Wild garlic loves this damp, shady corner of our garden. We keep the majority of it contained within an old galvanised wash tub, but if you look closely, you can see that it’s managed to escape and grow in the cracks of the flags!
I harvested a few of the leaves to go in a wild garlic sourdough focaccia; wild garlic and wild yeast!
In less than a minute, I blitzed the leaves with some olive oil into a liquid about the consistency of a vinaigrette.
The dough took a little longer to be ready… about 12 hours in a cool cloakroom.
Depending on the size of your baking tray(s), the recipe makes 2 small or one large loaf. I used a large tray – 39cm x 27cm (15″ x 10½”).
It’s absolutely delicious – moist yet airy – and full of intense flavour. Perfect for accompanying pasta dishes, salads, antipasti and cheeses.
Click here to save my recipe to Pinterest for later
- 190g/7⅔oz sourdough starter (100% hydration)
- 310g/11oz tepid water
- 2tbsp olive oil
- 1tsp runny honey
- 500g/17⅔oz 00 flour
- 4g/⅛oz salt
- 6 leaves of wild garlic
- 5tbsp olive oil
- 1tbsp coarse salt crystals or flakes
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the starter with the water, olive oil and honey
- With the dough hook attached and on a low speed, slowly add the flour and knead for around 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to come away from the sides of the bowl. Leave to rest for 10 minutes
- Add the salt, kneading until it's fully combined
- Allow to prove until doubled in size (depending on the temperature, this could be anywhere from 2 hours in a warm kitchen to overnight in the fridge. Make it fit in with your plans and schedule)
- Once sufficiently proved, preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6. If you have one, put your baking stone on a shelf in the bottom ⅓rd of your oven
- Coat a baking tray(s) liberally with olive oil, making sure you include up the sides
- Gently pour the dough into the centre of the oiled tray and carefully ease it towards the corners. You don't want to deflate the air pockets
- Cover with greased clingfilm and allow to prove again in a warm place for about an hour
- Make rows of indentations across and down into the dough, drizzle with more olive oil, sprinkle with the coarse salt and bake for 15 minutes
- Remove from the oven and spread the wild garlic oil over the top.
- Turn the tray 180º (to ensure even browning) and return it to the oven for a further 15 minutes or until the top becomes golden brown
- Remove from the oven, take the loaf off the baking tray(s) and allow to cool on a wire rack for a couple of minutes
- Slice and serve
- This bread is perfect for mopping up tomatoey or cheesy pasta sauces!
Who’s heard of dock pudding?
Have you ever heard of dock pudding? I hadn’t until this year. It’s a pudding – if you can call it that – that’s very particular to our neck of the woods and this time of year.
It’s a local, Calder Valley dish made of dock leaves, nettles, spring onions and oats – and is traditionally fried in bacon fat. The name ‘dock pudding’ is pretty misleading, not only is it not what you’d consider a pudding, it’s made using Persicaria bistorta. More commonly known as bistort, common bistort, European bistort, meadow bistort, gentle dock or passion dock.
It does however, grow alongside what we commonly know as dock – Rumex obtusifolius – or bitter dock, broad-leaved dock, bluntleaf dock, dock leaf or butter dock. Bistort is quite a bit smaller than dock. I’ve included a photo I took to help you identify the difference. If you’re still not sure about it, wait until June or July when bistort is in bloom. You can’t miss its pretty pink flowers shaped like cotton buds.
There’s a World Dock Pudding Championship founded in 1971 and held annually in Mytholmroyd. It took place just last weekend. During the Second World War, William Brooke Joyce, the last man to be hanged in Britain for treason, mistakenly believed that the people of Yorkshire were starving due to food rationing and were resorting to eating grass. In fact, they were simply enjoying their dock pudding!
I used the recipe from A Yorkshire Cookbook by Mary Hanson Moore and used a metal ring to mould them into perfect rounds. I had mine as a vegetarian option; served on a hash brown with runny egg sitting atop that. Justin had his served with the crispy bacon and egg – his dock pudding fried in bacon fat. We can honestly say that it was really delicious in both dishes. Justin had it again with a full English breakfast and says that in addition to the bacon and egg, it combines well with all other options like sausage, mushroom, tomato, potatoes, fried bread and toast. Dock pudding is a real winner – not only is it naturally foraged, very healthy and virtually cost free – the flavour really enhances dishes. As said, it’s great with breakfast ingredients, but could be used for all manner of other starter dishes and light lunches – or as a main course accompaniment.
