Keeping the Vampires at Bay …!

Foraging for Wild Garlic

Invariably you will smell wild garlic before you see it. Generally it is available in late April/May time and these thin, vibrant, green blades of garlic are bouncy, fun and easy to prepare. To be honest when wild garlic is around I involve the whole family in picking it!

I am very lucky as my parent’s farm is home to an amazing wood that is a wild garlic blanket in season.  I have filled bags and bags of the stuff for Rudding Park – so much so that my Dad said I should consider them a local food hero!

Once I have donned my wellies and had a good forage in the woods, one of my favourite methods for preparing the garlic is to use it to make a tasty pesto. This goes really well with pasta, in a chicken salad or drizzled around a salmon steak with pesto new potatoes.

Wild Garlic Pesto recipe

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Spears Are Coming To Get You!

Yorkshire Asparagus

Please do not be alarmed – I have not been to Stonehenge nor listening to Britney’s Pop music, but simply on a trip to East Yorkshire!  There the Asparagus is ready – we North Yorkshire wild cooks will have to wait a week or so longer for this regal vegetable to grace our tables, but the first Yorkshire Asparagus is officially ready to buy.

Nothing gives me greater pleasure than eating these green magic wands (yes I am still talking about asparagus!), either on their own complemented by a rich Hollandaise, or as part of a spectacular local dish:

Bolton Abbey Lamb Rump with Red Onion Marmalade and Yorkshire Asparagus Spears

This is a great way of cooking asparagus – we are demonstrating this on Saturday (24 April) at the Harrogate Spring Flower Show, so if you are in the area, why not pop in for a look …

What is you favourite asparagus dish? I’d love to hear from you!

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Chaz the Chive – A Snippet of Information!

The weather doesn’t seem to have helped us recently. However, the chives have been spotted in the allotment!  Their spiky blades are poking gingerly out into the springtime cold air.  My little sister has a chive plant in her garden and it’s affectionately know as “Chaz the Chive!”  What’s yours called?

I love chives – their flavour is much milder than the bulbous onion and they make great bread.  Please do try this bread recipe – it is one I rely on and it is a fail safe classic which works every time:

Chive Bread Recipe

You will “knead” decidedly bigger buns for this chive bread – I promise!”

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Sloe Gin Adds a Punch to a Classic Cocktail

How to zap up your champagne or sparkling wine, Wild Cook style …

I was recently cooking for a dinner party and the welcoming drink was a Champagne cocktail of Champagne and Sloe Gin.  So I thought I would try this Sloe cocktail.

The sloe gin we made last year tastes fantastic with this effervescing liquid – what a drink to get any party started.

The recipe is simple.  Imagine you are making a glass of cordial – simply pour the Sloe Gin in the bottom of the glass and slowly top up the glass with Champagne or sparkling wine.  How simple but, oh, how effective!

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