled it up into a sausage shape and placed it in the freezer.

                  

Now whenever I want to make garlic bread I can just cut off some slices of garlic butter. You can also cut off a slice and add to other recipes too.

Wild garlic soup

I found a recipe for wild garlic soup on the internet but changed it slightly to use up what I had on the fridge. Here are the ingredients:

Onion

Fennel

Parsnips

Potatoes

Wild garlic

Vegetable stock

1) Fry the onion.

2) Add all the other vegetables and fry for a few minutes.

3) Add the vegetable stock and simmer for about 30 minutes.

4) Blend until smooth.

                   

                   

Chicken, red pepper and wild garlic enchiladas

Fajitas are a favourite of mine that I've only recently started making from scratch. I've made them with many different ingredients before and, since I had an abundance of wild garlic, I decided to add it to the fajitas. The result was delicious!

                   

Ingredients

Chicken breast

Red pepper

Onions

Wild garlic

8 Tortilla wraps

Grated cheese (I used cheddar)

2 cartons of passata

1 or 2 chopped garlic cloves

cumin

To make the filling

1) Fry the onions.

2) Add the chicken and fry for a few minutes.

4) Add a teaspoon or two of cumin and stir.

3) Add the peppers and wild garlic and fry for a few minutes.

                     

To make the sauce

1) Fry the garlic in some oil.

2) Add the passata and stir.

3) Add a teaspoon or two of cumin, stir and simmer for about 5 minutes.

(I have made the sauce with chopped tomatoes before. Once cooked, I blended it to a smooth sauce)

To assemble

1) Place the chicken mixture in the middle of a tortilla.

2) Drizzle with the sauce and add a sprinkling of cheese and roll up.

3) Place in a baking dish that has been covered with a thin layer of the sauce.

4) Repeat with the other tortilla wraps.

5) Finally, spread the remaining sauce over all the tortilla wraps in the baking dish.

6) Sprinkle with more cheese.

7) Bake in the oven for 20-30 mintues.

             

                     

Have you ever cooked with wild garlic? What did you make?