Spring into Life

Spring Foraging

Adele Nozedar lifts us out of the winter gloom to the abundant harvest of delicious wild ingredients on your doorstep wherever you are in Wales.

After a damp and dismal winter there’s no better way to perk up the spirits like a foraging stroll to find them. You’ll find cuckoo flowers, hairy bittercress, dandelions, tasty fresh nettles, cleavers, and more…. but for me, nothing shouts ‘SPRING IS HERE !!!!’ louder than a wood full of wild garlic, and there’s a good chance you have some growing near you. An indicator of ancient woodland, you can even buy wild garlic in garden centres, but buyer beware… it’s very invasive. You shouldn’t plant it in your own garden unless you have a lot of land, or you don’t mind your entire outdoor space being taken over for 3-4 months of the year.

Tell me more about wild garlic!

Wild Garlic has many different folkloric names, which means the plant is held in high esteem. You might know it as Ramsons – indeed, place names bearing the word ‘ram’ tell us that the plant once grew abundantly there; Ramsgate, for example. Its botanical name, Allium ursinum, means ‘bears garlic’ or, in Welsh, ‘garlleg yr arth’. This is because it was believed to have been the herb favoured by bears to kick-start their digestive system after a long hibernation.

I want some! Where can I find it?

Find wild garlic in the woods where bluebells grow. The season is generous; you’ll see tiny green shoots starting to appear any time from early February onwards. The larger leaves are a lovely mid green, the flowers like little white stars. If you’re not sure that you’re looking at the right thing, just pick a leaf and rub; the garlicky scent is unmistakable. Flowers, stems, leaves and seeds are all edible, although an important point to know is that wild garlic doesn’t have a large bulb like the ‘normal’ stuff. Pick the plant carefully, a leaf at a time, leaving the roots in the ground. The only plant that looks similar is Lords and Ladies, aka Cuckoo Pint, which grows in the same places and is toxic. Mature Cuckoo Pint leaves look very different from those of the garlic.

How should I eat it?

Use your imagination! All parts of the plant are great added raw to a salad or sandwich. You should definitely chomp some raw leaves as you’re picking! It’s pungent but doesn’t linger in the mouth (or on the breath) like conventional garlic.

Wash the leaves thoroughly and dry in a salad spinner or clean tea towel. Chop finely and add pine nuts, finely-grated hard cheese and a little salt to make a pesto (you don’t need to add oil since the garlic is really juicy). My favourite way of using it is to slice the top from a round of camembert, stuff with the garlic, season with cracked peppercorns, pop the ‘lid’ on then bake in a hot oven for 15-20 mins. Scoop up the gooey, garlicky, cheesy mixture with chunks broken from a loaf of good fresh crusty bread. My mouth is watering just thinking of it!

Adele Nozedar is the author of several books about foraging, including her latest, Foraging With Kids (Random House), £12.99. Find out more at:

breconbeaconsforaging.com

Chef Matt Pritchard

Dirty Vegan by Matt Pritchard (Octopus) £20

Salad

Prep: 15 Minutes, plus standing overnight Cook: 5 minutes

Serves 4

This went down a treat with the Scarlets Rugby Team as it’s packed with flavour and colour, and the vinegary, garlicky dressing brings the leaves to life. I get my salad leaves from Cae Tan, a Community Supported Agricultural Project in South Wales. Using fresh, biodynamic produce makes an unbelievable difference to how much I enjoy a salad bowl.

INGREDIENTS

For the marinade

• 2 oranges, segmented and juice collected • 2 fennel bulbs, cut into wafer-thin slices • 1 teaspoon paprika

For the dressing

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar • 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard • 1 small garlic clove, crushed • 1 teaspoon maple syrup • salt and pepper

For the salad

• 3 tablespoons sunflower seeds • 3 tablespoons pine nuts • 150g Russian or regular kale • 100g mixed salad leaves • 1/2 a cucumber • 300g rocket • 10 cherry tomatoes, halved • handful of edible flowers

METHOD

Start with the marinade. Put the orange segments and juice into a bowl with the fennel slices as soon as you slice them (to stop them browning), then add the paprika and stir. Leave to stand, overnight ideally, or for as long as possible.

Put the sunflower seeds and pine nuts into a heavybased pan and toast them over low heat for 5 minutes, until they take on a rich brown colour – be careful not to char them.

To make the dressing, put the ingredients into a bowl, season to taste and mix thoroughly. The mustard should emulsify the mixture to make a smooth dressing.

Next, prepare the Russian kale. This leaf is good raw, but the stems can be tough. Remove the stems and slice the leaves into bite-sized sections.

