Spring Shoots - Nettle, Sorrel, Dandelion, Sea Beet

This is the second part of the article that appeared in Permaculture Magazine, 65, Spring 2011.

 

 

Sea Beet

NETTLE, SORREL, DANDELION and SEA BEET

The lengthening days herald Spring and the first new shoots.  Young, green, tender, these first greens are the best to be had.  Purging and purifying after the heavy winter vittles, their appearance, like that of the first blossom, is joy!   Surely the best way to salute the arrival of these greens is to gather a handful of each and, keeping the Nettles aside, to throw them together as a bright salad.  Chop up the Nettles very finely to break the stinging needles, mix with garlic, olive oil and vinegar, for a simple Nettle vinaigrette to pour over the salad. 

NETTLE – Urtica dioica

High in protein, Iron and Vitamin C, Nettles are a sturdy and popular spring green.    They appear early, and their young tops are the best parts to use.  As well as eating them fresh, they can be picked and dried for teas or frozen as greens for stir-frys, tarts and soups.

Nettle Pesto

Chop 500g fresh Nettles finely.  Add to this 250g of Pine nuts toasted and crushed (lay in a tea towel and roll over with a rolling pin), the same of coarsely grated parmesan, a lot of finely chopped garlic (for garlic lovers as much as a whole head) and coarse sea-salt to taste.   Mix lightly with a favourite olive oil, until it reaches a chunky, thick consistency.    Serve the pesto with pasta, spread on bread, add to courgette soup.  Freeze or pot and pasteurise.

The recipe can be done with a blender, but the oil tends to emulsify and create a brown sludge.  Chopping all the ingredients separately by hand creates a vibrant green pesto of myriad textures. 

Vegans can replace the parmesan with sunflower seeds.

Those nettle-venturers who are not yet convinced aficionados might want to supplement half the nettles with a more docile green, such as rocket, basil or sorrel…

SORREL – Rumex acetosa

One of my favourite wild greens, Common Sorrel is much like French Sorrel in appearance and flavour.  It is perennial and grows vivaciously all over the UK and Ireland.  A Rumex, it is related to the dreaded dock, and forms a similar seed-head in Summer.  Like Oca, it is high in oxalic acid, giving it a sour, lemony bite.  The wild version is much stronger in taste than the French, cultivated variety.  Like all the other greens it can be eaten raw in salad, chopped into a vinaigrette, wilted, steamed or stir fryed – although the flavour remains good when cooked, it does lose its emerald green colour to become a sludgy khaki.  If you don’t mind the colour, then just use sorrel in the following recipe for a really sharp flavour, otherwise mix sorrel with other greens, such as young spinach or sea-beet.

Sorrel tart

On a blind-baked pastry case layer buttered softened onions, wilted sorrel and chunks of blue cheese. (In Norfolk Mrs Temple’s “Binham Blue” is a particularly good local alternative to Stilton).  Whisk 4 eggs (duck eggs are very good in this wild and rich tart), mix with a small pot of Crème Fraiche and a dollop of milk.  Pour the egg mix up to the edges of the tart and cook for about twenty to thirty minutes at 180C, or until the egg is cooked.  The quiche should be starting to brown on top and risen in the middle.

DANDELION – Taraxacum officianalis

The name comes from the French “dents-de-lion” (lion’s teeth) due to the toothed leaves.  The French actually call the plant “pissenlit” (wet-the-bed), as it is a well-known diuretic.  As well as a diuretic, Dandelion is a versatile detox.  In tea or tincture it is good for the liver and kidneys, as well as for the bladder and it is used by those suffering from anaemia.  It can be eaten raw, picked green or blanched (grown in the dark – easy to do at home, under a bucket, as rhubarb, endive…), and again, stir-fryed, steamed, added to soups, casseroles or stir-frys.

A favourite memory of feasting on dandelions was in France, where they are quite a common form of sustenance.  As the first swallows sailed in to announce Spring we picked great handfuls of dandelions and served them as they were, the leaves and the flowers, bathed in vinaigrette, tossed only with a few compulsory lardons and a baguette, spread on a table in the sun on the side of a village road.

  

Dandelion Salad

Use the youngest and most vibrant dandelion leaves.  Cut out the stalks of any larger ones as they can be bitter.  Toss in vinaigrette.  Add lardons if desired.  Finish with a mass of flowerheads.  Serve when the swallows arrive for a glorious sun-shone spring salad.