- 1 quart snakeweed leaves
- 1pint young nettle tops
- 4 spring onions, finely chopped
- 1 handful oatmeal
- small knob of butter
- bacon fat
- Clean and remove the thick stalks from the docks and nettles and boil with the onions in a little water until tender
- Add some seasoning and sprinkle in the oatmeal
- Boil again for 10 minutes, stirring all the time
- Add the butter
- Leave overnight
- Next day, fry large spoonfuls of the mixture in hot bacon fat and serve with bacon
- Don't forget to wear protective gloves when picking the stinging nettles and make sure you forage in a place where dogs aren't able to cock their leg!
Cakes & Bakes: Elderflower shortbread
It’s elderflower season again – one of the classic smells and tastes of summer!
We see those frothy white flowers growing wild all around and can’t bear to see them going to waste.
We’ve already made a large batch of elderflower cordial which will last us a good few months. In the past, there’s also been elderflower champagne and elderflower cakes too. This week, we decided to try some biscuits – elderflower shortbread to be precise.
There are various methods for incorporating the flowers’ flavour into the biscuit. We experimented with three – using cordial as one of the ingredients, infusing the sugar with elderflower bunches and finally incorporating the tiny petals into the biscuit mix itself.
We found that cordial made the biscuits a bit hard, crystalline and possibly too sweet. The infused sugar runs the risk of lots of creepy crawlies escaping into the sugar (even if you shake carefully) – and the resulting elderflower flavour wasn’t intense enough for us. The last technique worked best for us – by quite a long way actually, so that would be our recommendation. The resulting shortbread was moist and crumbly with a wonderful distinctive flavour – give them a go before those flowers disappear!
- 3 elderflower heads
- 75g/3oz caster sugar
- 175g/6oz plain flour
- 75g/3oz fine semolina
- 175g/6oz butter
- Make sure the elderflower heads are free of insects and brown bits
- Using scissors, carefully snip off the little flower heads add to the sugar and stir in. Allow to infuse for about an hour
- Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF/Gas mark 2
- If using a mould, sprinkle it with semolina to prevent the dough from sticking
- Put the elderflower-infused sugar, flour, semolina and butter into a food processor and combine for about 30 seconds or until lumps begin to form
- Turn the mixture out on to a lightly floured work surface and bring together into a ball
- Press the dough evenly into your mould (or baking tin). If using a mould, turn the dough out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment
- Prick the top with a fork to prevent it from rising
- Bake for about an hour or until the shortbread just begins to brown
- Remove from the oven on to a wire cooling rack
- While still a bit warm score the top with a knife into petticoat tails/portions
- Once cooled completely, remove from the tin and cut into pieces
- Store in an airtight container for up to a week
Nettle pesto
The nettle patches around here are in fine form at the moment. For the past week or so, I’ve been telling myself off for not carrying gardening gloves and a large plastic bag when I go for a dog walk. Finally, I remembered to do it yesterday and picked myself a bagful of bright green, vibrant nettle tips.
I’ve previously shared recipes for nettle soup and nettle loaf. This time, I’m making a batch of nettle pesto.
The nettles take the place of basil and I’ve replaced the more traditional pine nuts with walnuts.
The taste and smell is much earthier than traditional pesto but can be used in exactly the same way. It’s a very versatile store cupboard ingredient. I like it with an extra glug of olive oil and mixed through plain spaghetti then finished with a spoonful of grated Parmesan. I also like adding a few small dollops of pesto to the top of a pizza just before putting into in the oven.
Justin thinks it’s great with roasted or pan fried meats too – and has just made chicken breast wrapped in smoked ham and filled with nettle pesto butter for this evening’s meal.
Nettle pesto
Ingredients
- Carrier bag-full of nettle tips
- 2 cloves garlic
- 50 g/2oz Parmesan
- 75 g2½oz walnuts
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 5-8 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Bring a saucepan of water to the boil - enough water to be able to submerge all the nettles
- Put a large colander into the kitchen sink
- Blanch the nettles for about 30 seconds, using a wooden spoon to push the leaves down into the water
- Carefully pour the nettles into the colander in the sink and allow all the water to drain away. Allow to cool fully
- Finely slice the garlic and grate the Parmesan
- Put all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse for about a minute
- Decant into sterilised glass jars
