Wild garlic, walnut and goat’s cheese pesto
Pick a handful of young wild garlic leaves, wash, drain and roughly chop. Toast a handful walnuts. Crumble 100g of a nice hard goat’s cheese. Pulse walnuts in a blender until finely chopped but still with some texture, set aside. Blend the cheese and wild garlic leaves until combined and then mix with the walnuts and a good slug of olive oil to loosen. Great on flatbread or pizza, with pasta or in a sandwich, with fish or meat or roasted beetroot. If you prefer a less garlicy taste, replace some of the garlic leaves with spinach.
Wild garlic and paneer
Take 225g paneer cheese, tumble in 2tsp toasted and roughly crushed cumin seeds. Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a non-stick frying pan. Add the paneer, turning on a medium heat until golden. Add 2tsp coriander powder and 1tsp crushed chilli and stir. Add 2 handfuls wild garlic leaves and stir until wilted, stir in 2tsp garam masala and 2 double cream.
Wild garlic and purple sprouting ‘kedgeree’ (for two)
Cook 150g basmati rice with cardamom, cloves, bay and salt. Soft boil 3 eggs. Gently sauté a finely sliced onion until soft, toast and crush 2tsp cumin seed, 1tsp fennel seed and 1tsp coriander seed and add to the onion with ½tsp turmeric, 1tsp curry powder and ½tsp crushed chilli, stir in and cook for 1 min. Slice and add to the pan 2 handfuls purple sprouting broccoli and cook on a low heat with a splash of water until just soft but still with bite. Finely slice 2 bunches wild garlic and stir into the onion and broccoli mix until wilted, then stir in the rice and salt until all is heated through. Plate up the dish and top with the eggs, sliced and seasoned. Serve with roasted cubes of turnip and some seasonal fish.