Put the salad leaves, the cucumber, kale, rocket and tomatoes into a serving bowl. Pour a half of the dressing into the bowl and toss the salad by hand. Drain the fennel from the marinade, reserving a few orange slices for decoration, and add it to the bowl. Sprinkle over the sunflower seeds and pine nuts, arrange the orange slices on top, then drizzle the remaining dressing over the salad. Garnish with the edible flowers and serve immediately.

Taken from Dirty Vegan by Matt Pritchard. Published by Mitchell Beazley. Photography by Jamie Orlando Smith and Chris Terry.

Handmade Ravioli filled with Goats’ Cheese and Wild Garlic

INGREDIENTS

• 400g ‘00’ pasta flour plus extra for rolling out • 1 level teaspoon salt • 3 large eggs + 1 egg yolk • Filling • 250g soft goats’ cheese – Pantysgawn is delicious • 1 tablespoon spring herbs, chopped – parsley, chives, thyme • 1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts • 1 rounded teaspoon of grated lemon zest • ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg • 2 heaped tablespoons soft, sticky, cooked onion (sauté 1 medium finely -chopped onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil slowly until soft, sticky and slightly coloured, about 15 minutes) • 150g blanched and well drained wild garlic or spinach, chopped • 40g Parmesan cheese • Wild garlic pesto • 150g wild garlic, blanched and drained • 1 teaspoon sea salt • ¼ teaspoon black pepper • 50g pine nuts or blanched almonds • 100ml olive oil • 75g Parmesan, grated

Serves 4-6

WHAT YOU DO

To make the pesto – Place all the ingredients in a blender and pulse to combine into a smooth paste. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your taste. If the paste is a little thick, loosen slightly with a little olive oil. Cover and set aside until needed.

To make the pasta dough – Tip the flour into a pile on your work surface, add the sea salt and mix together, making a large crater in the middle. Break in the eggs and egg yolk and gradually mix in the flour. Before forcing the whole mixture together, check it’s not too dry. You can flick a little cold water over the surface and then push everything together into a soft dough ball.

Now to work the dough – Begin by gently folding the dough onto itself, flattening, and folding again. It will be soft at first, then gradually start to firm up. Once it’s firm enough to knead, begin kneading the dough. Incorporate more flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to you or the work surface. The dough is ready when it forms a smooth elastic ball and has very few air bubbles when cut. Place the dough onto a sheet of cling film and wrap, setting aside for 30 minutes.

Next, make the filling – Mix together the cheese, chopped herbs, roasted pine nuts, lemon zest, grated nutmeg, cooked onion, chopped wild garlic or spinach and Parmesan cheese. Taste and add sea salt and black pepper to your taste.

Now you are ready to roll! The name of the game at this point is to keep everything well-floured to prevent the pasta from sticking to itself or the roller as you work. If the dough starts to feel sticky as you roll it, sprinkle it with flour. Also sprinkle flour on any pasta you’re not working with (rolled, cut or otherwise) and keep it covered with a clean tea-towel.

Cut the dough into 4 portions and place 3 under the cloth. Set your pasta machine to the thickest setting (usually marked “1”). Flatten the one piece of dough into a thick disk between your hands and feed it through the pasta roller. Repeat twice. Fold this piece of dough into thirds, like folding a letter, and press it between your hands again. With the pasta machine still on the widest setting, feed the pasta crosswise between the rollers. Feed it through once or twice more until smooth.

Begin changing the settings on your roller to roll the pasta thinner and thinner, rolling the pasta twice on each setting. If the sheet of pasta gets too long to manage, lay it on a cutting board and slice it in half. Roll the pasta to setting 7. Lay the sheet on a floured surface, cut out circles with a cutter or a ravioli cutter and place under a tea towel. Lay out 8 pasta circles, wet the edges, spoon ½ teaspoon of filling in the centre, top with another pasta circle and seal the edges – place on a floured tray. Repeat until all the pasta is used up. Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted water for 3-4 minutes, drain well, tip into a serving dish or onto plates and drizzle with the pesto.

Note: You can roll the pasta by hand – use a little flour on the surface, flatten one piece of dough at a time and roll out. Put your weight behind the heels of your hands and make short, sharp rolls forward with the rolling pin, stretching the dough forward. It will spring back, but persevere, adding a little flour only when needed. Cut and fill as in the recipe above. You can open freeze the ravioli and then pop into a freezer bag to store easily. Cook in salted boiling water from frozen for 4 minutes.

In addition, you can roll up and shred the off cuts by hand and cook in salted boiling water for 3 minutes, drain and serve with some pesto as a lunch treat!

Chef Angela Gray © A L S Photography

© Huw Jones

Angela Gray’s Spring Recipes is available now