Officially Out-Pestoed

I'm so pleased when someone actually tries one of my recipes, and then slightly put-out when they do it soo much better than me.

After the wild garlic pesto post, I received this photo from my friend and wild garlic fan, Emily. Emily makes the best lime and mascarpone ice cream this side of the caribbean, so I should have known her attempts at pesto would make mine look utilitarian. This is the sort of pesto jar you would sell/give/receive with pride, and a warm glow of joy.

I made a double batch of said utilitarian pesto last night (5 whole smallish jars, 300g cashews) and have a few extra tips on dealing with larger quantities. 

Fill the sink with cold water and swish the leaves around in that to wash them, before transferring in small amounts to a colander, checking for stray flower buds and beasties along the way. Lay the washed leaves out on a clean tea towel, and roll it up to dry them a bit before processing. Don't overfill the processor as the bottom leaves turn to mush and the top ones don't move. The introduction of the cashews helps to break the leaves down, but the oil really gets things going. I take the drizzle nozzle off the oil and glug it in. There's not enough time for drizzling before it's over mushed, and we're not making mayonnaise.

Wild Garlic - The Pesto Rub

Roast butterflied leg of lamb with wild garlic, served with boulangere potatoes. This recipe is courtesy of husband Mark, and I personally feel it is worthy of the Waitrose app., being both easy and delicious. Move aside Heston, you have a bald rival!

Mark used a Waitrose pre-butterflied leg of lamb which was part of the 3 for £10 range. I think it weighed around 400g. On that note, have you tried the Boston Butt? Please do. I think a post about that will have to follow.

Turn the oven up to gas mark 4, then prepare the potatoes. Mark can't remember how many he used, but you want enough for four (two with leftovers, as they're even better the next day.) They need to be peeled and thinly sliced. Do the same with two shallots. Smear a small roasting tin with butter, and cover the bottom with a layer of potato slices. Add a layer of shallots and season. Repeat until all veg are used and the tin is at least half full. Pour over approx. one pint of hot vegetable stock (the veg need to be covered.) Cook in the preheated oven for one hour before you add the meat. The potatoes need to absorb most of the liquid and they take a while to break down at this temperature. 

In a bowl mix 3-4 tablespoons of your home made wild garlic pesto with 3 biggish sprigs of finely chopped fresh rosemary, Maldon salt, black pepper and a dash of olive oil. It needs to be paste-like. Mark used a pestle and mortar which was unnecessary.

Smear the top and sides of your lamb with the paste and leave it to marinade at room temperature while the potatoes get their first hour in the oven. Set the meat on a roasting rack and position the rack on top of the potato tin. That way, any juices will spill onto the tatties. Roast in the oven for one hour.

We served the meat by cutting it down the middle and dividing it between two plates. You could do some fancy slicing I suppose. 
This somehow looks like the most British dinner you could eat! A variation/addition could be adding breadcrumbs to the paste. Then you could call it a herb crust, which sounds very posh.

Wild Garlic Pesto

A lot of research has been carried out by me this last week, to establish the best nut to go with wild garlic in a pesto. Pasta and pesto have been consumed every night for this important research, and I am happy to say the votes are in (mine and Mark's.) The best nut for wild garlic pesto is the cashew. Not a roasted and salted one of course, although there could be some application for that, but unadulterated raw ones. And, if you happen to know a shop where you can buy them cheaper broken, all the better.

To make the pesto, first of all wash a couple of jam jars and pop them in a low oven to sterilise. Then put a load of washed wild garlic leaves into the Magimix (or equivalent.) Pulse them briefly (2 secs. max.) so they're not taking up all the room. Throw in a couple of handfuls of cashew nuts, a good pinch of Maldon salt and a grind of black pepper. With the top funnel removed, turn on the motor and pour in some extra virgin olive oil. Don't whizz the mixture for too long as the garlic breaks down very quickly. You still want a bit of bite. 

This is really good stirred into al dente pasta and garden peas. Not forgetting a generous grating of parmesan, and an extra splash of olive oil.

