EAT IN SEASON – WILD GARLIC
It’s that time of the year that if you are out on a walk in a woodlands or even your local park, the unmistakable scent of wild garlic is evident.
To me this is the real smell that sparks spring is in the air and excitement starts thinking of the fantastic Irish vegetables & plants that will ready to harvest later in March and into April.
Wild Garlic is in itself free food, take the time to pick it and you have a really versatile ingredient that is great in so many dishes, lovely mixed in with warm pasta, lightly pan-fried in Irish butter and served with grilled wild fish, used to flavour oils and dressings. These are examples of just some of the dishes that you can easily create.
Also if you’re not an outdoor type and walking through a woodland is something that would rather leave to Hansel and Gretel then you can also avail of Irish wild garlic in good vegetable shops and supermarkets.
Recipe – Wild Garlic Pesto
This is a great condiment to have in your kitchen, use it stirred into pasta, add to grilled fish or chicken, even great to use in a sauce to add that extra kick of flavour
Ingredients
- 150g wild garlic leaves or a good handful – in this simple recipe you can add more to achieve the flavour you want
- 50g hard Irish cheese, I would definitely recommend Velvet Cloud Rockfield cheese, finely grated
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- Zest and juice of ½ a lemon
- 50g toasted nuts – traditionally pinenuts are used but you can choose to use your favorite
- 150ml Irish rapeseed oil
Method
Put the raw wild garlic in a food processor, along with the Parmesan, garlic, lemon zest and toasted nuts. Blitz to a rough paste. Slowly add the rapeseed oil and lemon juice. Season with Irish sea salt and pepper. Put into a used clean jam jar or kilner jar. It will keep in your fridge for 3 weeks.
