few flowered recipes…

So following on from my previous post on foraging for few flowered leeks by the Braid burn, here is what i did with my free haul…

few flowered leek and walnut pesto

(these amounts are all approximate you can adjust them to your taste)

100g wild garlic or few flowered leek leaves

80g walnuts

80g parmesan cheese

good extra virgin olive oil (i prefer Tuscan for the fruity flavour)

So i don’t have a food processor, so this was all done by hand. First crumble the walnuts into a dry, hot frying pan (no oil) and lightly toast them, keep them moving otherwise they will burn. Set aside to cool in a large bowl. When cooled, pound them to a bread crumb like consistency in a pestle and mortar and return to the large bowl.

Meanwhile finely chop your wild leaves and then pound them in a pestle and mortar with a little sea salt, add them to the bowl with the now cooled, crushed walnuts. To this mixture also add the finely grated parmesan.

Now all you have to do is glug in the oil and mix, so that it all incorporates, keep adding more oil till you achieve the consistency you like with your pesto. Taste and add a little more salt if required… And there you have it, delicious and really simple using just 4 ingredients.

I like it with linguine, or as crostini in oven toasted ciabatta slices or even in a baked potato. It freezes by the way, though you should apply a thin top layer of oil to the container it’s in to “seal” it and stop it oxidising.

Sweet Potato and Few Flowered Leek Soup – A take on the classic leek and potato soup, i thought I’d experiment…it works!

ingredients

1 large onion

1 large sweet potato

300 g few flowered leeks

good stock

nutmeg, a bay leaf, salt and pepper

Sauté the onion till transparent, add a bay leaf, salt and black pepper and some freshly grated nutmeg. Pour in some hot stock (vegetable, chicken or ham) and add the peeled sweet potatoes which have been cut into chunks. The stock should comfortably cover the sweet potatoes. Simmer till the potatoes are cooked. At the last minute add the washed few flowered leek leaves and cook for 1 more minute. Fish out the bay leaf and liquidise the soup till it is smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning. It should taste sweet and savoury and earthy from the wild leaves.