Recipe for Carrot Soup with Wild Garlic Leaves

Serves 6 approx.

560g (1¼ lbs/4 cups) unwashed organic carrots, scrubbed, peeled and chopped into ¼ inch (5mm) dice

40g (1½ozs) butter

115g (4ozs/1 cup) onion, chopped into ¼ inch (5mm) dice

130g (5ozs/1 cup) potatoes, chopped into ¼ inch (5mm) dice

Salt, freshly-ground pepper and sugar

1.2L (2 pints/5 cups) homemade chicken stock

65ml (2½ fl ozs/generous ½ cup) creamy milk (optional)

Garnish:

3-4 tbsp softly-whipped cream

1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley

Wild garlic leaves

Wild garlic flowers

Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan. When it foams, add the chopped vegetables. Season with salt, freshly-ground pepper and sugar. Cover with a butter paper and a tight-fitting lid.

Allow to sweat gently on a low heat for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables have softened slightly.

Remove the lid. Add the stock, increase the heat and boil until the vegetables are soft. Pour into a liquidiser and puree until smooth (you may need to do this in two batches).

Taste and adjust seasoning. Add a little creamy milk if necessary.

Garnish with a blob of wild garlic cream, a few wild garlic flowers and serve.

Wild Garlic Cream:

Fold the chopped wild garlic leaves and parsley into the cream.