Making the Most of Wild Garlic (Whilst It Lasts)
Wild garlic bagels, pan-fried lamb and risotto a-go-go
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Free food is the best food. Especially when it tastes like garlic.
Wild garlic season is very much upon wide swathes of the northern hemisphere right now and I tell ya, it makes me so happy to see clumps of the stuff in woods and on roadsides. Much like asparagus, it’s a surefire sign that Spring is here.
I found a fantastic carpeting of it in my hometown the other day which I took home to turn into dinner for the next three nights.
Three nights, three wild garlic recipes coming up, from wild garlic bagels to dressed lamb.
But first, if you’re interested in picking your own wild garlic, here’s what you need to know:
Safety first - wild garlic looks suspiciously like Lily of the Valley which is poisonous. Wild Garlic has long, flat leaves and smells strongly of, well, garlic. The flowers also look very different - wild garlic has star-shaped flowers whereas lily of the valley are bell-shaped. There’s a good article about spotting the differences here.
In the US and Canada, wild garlic grows largely on the Eastern side of the country. The USDA website has a good resource on where to find it.
In Europe, Britain, Germany, and Austria are good places to find wild garlic, often in forested areas with acidic soils.
Make sure to thoroughly wash your wild garlic before using it.
If you can’t forage wild garlic locally, ask at your local farmer’s market. You can even purchase the seeds and plant them in your garden or on a balcony. Be warned, it spreads so many people choose to plant it in pots.
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Recipe no. 1 - Wild garlic bagels
I made these bright green bagels with my three-year-old niece who loved the color and chew of these bouncy, easy-to-make snacks. They taste a lot like onion bagels but are so, so much more fun.
Makes 8:
450g strong white bread flour
1 level tbsp flaky sea salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
300ml warm water
Handful of wild garlic leaves (around 5-6)
Place the bread flour and salt in a mixing bowl.
Mix the warm water, yeast, and sugar in a separate jug and leave to activate for 3-4 minutes.
Finely chop - or even better, blitz with a hand blender - the wild garlic.
Add the wild garlic, the activated yeast, and water to the flour. Mix into a ball of dough.
Knead either by hand on a floured surface or with a mixer for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Put the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover with a tea towel, and leave somewhere warm for an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
Knock back the dough and leave for another 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each one into a ball and flatten a little. Put your finger through the middle to make a ring. Rest for another 15 minutes.
Pre-heat your oven to 200C/390F.
Bring a big pan of water to the boil. Drop in your bagels and boil for 2 minutes. Turn and boil for another 2 minutes. You’ll probably need to do this in batches.
Turn out the boiled bagels onto an oiled baking tray. Put them in the oven for 20 minutes.
Leave to cool and serve.
Recipe no. 2 - Wild garlic with lamb, roast potatoes, and asparagus
I really like the taste of wild garlic when it’s chopped rather than blitzed into pesto or paste. There’s something about the gentle process of chopping that prevents it from becoming too earthy. This Spring dish of lamb, potatoes, and asparagus is elevated by sprinkling wild garlic over the whole thing.
Serves 4
4 lamb leg steaks