Friday, March 2, 2012

A little knowledge........


I noticed this morning dropping the kids off to school, that the wild garlic is blooming already.  I saw these on the edge of the wonderfully named Botharin na Spioroga.

For years I have been making pesto from it and adding the flowers and stems, raw to salads.  That is, until last year, when one of my waitresses (who was studying horticulture  or permaculture or some kind of culture) told me that it was not in fact wild garlic.  She didn't know what it was but wild garlic was quite different and the next day she brought me some in and told me where to pick it.


If you are ever in Kinsale the wooded driveway down to the Carlton hotel is awash with it.  If you drive down with your windows open the smell is overwhelming.

My 'new' wild garlic is a lot less bitter than my original and not quite as harsh on the system.

Not for the first time I find myself pondering what I have been putting into my body all these years!!

We all know how to make pesto so here is a nice wild garlic soup.  It is exactly the same way I make nettle soup.

  • 300g wild garlic
  • 1 l chicken stock (hot)
  • 1 large onion
  • 100ml cream
  • Knob of butter
  • salt & pepper
Soften the onion in the butter.   Add garlic and cook for 5 minutes.  Season (I add more pepper than normal). Add the hot stock slowly and cook gently for half an hour.  Add the cream and liquidise. Adjust seasoning.

Some soups benefit from sitting overnight - not this one.  Eat fresh.



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