Wild Garlic and Cheddar Scones

I love wild garlic season, these scones used up the last of the wild garlic I got from Borough Market. I kinda forgot to add the garlic before the milk so that's why mine are kinda green in colour rather than just with the pretty flecks. They look quite funky though!!

Wild Garlic and Cheddar Scones (from Farmer's Girl Kitchen)
(Makes 6-8)

225g self-raising flour
1 level tsp baking powder
50g butter
100g finely grated cheddar cheese
30g wild garlic leaves, finely chopped
1 tsp dry mustard
salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten
milk

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Mix the flour and baking powder and rub in the butter with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the cheese and the finely chopped wild garlic leaves.

Add the egg to the flour mixture and then add enough milk to bring it together into a soft dough. Dust your work surface with flour and gently pat the dough into a round about 2 cm thick, cut out your scones.

Brush the tops of the scones with milk. Bake for 10-12 mins until the scones are golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Warm Mackerel with Potatoes and Wild Garlic

This was a delicious dish, really easy to make but very flavourful and served with a green salad it makes a lovely light meal.

Warm Mackerel with Potatoes and Wild Garlic (from Ottolenghi)
(Serves 4)

4 potatoes, unpeeled
4 mackerel fillets, halved
salt and pepper
1 tsp sweet paprika
4 tbsp light olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
50g mixed salad leaves
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 lemon, cut into wedges

For the sauce:
250g Greek yoghurt
5g tarragon, chopped finely
2 wild garlic leaves, chopped finely
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
45ml extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp cayenne or chilli flakes

Mix the sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.

Toss the mixed leaves in a bowl with the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil, plus the lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Cook the potatoes in salted water until very tender, about 45 mins. Drain and put to one side.

Sprinkle the mackerel with a pinch of salt and pepper and the paprika. Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a pan and fry the mackerel for 1-2 mins on each side, until just cooked.

To assemble: Cut the warm potatoes into 1.5 cm slices. Arrange a layer of them on one side of a serving plate and spoon a little sauce on top. Continue with a couple more layers of potato and sauce and finish with the fish. Drizzle with some olive oil and sprinkle on some sea salt. Pile the leaves on the other side of the plate and serve with wedges of lemon.

Wild Garlic Hummus

It's wold garlic season again, yay! So although I can't forage any myself I took a trip to Borough Market on a Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago where they had bunches of the stuff. I used some of it to make a hummus. There was too much tahini in the original recipe for me so I have cut the amount in the recipe below.

Wild Garlic Hummus (from Farmer's Girl Kitchen)

1 400g tin chickpeas
1 tbsp tahini
1 lemon, juiced
50g wild garlic, roughly torn
60ml olive oil
some of the cooking liquid from the chickpeas or water

Put all the ingredients down to the olive oil into a food processor and blitz. Add cooking liquid or water, a little at a time, until you have the thickness and texture you desire.

Mushroom and Wild Garlic Wholemeal Quiches

When wild garlic was about I made these lovely quiches, the recipe came out of my head as I had some cottage cheese and the wild garlic to use up and had no quiches in my freezer. I have the quiches there as an easy lunch I can take to work with no prep the night before, useful when I'm out at the theatre! I was also given some wholemeal flour a little while ago and I wanted to find things I could make with it, this seemed a good way to start.

Mushroom and Wild Garlic Wholemeal Quiches
(makes 4 small quiches)

110 g wholemeal flour, plus a little extra for dusting 
pinch of salt 
25 g lard, removed from the fridge for 20 mins
25g butter, removed from the fridge for 20 mins
1 tbsp oil

1 medium onion, finely sliced

300g mushrooms, finely sliced

bunch wild garlic, thinly sliced

butter and olive oil

rosemary, finely chopped

salt and pepper

4 eggs, beaten

50ml milk
150ml cottage cheese

Make the pastry first by rubbing the butter and lard into the flour in a large bowl until you have something resembling breadcrumbs, then add a tablespoon or two of cold water and bring it together into a dough with your hands, you may need to add a little more water to create the dough.  Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for at least 30 mins.

In a large pan heat the oil and add onions, stir and gently sauté for about 15 mins until they begin to turn golden brown. Remove from the pan and then add a little butter and sauté the mushrooms, wild garlic and plenty of salt and pepper until they are tender, then turn up the heat a little and add the onions back in and remove from the heat.

