The Best Wild Garlic Recipes from our Fabulous Food and Drink Providers

If you are walking through woodland or the forest or around hedgerows at the moment you are sure to be spoilt by the wonderful and pungent aroma of wild garlic. For us that always inspires two things, eating out or cooking. 

Across the destination we are lucky enought to have a number of wonderful chefs, delis, cookery schools, and cafes that are all a dab hand at using wonderful fresh foraged foods such as wild garlic. We have sweet-talked them into allowing us a sneaky peak at their secret recipes for you to recreate and use this incredible plant in your spring time cooking. 

The Famous Tudor Farmhouse Wild Garlic Soup

A dish that is as heartening as it is fresh and always popular on the menu is the Tudor Farmhouse’s Wild Garlic and Potato Soup. Without further ado here is their recipe. 

Ingredients

3 Maris Piper Potatoes

750g Wild Garlic

1-1.5L water

Salt to taste

Method

Peel the potatoes. Either slice the potatoes thinly or dice the potatoes. The most important thing is to make sure they are the same size so that they cook evenly. Put the potatoes in a pan of salted boiling water and cook gently until tender. Do not bring the pan to the boil. At the same time have another pan of salted water warming on the stove. Once cooked, drain the water.

Prepare the wild garlic. You can use all of the wild garlic that grows above the ground. Cut off any roots and wash off any dirt. One clean add the wild garlic and potatoes to a blender with 1 litre of the water you have had warming on the stove. Blend for at least 1 minute until smooth. Add more water as necessary to get the consistency you want.

Serve with either croutons or ewe’s curd. Discover more and try it for yourself at Tudor Farmhouse. 
 

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Harts Barn Cookery School Phenomenal Wild Garlic Scotch Egg

 

Harts Barn Cookery School hold sell-out wild garlic tasting events every year so who better to pinch inspiration from. Who doesn't love a good old scotch egg. The perfect picnic food and there is something wonderful about the idea of sitting on a picnic blanket surrounded by wild garlic eating a wild garlic scotch egg - it somehow makes the flavour even more intense. 

Ingredients

·        4 free range eggs

·        200g good-quality pork sausage, skinned.

·        1/2 tsp black pepper

·        2 tsp chopped wild garlic

·        50g plain flour, seasoned, plus extra for dusting

·        50g dried breadcrumbs

·        sunflower oil, for frying

Method

·       Bring a pan of salted water to a rapid boil, then lower two of the eggs into the pan and simmer for 7 mins 30 secs exactly. Scoop out and place in a bowl of iced water, cracking the shells a little (this makes them easier to peel later). Leave them to cool completely, then peel and set aside. Can be boiled the day before.

·       Put the sausage meat, pepper and wild garlic in a small bowl, mix to combine, then divide into two equal balls. Squash one of the balls between a piece of cling film until it’s as flat as possible. One at a time, lightly flour each cooked egg, then use the cling film to help roll the sausage meat around the egg to completely encase. Repeat with the remaining sausage balls and eggs.

·       Beat the remaining egg and put on a plate. Put the flour and breadcrumbs on two separate plates. Roll the encased eggs in the flour, then the beaten egg and finally the breadcrumbs. Can be prepared up to a day in advance.

·       To cook the eggs, heat 5cm of the oil in a wide saucepan until a few breadcrumbs turn golden after 10 secs in the oil. Depending on the size of your pan, lower as many eggs as you can into the oil and cook for 8-10 mins until golden and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper, leave to cool a little, then serve halved.

For more informaiton and if you need some added guidance when it comes to cooking we cannot recommend Harts Barn enough. 

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Severn and Wye Smokery Salmon with Wild Garlic Pesto and Spiced Lentils

A very special recipe from renowned chef Mark Stinchcombe from The Barn at Severn and Wye Smokery. You may remember Mark from Master Chef The Professionals which he won in 2015. We are delighted to be able to share with you one of his recipes matching beautiful creamy salmon with pungent wild garlic and spices woven through the lentils.

Ingredients 

2X 180g portions of salmon

50g wild garlic

10g pine nuts

20g grated parmesan cheese

100ml olive oil

150g cooked lentils

1 red onion

20g diced ginger

50g tomato ketchup

50g soya sauce

1 tbsp fresh coriander

Method

In a saucepan cooked the red onion until soft. Once soft add in your ginger (you could use paste if you do not have fresh to hand) then add in your tomato ketchup and soya sauce and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes on a low heat and stir in your cooked lentils

Bring a medium sized saucepan with water to the boil and blanch your wild garlic until soft this usually takes 2 minutes. Once blanched refresh in cold water to keep the colour. In a blender place the parmesan, toasted pin nuts, wild garlic and olive oil and blend until smooth

Heat a frying pan up with a small amount of oil, season the salmon and when frying pan is  hot place in the salmon fillets skin down and cook until you have a crispy skin. Put into a pre heated over at 180c for 4/5 minutes.

Plate the dish with a little wild garlic pesto at the top topped with the lentils followed by the salmon

Found out more about dining at the Barn below. 

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Wild garlic and tomato focaccia from the Speech House Hotel

This is one of the easiest breads to make but may be the best tasting. I developed this recipe during lockdown 2020 combining easily available ingredients and simple techniques for optimal results. Even the most novice of bakers will easily master this tasty treat.

Ingredients

Focaccia

300g plain flour

200g strong white flour

380g water

10g salt

7g dried yeast

15g sunflower oil

Toppings

10 cherry tomatoes

3 leaves of wild garlic

5g sea salt

15g sunflower oil

15g water

Method

Mix all of the focaccia ingredients together until a rough dough is formed, cover and set aside for 20 minutes. Wet your hands then stretch and fold the dough over itself, turn 90 degrees and repeat this process three times. Cover and set aside for a further 10 minutes then repeat the entire process twice more. On the final time shape the dough into a rough ball, line a high sided baking tray (Ideally around 20cm by 30cm) with baking paper and place the dough in the centre, cover and leave to rest for a final 10 minutes. Finally, lightly push the dough out to fit the tray then cover again and leave to proof for 20 minutes.

Pre heat your oven to 200*C

Cut the tomatoes in half and roughly chop the wild garlic, uncover the dough and spread the tomatoes, garlic and salt evenly over the surface. Mix the water and oil together then pour over. Spread your fingers and push firmly into the dough from top to bottom. Now bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, leave to cool slightly, cut and enjoy.   

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Inspired to get foraging why not join a course, we have a number of excellent guided foraging practictioners including Forage and Feast with Harts Barn Cookery School and wild foraging with renowned naturalist Ed Drewitt. 

Do let us know your favourite way to use wild garlic and share your pictures with us on social media using the hashtag #