Cold Snap

Formed around a dripping hose...

First, I made some soup. I'd already made bread, but I thought if we're going for a walk in this we'll need something warm and substantial on our return. My basic vegetable soup recipe is HERE. That done we dressed up so warmly until we looked like unfashionable Michelin Men and tying boot laces became a laborious task. then we sallied forth.

It's been very cold for a week or so now. This time last year we were languishing in dry, unseasonably warm weather, there was a hosepipe ban in the southern counties and it was due to be very dry into April. Little did we know what was to follow or that our summer had pretty much happened.

Early primroses are showing...

My wife and I just had to get out for a walk though, cold or no cold. We had been working away indoors at the NEC and were suffering from Cabin Fever. It was just 1 degree outside, but a bitingly cold north easterly breeze made it feel more like -5 or so.

Bracket fungi ....

My iPhone captured some of the frozen sculptures that could be found with a watching eye and as you can see from the icicle around the blue hose, it was jolly cold. There was still some life working its way through though; early primroses and hazel catkins were abundant, but the Bluebell buds that were very obviously coming through last year, are pretty much conspicuous by their absence today.

hot soup and warm bread in front of a wood fire was a wonderful treat when we got back home and our faces were soon glowing as we drank our tea and relaxed on the sofa.

But it was good to get out, even in the cold.

Homemade soup and bread

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup with Nutmeg

Ingredients

1 large white onion

1 or 2 sweet potatoes

1 large butternut squash

2 or 3 garlic cloves crushed and sliced

1 nutmeg

1 bayleaf

1 litre of vegetable sock or plain water

Salt

Pepper

Gently fry off the sliced onion in the pan in a good tablespoon or two of nice oil (put the lid on the pan as we are sweating them and don’t want them to burn).

After 5 or 10 minutes, when the onions are transparent but have not gained much colour, add the garlic and continue to gently sweat for another 2 or 3 minutes.

The sweet potato and squash should be roughly chopped into 1 or 2 inch cubes and placed into the pan and stirred into the onion and garlic mixture for a minute or so before adding either the stock or water. This should just cover the chopped vegetables.

At this stage add half the nutmeg, grated into the pan with some freshly grated black pepper and salt, throw in the bay leaf and put the lid on, simmering gently for 10 to 15 minutes or until the squash and potato are soft.

It’s important not to boil away all the goodness, but we are going to use either a stick mixer or a food processor to turn the contents of the pot into a puree (removing the bay leaf first) so it needs to be soft enough to do so easily. If you don't have a stick blender, then pour the contents into a food processor and blitz until smooth and creamy.

I then serve this lovely, tasty and robustly sweet soup with a dollop of yoghurt, more grated nutmeg and a sprinkling of chopped chives or coriander. A side plate of chunky home-made bread is a great accompaniment.

Wild Garlic (reprised)

What can I tell you about wild garlic without appearing to be a nutritionist nerd, a gastronomic geek or a ranting rambler? Well not much because it is positively one of the tastiest, most versatile, and earliest free foods available.

Normally, you would look for the gorgeous green leaf in mid-March and early April, but it’s in February that it starts to produce its pungent Pandora’s Box of flavours and it’s in February – when the leaves are positively at their newest, just out of the ground – that they have the strongest flavour. Milder than garlic, but stronger than chives, wild garlic has many names: 'bear's garlic', 'devil's garlic', 'gypsy's onions', 'stinking Jenny' as well as ‘ramsons’ are just some that I’ve googled, but many nations and cultures have their own names for this wonderfully versatile plant.

Freshly picked….

                                                  

It can usually, though not always, be found by water of some kind or another, running or still and it can usually be detected nasally before visually, it has a smell that seems to displace all other fragrances around it. Later in April I have found beds of Garlic near the local river Bewl which have intermingled with bluebells and primroses, but the predominant fragrance is that of the garlic – it carries across the meadows for some distance if the wind is right.

Yet the leaves are only a part of the story. The roots are milder, more subtle and delicate and add a wonderful depth to soups, roasted vegetables and even Sunday joints of meat. The flowers can be added to salads, used to garnish the soups or placed in a vase on the table to add a wonderful smell to the dinner table over and above that of your lovingly cooked meal, like adding an additional sense of the overall flavour.

Please be aware though, that digging up wildflowers can be illegal, and it may also be irresponsible and anti-social – there’s enough for us all to share though, so think of others when you’re out foraging. I like to pick enough for one meal at a time, and in any case, picked garlic does not keep for very long at all. I’ve tried putting the leaves into a vase to keep but they’re gone within 24 hours really. As always food is much better as fresh as it can be.

There’s a very nice recipe here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/04/wet-wild-garlic-risotto-recipe

But there are so many other dishes that you can use wild garlic in; one of my favourites is roast chicken wrapped in garlic leaves. If you check back HERE, there’s further info on wild garlic soup from my previous blog which is also easy to make and delicious.

A mixed bed, but the predominant smell is garlic…….

             
Remember, be responsible when foraging and make sure you are certain of what you are picking, but please try some wild garlic this year – I’m sure you will enjoy it.

Wild Garlic Soup

This is the time of year when the foraging starts in earnest and it starts with either wild nettles or, today wild garlic or ramsons. A water loving member of the alium family, these wonderful plants can be found in deep, shady glades from March until the end of May. Their leaves are used mostly, but the amazingly aromatic flowers can be used to decorate salads to startling effect. I use Wild Garlic in many recipes this time of year and I always pick it fresh as it cannot be kept for longer than 24 hours.  The best recipe, though in the early season is a nice heart-warming soup.

Most soups, certainly the vegetable variety, start with the base - the more delicate the main ingredient, the later it is added in the cooking process. The base for most of my soups starts with frying some finely chopped onion until it's soft but not very brown. You can use oil or butter - I use a combination of both to stop the butter from burning. Then I add any other ingredients that need frying off; garlic sometimes, though not this time, leeks, ginger or chilli. This time though it's just the onion and then I add a litre of vegetable stock, some chopped potato, chopped carrot, celery and parsley. At this stage I also add the seasoning. I use vegetable stock because my wife is vegetarian, but I still prefer it over chicken stock in this delecate dish anyway.

After the soup has simmered for 20 minutes or so I add the chopped wild garlic leaves and cook for another ten minutes or so. Then I liquidise the broth to form a nice thick soup. To keep the green colour, add some cooked peas at the food processor stage, a vibrant green is maintained.

Serve with some drizzled cream and some chopped raw wild garlic if you wish. A crusty loaf is almost certainly a must.