Wild Garlic - free and tasty

Wild Garlic

I remember wild garlic from my first year at school. There was loads of it growing under some trees on my way to school. All the kids used to run through it until we were reeking of garlic. I can't remember whether this annoyed the teachers or my mother but I do remember it as something I wasn't supposed to do.

I have been using it widely in the kitchen recently as we have loads of it growing all over our land. It is particularly suitable to shady places such as under trees or shrubs where it self seeds and divides itself with no effort on our behalf.

It makes an interesting addition to any salad, adding flavour and goodness. The flowers can also be added to give a bit of colour to the salad. I recently saw the flowers being deep fried and used as a garnish for a dish. I also add it to mashed potatoes giving a nice green tinge and adding bags of taste.

This evening I made a favourite dish this evening that is quick, tasty and different. When we think of pesto it is usually the pesto genovese using basil, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil. This one gets the greenness and the garlic flavour from wild garlic.

100g wild garlic leaves
50g walnut pieces
200ml extra virgin olive oil
50g parmesan or other hard grating cheese
sea salt and black pepper

Roughly chop the leaves and place these with the walnuts in a food processor. Blitz to roughly chop them and then add the olive oil. Keep processing until a smooth texture is gained. Then add the cheese, finely grated. Season with salt and pepper to taste, both the garlic and the cheese will add saltiness so be careful.

This will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for several days.

Make your pasta - either dried or if you have time make your own egg pasta (I'll blog about this another day). Drain it but leave quite a bit of water with it. Place in a bowl and spoon some of the pesto over it. For about 300g of dried pasta I used about a quarter or a third of the amount of pesto. Serve with a fresh green salad