SEA BEET – Beta vulgaris sp. maritima

Growing on the edge of the marshes, and along the coast, Sea Beet is a staple spring green.  Recognised by its thick, fleshy leaves, shaped as arrowheads in a rosette, it can grow into a large shrub.  Although it is apparent year round, in Spring it provides an early source of substantial greens.  It has a good texture and rich flavour and is used like spinach in a variety of recipes.   Blanche it, steam it, stir fry, wilt or fill tarts with it.  Or serve with fish or shellfish to continue the coastal theme.

Stir-fryed Sea-Beet.

Stir fry young sea-beet leaves with onions, garlic and caraway seeds in olive oil.  At the last minute douse with Tamari and Balsamic Vinegar.  Serve on its own or on the top of Puy Lentils with a spoonful of yogurt.

Winter Roots - Oca, Salsify, Jerusalem Artichoke

Vaguely untimely, this article appeared in Permaculture Magazine, (67, Spring 2011), Part 2 to follow shortly...

Wearied of frostbitten greens, sprouts and mincemeat, pickles and preserves, the temptation is to plunge, without a glance backward, into the onset of Spring.  I would first like to offer one last eulogy to winter vegetables, to three of the less common and more remarkable tubers, hoarded in the dank depths of the vegetable underworld.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE, OCA and SALSIFY

These, beside their ruddy counterparts, are the rockstars of the roots: sultry, elegant, with extravagant tastes, ebullient spirits…  But this isn’t about their looks.  Stubby, grubby and hairy, they are the sweetest, the most delicate flavoured, most exotic of the roots.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE – Helianthus tuberosus

Towering eight-feet-high in triffid-esque arrogance, the stalks nodding with yellow flowerheads at the height of Summer, the Jerusalem Artichoke, also known as the Sunchoke, is related to the Sunflower.  Indeed, the name Jerusalem is thought to come from a confusion with the original name, originating in Peru, the Girasol. They are one of the most labour-free plants to grow, and if a few tubers are left in the ground when harvesting, will provide a crop the following year.  Unfortunately, the Jerusalem Artichoke is famed for being the cause of foul wind and tortuous flatulence – I have yet to hear of a sure-fire remedy.  But their sweet, delicate flavour, reminiscent of artichokes, keeps me growing and eating them.  As for the baneful after-effects I have a couple of suggestions.  Don’t eat Jerusalem Artichokes in large quantities and try and combine them with herbs and spices that ease digestion such as fennel, bay and cumin.  I also take the time to first peel and blanche the vegetables in acidulated water (add vinegar or lemon-juice), which is then discarded, in an attempt to lessen the effects. 

You can roast, soup and mash Jerusalem artichokes, or eat them raw as, somewhat surprisingly, you can most roots… Their reputation has taken a recent upturn and they are to be found, in the form of diaphanous Soufflés and Veloutés, in the very highest realms of haute cuisine.

Jerusalem Artichoke Purée

Purée Jerusalem Artichokes for a jazzed-up variation on mashed potatoes.  Peel, then boil in acidulated water with a potato.  When beginning to fall apart, drain and blend with butter and black pepper.

Jerusalem Artichoke Salad

For the sassiest raw Winter salad.  Slice very thinly, cover immediately with lemon juice to prevent discolouring.  Add walnut oil and toss with toasted walnuts.  Sprinkle with chives or an available green.

SALSIFY- Tragopogon porrifolius

Salsify, or Scorzanera – the two varieties vary only slightly – can be planted in Autumn for a Winter harvest.  A showering grass-like fountain above ground, Salsify tapers to a long hairy root.  It is related to the Jerusalem Artichoke but, fortunately, did not inherit the side effects.  Its taste is light and difficult to define, somewhere between oysters, chestnut and coconut.  It can be put in gratin, and the Irish chef Dennis Cotter, of Café Paradiso renown, braises it with star anise...  I think, as with all these delicate roots, it’s best as it is.

Salsify as it is

Boil unpeeled for twenty to thirty minutes in acidulated water (it exudes a sticky, milky sap and discolours).  Once cooked slip off the skin and add a squeeze of lemon juice or Umeboshi seasoning for a breathtaking combination.  A nut-oil or a knob of butter gives a gentler flavour.  Serve warm with salt and pepper to taste. 

