You know how some days you just long for something different to eat? Perhaps the weather is getting you down or the work you are doing seems rather tedious and your mind starts to wander….. you feel hungry (oh, how often I feel hungry. Goes with the territory of being a greedy old thing, I suppose) anyway, you feel hungry and you start to think of nice things to cook. A treat seems to be called for. Something to brighten up your evening…..
And then I thought of my wild garlic.
I’d cut away at the leaves the other week but I still had plenty of buds and as my mind was still unoccupied by pressing problems I started to think of how I could use the buds.
I’ve had them in a light tempura-style batter (but I didn’t want the fuss)
And in risotto (but I didn’t want to eat rice)
And I started to think about the shape of the buds….
Perhaps if I cosseted them in some butter, like tiny tender stems of asparagus…..
I could serve them with some lovely roast lamb. I had a lamb henry in the freezer…that would be quick. Forty-five minutes in a hot oven would get me a deliciously cooked piece of lamb and a few seconds in a pan and I could have the wild garlic ready.
Sometimes it’s worth letting your mind wander.
Besides the weather was awful
The rain was lashing down and if ever a day called for something tasty to cheer me, this was it.
Out in the rain I went and snipped away to get a good handful of slender stemmed garlic buds. I got a few leaves as well as they would be lovely sauteed with a drop of cream as a base to balance the buds on. It doesn’t have to be like that of course… it’s just I had an abundance of sweetly mild leaves and some cream.
And I’m greedy. Have I mentioned that before?
So, a good handful of leaves
And some juicy buds … all I needed now was a knife, some butter and a pan or two.
Roughly chop the leaves while a knob of butter starts to sizzle in a pan
Then pop in the shredded leaves with a pinch of salt and let them saute gently.
A lovely dollop of thick Jersey cream makes a deliciously smooth and savoury sauce for the sofetened leaves.
Pop those tender buds and stems into more hot butter and quickly (very quickly) let them cook through.
And that was it.
My lamb was ready and all I did was serve those soft and buttery wilted garlic buds and stems over the lamb alongside a smooth and rich spoonful of creamy, shredded wild garlic leaves.
Remarkably delicious, though I say it myself.