Roll the pastry out and grease the quiche dishes. Line the dishes with the pastry. Scrunch up some baking parchment and then lay this into the pastry case and pour some baking beans on top. Blind bake for 10 mins on 150C

Once the pastry turns golden, take it out of the oven and set aside whilst you beat the eggs into the milk and cottage cheese. Pour the mushroom and garlic mixture into the pastry cases followed by the cream and bake on 160C for about 10-15 mins until golden and risen, set aside on a wire rack to cool.

Courgette, Mint and Wild Garlic Soup

This is a very garlicky soup! With both a garlic clove, and mine were french and therefore stronger, and the wild garlic this nearly blew my head off! I think next time I'll leave the garlic clove out.

Courgette, Mint and Wild Garlic Soup

(Serves 4)

2 tbsp oil

1 small onion sliced
6 courgettes sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 bunch wild garlic
1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped

Put two tbsp of oil into a large pan. Add the onion and saute for a couple of mins, until translucent but not brown. Add the courgette and the garlic. Season and saute for another min or two, cover with water and bring to a simmer to soften.

Simmer for about 10 mins, when the vegetables are cooked through, remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped wild garlic and mint. If it's too thick, add a little water to thin it out.

Blend with a hand blender, season with salt and pepper, and serve. 

Salmon and Wild Garlic Quiche

I made these a little while ago when wild garlic was in season and then I froze them. I ate the first one yesterday and it was lovely, the pastry was fantastic and flaky. The wild garlic, is mild but full of flavour and goes perfectly with the salmon.

Salmon and Wild Garlic Quiche (adapted from Camera and Clementine)
(Serves 6-8)

360g strong white flour
200g cold butter
6 tbsp cold water
pinch of salt
5 large free range eggs
200g crème fraiche
1 large tin salmon, flaked
30-40 wild garlic leaves, chopped
1/2 tsp nutmeg
a sprinkling of mature cheddar
salt and pepper


Add flour and butter to a mixing bowl, using a knife cut the butter into the flour. Then using your fingertips rub in the butter until all the large lumps are gone. Add the salt and water, then quickly kneed the dough, just until it hangs together. Pop in the fridge for an hour to chill.

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to fit a 28 cm buttered quiche tin. Blind bake the crust for 15 mins.

Meanwhile make the filling, by beating the eggs with the salt, pepper, nutmeg and crème fraiche. Add the salmon, wild garlic, nutmeg, salt and pepper and mix.

Pour the filling into the pastry case and sprinkle with a little mature cheddar on top. Bake for 35-40 mins. Serve with a green salad.

Storcupboard Pasta Salad

This is dead simple but wonderful for using up those ends of jars. It's very versatile you could pretty much put what you want in it. I used aubergine pesto on this occasion as I had it open but any sort of pesto would do.

Storecupboard Pasta Salad
(Serves 1)

60g dried pasta
chunk cucumber, chopped
handful cherry tomatoes, halved/quartered
half a roasted pepper, chopped
1-2 sundried tomatoes, cut into strips
3 artichoke hearts, quartered
chunk cheese, cut into cubes
chunk salami, cut into cubes
1-2 stems of wild garlic, chopped
1 large tsp pesto

Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook according to packet instructions. Drain,run under the cold tap and then drain again well.

Put all the ingredients into a bowl, add in the pesto and stir to combine. Serve.

Miso Brown Rice and Broccoli Salad with Fiery Prawns

Again another easy salad to take to work. I actually used a pre-cooked packet of prawns instead of following the recipe below, but you coud leave the prawns to cool and then put them on top and then pack into a lunchbox.

Miso Brown Rice and Broccoli Salad with Fiery Prawns
(from Good Food Magazine March 2014)
(Serves 3)

100g brown basmati rice

140g frozen peas

140g tenderstem/purple sprouting broccoli

1 tbsp white or brown miso paste

½ tsp finely grated fresh ginger

1 tbsp rice vinegar

½ tbsp clear honey

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp vegetable oil

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 red chilli, thinly sliced

200g raw shelled prawns

2 stems wild garlic, finely sliced

handful coriander, roughly chopped

Cook the rice according to packet instructions, adding the peas and broccoli for the last 3 mins of cooking. Drain and run under the cold tap, drain well.

In a small bowl, mix the miso, ginger, vinegar, honey, sesame oil and seasoning.

 

Heat the vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan. Add the garlic and half the chilli and cook gently for a couple of mins, taking care not to burn. Throw in the prawns, lots of black pepper and a pinch of salt. Turn up the heat and cook for a few mins until the prawns are cooked through.

 

Put the rice, peas, broccoli, spring onions and coriander into a large bowl and toss through the miso dressing. Divide between three bowls and spoon the spicy prawns on top, scattering over the remaining chilli. Serve.