OCA – Oxalis tuberosa

Oca, long unknown, has likewise recently hit the headlines of haute cuisine.  The tubers are planted like potatoes in Spring and grow slowly to be harvested in the depths of Winter.  A shrub of shamrock shaped leaves and pretty yellow flowers, it originates in Latin America.  The leaves and flowers are edible and make pretty additions to Summer salads, but the plant is high in oxalic-acid so beware of gorging!

Oca on the table

Like a lemon-scented new potato in the depths of December, the tuber is a welcome addition to the Winter table.  Serve as new potatoes for that Summer zing, roast in their skins with garlic and rosemary for a taste of Italy, or cook up with cinnamon, ground ginger and orange rind for a festive feel. 

The throes of the Hungry Gap...?

 

Asparagus, Broccoli, Red Celery, Leeks, Lemon-Balm, Sage, Rosemary, Marjoram, Chives, Eggs.

As we prise ourselves away, out of the torrid grip of said epoch, I am obliged to ponder the notion of this era bereft of nourishment.. indeed, as I fill yet another trug from the bountiful belly of an early Spring garden, I revoke it.

The wild greens started early, with Ransoms, and Dandelions, Nettles, Sorrel, Sea Beet in full green bloom in February… after the Spring Equinox when the roots in the ground start to turn to seed, the Leeks and Celery still sat around, and Watercress began to fill the streams (forager beware: Liver fluke), Lovage, Marjoram, Herb Patience and Fennel springing up in the garden… and now, oh prolific Purple Sprouting Broccoli abounds and, blessed days, the Asparagus are rousing, poking their dreamy heads through the straw in overnight spurts of growth.

Broccoli and Asparagus plucked and, I insist, taken without a moment’s hesitation, to the table are more akin to foods of the gods than meagre offerings of a time of famished spirits.

And in homage to these simple-yet-unearthly Spring shoots, I pray, do not then drown them in suddy boiling water, nor adulterate them in the depths of chaotic menus, the art is in allowing the essence of these vegetables to emerge.

Steam or lightly blanche the Asparagus and/or Broccoli and serve on the raw-side of cooked,  still-warm on a salad of (aforementioned) wild herbs with a squeeze of lemon, a drip of oil… for the vinaigrette-o-phile: a simple Balsamic Vinaigrette, for the glutton: Sea-Salted Butter or a home-made Hollandaise Sauce whisked with the yolks of today’s eggs, for the outdoorsy: grill the Asparagus on an open fire by night...

Ramsons: the word is out.

They appeared a month back, awakening the woodland on the edge of Ragman’s Lane Farm in Gloucestershire.  Then in Norfolk the woods and gardens started billowing.  On Clare Island a tiny planted patch had spread providing a lush early spring ground-cover just outside the kitchen window of the old cottage.  I blogged about it in Pestos and Vinaigrettes, The Outdoor Lab put it in Potato Dauphinoise and Bacon Sarnies, I ate it in secretive, unblogged Omelettes… In Ireland I chopped it with nettles into a raw Jerusalem Artichoke Salad, then I chopped it into Christophe’s dreamy Raw Cow’s Cheese for breakfast, and then into raw Parsnip and Apple Salad.  Suddenly Food Urchin did a mammoth Garlic blog, comprising of a traditional Pesto, a Soup, a very photogenic and doubtless palatable Bread… and then, out of the blue, the EDP featured a Celeriac Soup with Wild Garlic Puree.

The scavengers’ secret is a secret no more.  Fortunately there is plenty to go round, and a few months still remaining of the season… Ramsons or Wild Garlic can be recognised by its flat rounded blades of leaves, its tiny starry white flowers on a long stalk, and of course its pungent garlic smell.  

Celeriac Soup with Wild Garlic Puree (EDP March 26^th 2011)

(abbreviated)

50g Plain Flour

50g Butter

1kg Celeriac, peeled and cut into chunks.

2 lt Veg stock [make your own!]

350g Onions

350g Celery

3 Garlic cloves

350ml Double Cream

Cook celeriac in stock.  Separately fry up rest of ingredients except cream.  Add Celeriac, Stock and blend.  Heat adding cream, on a low heat.

