Wild garlic soup

Wild garlic soup

This is another recipe that is ideal if you have picked or otherwise acquired a large quantity of wild garlic (or ramson) leaves. Despite the abundant use of wild garlic leaves, the soup has a relatively mild flavour and lacks the pungency of raw wild garlic. It has a vivid green colour, and a pleasant earthy flavour, which reminds me of woodland in spring. The method is pretty simple, and can be adapted to make soup with watercress, nettles and other fresh green leaves. This recipe will serve four.

Ingredients

1 medium onion

1 medium potato

1L vegetable stock

Several handfuls of wild garlic leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

Dice the onion, and sweat down in a large pan, over a fairly low heat with a pinch of salt.

Peel the potato and cut into 1cm dice. Add to the pan.

Once the onion has softened, add the vegetable stock. Bring the pan to the boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer. If you don’t have any home-made vegetable stock to hand, you can use a bullion cube, but reduce the amount of salt that you add in with the onion. I save water that I have boiled dried legumes in, which makes a good (and cheap) vegetable stock.

Meanwhile, wash the wild garlic leaves thoroughly in cold water.

Once the potato has softened, add the wild garlic leaves to the pan. They might have a lot of volume at this point, so it helps to use a large pan.

Turn the heat up slightly, and allow the wild garlic leaves to wilt. You may need to stir the leaves a couple of times to make sure they cook evenly. As soon as all the leaves have wilted, which should only take a couple of minutes, turn off the heat. Be careful not to overcook the leaves, as they quickly lose their flavour and colour.

Add a small drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, then blend the soup.

Check for seasoning. If you have any wild garlic flower buds, you can briefly deep fry these and use them as a garnish.