Go out and pick wild garlic to go with these delicious recipes

I HAD lunch in a New York cafe once and the memory will always be with me, mainly because it was the first time I ate raw courgette and it was a revelation for me. 

It was cut into long thin strips with a vegetable peeler, dressed in a great olive oil and a dash of vinegar, served with golden raisins, toasted pine nuts and grated pecorino cheese.

I do tend to remember good meals down to the last ingredient but this lunch was most memorable for another reason.

On the day that David Bowie passed away earlier in the year I made this salad and listened to his perfectly executed good-bye album, Blackstar.

On that afternoon in the cafe in New York it was bitterly cold, and when an icy breeze hit me I looked up to see a very well dressed gentleman enter with a dark grey trilby hat pulled low over his eyes.

He sat beside me and it took a few moments for me to realise that it was David Bowie.

It is the only time I ever remember being truly star struck.

David Bowie’s music was with me through so many times in life, he always keeps me dancing.

That courgette recipe is opposite, and two other recipes make use of wild garlic.

It is handy to find a patch when out walking in the park, I have a few secret little spots that I return to again and again, making sure to clip the leaves rather than pulling up the bulb so there is some left for next time.

I find it tends to grow best in a slightly shaded place under a large tree and it is particularly abundant in my area this year.

There are a number of different types of wild garlic growing in Ireland but wild garlic ramsoms are the most widespread and most frequently mentioned in recipes.

In America they simply list wild garlic as ramsons on a menu.

The long green leaves of the wild garlic plant are high in folic acid and essential B vitamin, and it has very positive benefits for the digestive system.

The alabaster white flowers of the wild garlic plant are perfectly edible and look great in a green salad.

Their flavour is a little more delicate than that of the leaves.

They look like a paler version of a bluebell with their heads dropped and their gentle nodding in the spring breeze.

QUICK MID-WEEK MEALS

Butternut Soup with wild garlic oil and toasted seeds

400g of peeled and cubed butternut squash

½ tbs of honey

2 tsp of smoked paprika

a dash and ½ tbs of olive oil

a knob of butter

1 onion, finely chopped

1 small red chilli, finely chopped

3 cm of ginger, peeled and finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

zest of 2 lemons

500 mls of stock

a handful of wild garlic, chopped

a handful of sunflower seeds, toasted

Cut the butternut into small pieces. Mix with the honey, paprika, sunflower oil and season with salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven at 180 degrees until soft, it will take about a half an hour.

Put butter in the saucepan on a medium heat. Sweat the onions and garlic, cook until the onion is translucent.

Add the chilli, ginger and zest of one lemon into the pan and let them heat gently with the onions and garlic.

Add the stock and the roasted butternut making sure to get any juices from the roasting dish. Season to taste and after five minutes blend until smooths.

Blend the wild garlic and the oil until combined. Drizzle this over the soup and sprinkle with the toasted seeds. Serve with either crunchy bread or a green salad.

New York raw courgette salad

2 fresh courgettes, sliced very, very thinly

a dash of good extra virgin olive oil

½ lemon juiced

200g of pecorino romano, finely grated

a small handful of golden raisins

a small handful of pine nuts

crunchy bread for four

Mix the olive oil and lemon juice and season.

Use a potato peeler to take thin slices from the courgette, you should almost be able to see through them.

You do not have to go right into the center to the part with the seeds, these parts can be thrown into a soup.

Toss the courgette in the dressing and sprinkle with the cheese. The cheese should be grated fine enough to coat the raw courgette.

Throw in the golden raisins and pine nuts and serve with the bread on the side.

SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

Pan fried sandwich with wild garlic pesto, avocado and cheese

25g Parmesan, grated

10g of pine nuts

25g of wild garlic leaves, roughly chopped

100ml rapeseed oil

1 tbs of lemon juice

8 slices of nice bread

1 ripe avocado, stone removed and the flesh slice

8 think slices of strong cheddar

a handful of baby spinach leaves

a knob of butter

Blitz the Parmesan, pine nuts, wild garlic and rapeseed oil with the lemon juice and some seasoning.

Spread a generous spoon on each slice of bread. You may have some extra that can be kept for a few days in the fridge.

Top four slices with the slices of avocado, the strong cheddar and baby spinach leaves. Fold the other slices of bread on top and melt the butter in the pan.

Pan fry each of the sandwiches on both sides until the cheese is starting to melt.

Irish stout and coco buns with cream cheese icing

125mls of Irish Stout

125g of butter, cut into cubes

40g of coco powder

190g of caster sugar

70 mls of natural yogurt

1 egg

140g of plain flour

1¼ tsp of bread soda

I used O’Hara’s Irish stout for these buns but they work as well with any of the larger names on the market.

Heat the stout and butter until the cubes are melted. Whisk in the coco powder and the sugar.

Whisk the egg and yogurt together until completely combined.

Stir the egg mixture into the stout.

Add the flour and soda and mix well with a spoon.

Divide into 12 bun cases and bake at 180 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Cream cheese icing

200g of cream cheese

2 tsp of honey

1 tsp of lemon juice and zest of 1 lemon

½ tsp of vanilla essence

50g of icing sugar, sieved

Whisk all of the ingredients until smooth and it is easy to spread. Ice each cupcake once they have cooled.