Wild Garlic Puree

Bunch of Wild Garlic

500ml Olive Oil

Salt
Lemon Juice

Rapidly blanche Garlic.  Shake off most of water.  Blend drizzling Olive Oil into mixture.  Add squeeze garlic pinch of salt.  Blend adding rest of Olive Oil to nice green purée.  Swirl into Soup at last minute and add chopped Wild Garlic Leaves.

Celeriac should be out of the ground now, as the Spring Equinox has passed and it will go to seed.  It can however still be stored in a cool, dry place with air circulating.

I will post the aforementioned Raw Salad recipes on a later occasion… keep an eye out.

(Also to look out for now:  Young Nettle Tops, early Plantain leaves, Sea-Beet, Dandelions – beginning to flower, Wild Sorrel – arrow shaped heads in pastures and, apparently, disused railway lines, Watercress, Jack-by-the-hedge, Goosegrass, Good-King Henry… to name but a few.)

Sourdough Skill-Share

Camilla Storm's lovely pictures of Sourdough Skill-Sharing on Patrick Whitefield's Sustainable Land Use Course at Ragman's Lane Farm in Gloucestershire.

And some comments once back home:

I would like to report a thoroughly successful sour dough experience in my kitchen! I was worried the starter may explode on the hot train journey, but it endured and Doug is fully won over on the lovely loaves :) thanks so much ladies - the mother dough lineage continues! (Cari)

I have also had a great time with the bread, and passed the skill on to my daughters (and blogged about it here should anybody be interested)  and they love the bread and have been extolling its virtues at school! (Jackie)

I have used your sour dough with my conventional process (not wet) and it has worked very well producing a delicious bread. (M)
 
Made up some bread last weekend but managed to badly burn it in the electric oven. Trying again this weekend, in the AGA, after I've cleaned the burner. (R)

Photographs courtesy of Camilla Storm

Sourdough-a-dough-dough

 

Sourdough Muffins chez Ed 'n' Ali

 

Banqueting yester’ eve with permacultural friends, Ali and Ed, so-sadly-so-soon fleeing the county, ‘midst the household gifts offered in flight, (hosepipe, tentpoles, belt, all of utter usefulness) a screw-top jar of: Rye Sourdough Starter.

This starter is reputed to be over twenty years old, gleaned from deepest Russia by Andrew Whitley (of chef-d’oeuvre Bread Matters), gifted through many hands, to now reach my own. 

I have stirred it up (Starter, Organic Rye Flour, Water, Salt) into a very wet mix, and it sits rising downstairs.  Rye is low in gluten so doesn’t have to be kneaded and stretched like high-gluten doughs, and as Mr Whitley says, it turns out like concrete unless it is very wet…

Only a fortnight before had I first tasted this Rye Sourdough, and fallen to my knees in a plea for a fistful of the stuff, on that occasion Ed had solved the issue of wet-sourdough rolls by stuffing the wed-kneaded dough into muffin trays…(see pic)

Slow-risen the flavour develops fully, the Rye has sharp nutty taste and the sourness gives it a real depth, like a blackbread of Eastern Europe.

Last night’s loaves had hollow backs, they had slightly sunk in cooking.  After some amateur troubleshooting we decided the dough had over-risen. 

 

Recognise over-risen sourdough by a very bubbly surface that is starting to drape and looks as though were you to stick your finger in, or shake the loaf-tin, the whole thing would collapse.

Tomato Chilli Cinnamon Chutney, a note on experimentation.

With experimental preserving, the tendency is to concoct a certain food on one inspired day, to eat it several months later and in the mean time to have forgotten what impulsion gave rise to said concoction.

There is but one way:  A very meticulous method of noting down experiments and recipes (step 1) is imperative, to be  followed by a taking down of results: tasting notes/success or otherwise (step 2) in order that processes may be repeated, altered, improved etc…

All too oft’ I find myself wondering yet another time how on earth I had preserved a certain jar of tomatoes, or what quantities of salt I had used in that perfect sauerkraut.

There are many methods and each to his own, I love to write the recipe on the label of the jar, but 'tis utterly impractical, tending to have faded or run when eventually the preserve is tasted.

All this to say: 

On Clare Island, in the depths of the stores:  a small jar of last year’s Tomato Chilli Cinnamon Chutney.  An eccentric experiment, that had now had time to mature.

And what a chutney!  The sweetness of the Summer-ripened tomatoes was picked up by the Cinnamon and then, all at once, a sharp chilli bite… it spread thick like butter and deep rusty red, it was quite the marvel of the crowd.

