[Ben]

Has anyone tried making this? It's dead easy - even I managed it. You basically blitz ramsons leaves, pine nuts, olive oil and parmesan together, with salt to taste.

It's not exactly food for free, because the other ingredients - pine nuts and parmesan - are hardly cheap. (Though I always buy pine nuts in bulk from Turkish supermarkets when I'm visiting London, which is better value.)

Ramsons is one of the main leaves on view in hedgerows and woodland banks at the moment.

[image]local://222/E3EB0BDCF2454739BB6B2524ACD02075.jpg[/image]

[Fergus]

Nice one Ben. What proportions did you use?

[Coelacanth]

That's great!
I was out by a river on the way to Southport at weekend and was amazed by the swathes of it amongst the woodlands, it's normally another good couple of weeks before it gets going in the valleys coming down from the West Pennine moors (it always goes together for me with toad spawning time and the first bluebell flowerbuds, which shows you how delayed it is comparatively).

[Ben]

ORIGINAL: Fergus

Nice one Ben. What proportions did you use?

Er

Bit of guesswork really. A decent handful of ramsons (not weighed) plus about 50g of pine nuts. I just kept adding oil to the mix and tasting as I went. The green colour is unbelievably intense.

Apart from the obvious pasta, I think a few dollops might work with some meats - perhaps lamb chops?

[Coelacanth]

Apart from the obvious pasta, I think a few dollops might work with some meats - perhaps lamb chops?

Ramson is a great addition to a salad for good steak and grilled mushrooms, your pesto would no doubt be equally wonderful an addition, perhaps with some new spuds? Also great to rub inside a mackerel before grilling or quick-baking.
Also be good on crostini, or to pep up some mussels and pasta.

[Fergus]

Ramsons/wild garlic is really romping through the local woods at the moment. I picked a sack of the stuff in about five minutes – and didn't make a dent on overall numbers.

Made some Ramson's pesto last night. It is delicious (nothing to do with me – I used a recipe from Charlotte Raven). Basically, it's 100g of Ramsons to two cloves of garlic, 50g of pine nuts, and 100ml olive oil. Whiz it all up and add it to 50g of grated parmesan and a pinch of pepper and salt. Then jar it with a few drops of oil to 'seal'. Don't know how long it keeps.

There's also a recipe for wild garlic soup. Will try tonight and let you know (if anyone's interested).

EDIT: forgot to say, you need to blanch the ramsons in boiling water for 10 seconds or so – then plunge them into cold water. This helps kill enzymes that otherwise continue the growing process in the ramson leaves. Basically, it stops them going off so quickly.

[Ben]

You may not need the cloves as garlic as well?

Either way, it's not to be eaten before going on a hot date!

[Fergus]

You may not need the cloves as garlic as well?

True, it does seem like overkill. Still, I would never doubt the great Charlotte Raven. Furthermore, I've never been attacked by vampires.

Any other wild recipes this month?

[eatweeds]

Thanks Ben, yet another recipe to add to the archives.

I tried a recipe from Nick Weston's Hunter-Gatherer site which was so amazing it got eaten by the family before it even got to the pasta! And the plus, it doesn't use any pine nuts etc.

I highly recommend it, see: http://tinyurl.com/stingerpesto/... enjoy!

Robin

[Coelacanth]

There's also a recipe for wild garlic soup. Will try tonight and let you know (if anyone's interested).

How was it? Cream of wild garlic and nettle soup is delicious, bit of stilton helps it along.