Wild Garlic - Get It While You Can

Every year I get in a tizz about wild garlic. I'm never sure which plant it is and when it should be picked, and which is the best bit, etc. I'm so scared I'll get it wrong, in case I end up eating the leaf equivalent of the Death Cap mushroom, I leave the whole business too late. This year I was determined to bring home the bacon. 

Because spring has sprung so late this year, my indecision period is shorter than ever, but I think that's helped. What I hadn't worked out in previous years, is that wild garlic changes when it flowers. Before the flowers it has broad dark green leaves. What seems to happen when it flowers, is that the dark green leaves die back and the lighter narrower leaf that the flower's been growing in separates from the flower and becomes a leaf. This is my understanding of proceedings, but would be grateful for any clarification. Here are my evidential pics. 

What I have read is to pick the garlic before it flowers. And what I've discovered is, to use the leaves on the day of picking. More of that to follow.

Dark leaves before the flowers

Starting to Flower

 Fully Flowered

Nettle Season - Risotto

The season for nettle picking has begun. While the shoots are young and tender, and still a yellowy green, the taste is sweet and earthy. As they age, the leaves and stalks turn a darker more blue green, and the stalks get stringy.

I found a good patch of nettles behind the coach house, and with gardening gloves on, picked a carrier bag full.

With my rich pickings a risotto was on the cards. Keeping my washing up gloves on throughout the process, I separated the leaves from the main stalks, and then washed and chopped the leaves and finer stalks. This little lot weighed in at around 125g.

In a heavy bottomed pan I fried 2 sticks of celery and 2 leeks, all finely chopped.

I added the chopped nettles and 200g risotto rice, and stirring well, poured in one pint of hot vegetable stock. Once the risotto reached the boil I put the lid on and stuck it in the Rayburn for 20 minutes at gas mark one. Easy Rayburn risotto. The results were delicious.

The New Rhubarb

Over the past week or so, the rhubarb has come on leaps and bounds. In fact all the plants now seem to be making up for lost time. I was going to wait a few more days before picking my first crop, but decided I would be giving the smaller shoots a chance by cutting some of the (not much) bigger ones, mainly by removing their leaf canopy. So it was a gesture of goodwill really.

I picked just under 600g once the leaves were removed, and chopped them into approx. 1cm lengths. They went into a heavy based pan on the simmering plate, stirred with 200g of sugar, (150g cinnamon sugar and 50g soft brown sugar,) and cooked for around 20 minutes with the lid on, stirring occasionally. 

After a few stirrings, the fruit breaks down and produces a lovely pulpy jam. This proportion of sugar to fruit works better for eating 'as is' than 50:50 (which I used last year.) It gives the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity, and the cinnamon sugar adds an element of toffee apples. Highly recommended. I will mainly be eating this with Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream, or straight out of the pan.

Edible Garden - The Seedlings

With the vegetable seeds in the propagators, our indoor south-facing windowsills have turned into a makeshift greenhouse. I've done two rounds of planting, first in the propagators, and then out into small pots. The next batch of seeds are in the propagators, but no signs of life yet. (Just a rogue slug next to Treacle's dinner bowl, yuck! Luckily our four legged hoover didn't spot it.) 

For this batch of seeds I used our own compost which seems to be full of egg shells and tea bags, so this may have an effect on propagation levels. I also ran out of Vermiculite (which I used in equal measure to the compost in the previous batch.) So this batch could be seen as an experiment, in a philosophical moment.

So Far So Good With The Tomato Plants.

 Tomatoes, Carrots, Turnips, Beetroot, Celeriac and Dwarf Beans.

Lettuces and Runner Beans.

Edible Garden - Progress

The edible garden is getting somewhere. While I was away on a sneaky weekend in London, my very kind husband took it upon himself to sure up the borders of the vegetable beds. They're not all finished but wow, what a difference! He also weeded the majority of the beds. No easy task. 

The next stage is to cover the 'paths' in old carpet, and a layer of gravel from the front garden. The only difficulty with this plan is that the gravel in question is still on the ground in the front garden, encased in a few years worth of mud.