For once, I had written the recipe down, and still had to hand the little book I had inscribed it in, here it is:

Tomato Chilli Cinnamon Chutney, an experiment.

3lb of the Tomato glut (eat your best and ripest raw and sweet, use the rest for chutney)

1 lb Onions

1 lb Demarara

1 pt Vinegar

3-6 Chillies (according to strength)

2-3 Sticks of Cinnamon (ground)

Bring the lot to the boil.

Reduce, simmering and stirring till thick and sludgy. (a spoon should stand up in it)

Pot in Sterilised Jars.

Allow to mature several months, then gorge with friends.

Chillies on Clare Island

An 'elpful 'int from 'Arry

oho, I have tales to tell... a week away in the West of Ireland and I am brimming... tales of such ebullient gastronomy I can bare withhold... but first, a note from Harry's pantry: 

 

POMEGRANATE and ORANGE BLOSSOM VINEGAR

 

i thought you might be interested in the attached and wonder if you've come across it before? i bought it at a lebanese stall the other day, and it's truly delicious. the ingredients look pretty straightforward, so no doubt you could make your own - white wine vinegar, pomegranate molasses, sugar and orange blossom water - and i'm having fun experimenting with it in salads, with oils, dressing grilled meats and sometimes just a nip from the bottle. complex and sprightly, it's magic stuff. and of course a little goes a long way.

p.s. and have you ever had a spoonful of madeira in your porridge for breakfast? if not, do!

Rumtopf

A great Germanic tradition of preserving fruits is: the Rumtopf.  Literally meaning “Pot of Rum”, it is a large ceramic jar in which fresh Fruits, Rum and Sugar are layered throughout the spring, summer and autumn seasons.  A plate is placed on the fruits to keep them below the level of the liquid, the jar is lidded and they are allowed to slowly mature.   The sweet rum-saturated fruits are then eaten in the depths of winter… a lovely, low-energy way to preserve those summer glutss.  We are just finishing last year’s pot in readiness for the coming seasons…

To 1lb of fruit add up to ½ lb of sugar and cover well with rum.

(try with: Gooseberries, Blackcurrants, Redcurrants, Whitecurrants, Strawberries, Loganberries, Jostaberries, Raspberries…)

Look out for traditional Rumtopf pots in charity shops, flea-markets and carboot sales, or make your own – I’m sure a foodsafe bucket or a plugged flowerpot would do... and ready yourself for the harvest.

A Figgy Pudding

The resurgence of cold nights and dawn frosts the last few days has offered a welcome opportunity to think once more about Puddings… to delve once more into the Store cupboards.  This recipe for storing Figs is a real favourite, and perfect for those not-quite-sweet-enough, not-quite-ripe-enough late-Summer Figs common to our climate.  I’ll blog about this more come Fig season, but for now, because it is sweet, sticky, figgy and utterly sublime…

The recipe actually comes from an American blog my mother found.  Here it is adapted to suit the British pantry…

1lb Figs

¼ lb Sugar

¼ lb Honey

1 Vanilla Pod

1 Lemon

Glass of Whisky

Halve Figs and place in an earthenware bowl with a split Vanilla Pod.  Douse in local Honey, Lemon Juice, a spoonful of Sugar and leave to macerate, covered at room temperature, for an hour or so.  Then gently move the Figs and liquid to a pan and bring to a simmer.  Return to the bowl and leave overnight in the fridge.  The following day strain off the liquid into a pan.  Add a glass of Scotch Whisky to the mix, flambé or boil off the alcohol, add the Figs again, simmer briefly.  Pour into preserving jars, chopping the Vanilla Pods into each one.  Close tightly, will keep for at least a year.  Serve with a home-made scoop of ice-cream as a sumptuous end to a dinner party, or indulge alone on those frosty winter nights.

The quantities given are a rough guideline as to the amounts.  I think this Summer I will try a version with more local ingredients.  We have our own Honey, and Norfolk now produces its own Whisky, perhaps with a dash of apple juice for the acidity...

The Great Garlic Forage

'tis indeed the season, and those wild about garlic are surging into the woodlands to forage the bounty of the woodland floor - besides my own below, there are some great Wild Garlic Recipes just posted on The Outdoor Lab...

Fundamental Food Storage

Don't miss: Sharon Astyk on the fundamentals of Food Storage... how to, and how not to...

Newbie Food Storage on the Cheap

Wild Green Pesto

The ancient woodland to the South of Ragman’s Lane Farm, sloping down to the River Wye is a haven – gnarling trees, a floor of Beech leaves, Hart’s Tongue Ferns, Dog’s Mercury, Lords and Ladies, and a variety of Mosses, a stone pathway the route of the old tram, meandering, the promise of Bluebells, and suddenly, in the last week, the Ramsons… in abundance the leaves piercing out of the ground to colour the floor a vibrant pale green.

Tonight a dusk forage – the last few days we have been feasting on Pestos of young Nettle tops and today we decided to add the Wild Garlic to the concoction.

 Cari blending...

(this can be done by hand, and has a lovely texture but for large numbers it is easier in a blender)

Nettle and Wild Garlic Pesto

Blend a bowlful of Nettles with the same of Ransoms (Wild Garlic) in Olive Oil and add Seasalt and toasted Sunflower Seeds (whole) for a Wild Green Vegan Pesto to serve on Pasta, bake into Breads, shake into Vinaigrette, spread on Toast… even eat by the spoonful!

 Store pesto covered well in oil in an airtight jar, stores for at least six months.

Slow Food, Slow Yoga

Macalla EcoFarm on Clare Island is holding a weekend course (March 17th -20th) in Vegetarian Cooking and Yoga - sumptuous combination... and I'll likely be there cooking etc.   Christophe is a sublime foody - as his French origins surely denote...and a deep and compelling Yoga Teacher.  My time spent at Macalla is indeed the source and inspiration of many of these recipes on my blog.  The Farm and Retreat Centre has piles of organic gardens, polytunnels and a rare snatch of ancient woodland.  The Yoga Room stares East over Clew Bay, a misty mysterious bay of 365 islets to the sacred mountain Croagh Patrick,  where the sun rises.  Sourdough Bread baking, Ghee making, the art of Herbs and Spices, forage and good stoic veggy banqueting...not to mention the reviving seawaters of the icy cove!

Sloe Gin

 

The gardener for whom the Blackthorn is not a suckering, venomous plant to be spurned at all costs, has a little secret: the fruit of the thorny plant – the Sloe.  And beyond jellies and jams, the most likely reason he hails this suckering plant’s arrival with joy is that he has a certain penchant for a nip of Sloe Gin.  In these grey days, a timely interval – The Bottling of the Sloe Gin. 

recipe

4 pt Gin

2lb 10 oz Sloes

10 oz Sugar

Prick sloes all over with pin or similar to encourage exchange of juices.

Layer in demijohn with rest of ingredients.

After three months strain through muslin and bottle.

Age for as long as possible in bottles to soften off that raw edge

(The method of freezing instead of pricking – a favoured time saver – does seem to produce  a slight jelly-like bloom in the gin.)

Pick Sloes, a bulging black fruit much like a small damson, in early October or after first frost, you’ll find them  growing on the hardy, thorny, dark-wooded Blackthorn, but mind yourself – a scratch from a thorn quickly turns septic.

For the essence of Summer

...on a gloomy day:
a scavenged salad and a glass of lovely Norfolk Cordial's Red Gooseberry and Elderflower Cordial - true Norfolkian nectar!

A Scavenged Salad

Longing for something raw, bitter and green, I went up to the garden to see what could be scavenged from the murky depths of an endless winter… Oh joy!  Despite appearances, the garden is home to a wealth of green fodder.

From the cultivated garden:

A lone Celeriac only half grown and still sat in the ground ;  Salsify ; Sprouts gone over like baby cabbages ; a few tiny leaves of overwintered Cavolo nero (kale) and Rainbow Chard ; Red Celery ; the odd just surviving Lettuce leaf.

From the rough:

Nettles galore ; Dandelion leaves ; Goosegrass ; Plantain leaves.

From the Store:

Allen’s Everlasting Apple ; Lacto-fermented Beans ; Endive forced in buckets ; Walnuts ; Garlic.

From the herb beds:

The first Chives ; Young heads of Marjoram ; Fennel Shoots.

For the raw GreenVinaigrette I blended up the Nettles, Goosegrass and Plantain with a slosh of Apple Juice, Cider Vinegar, Lemon Juice, Olive, Rapeseed and Walnut Oils, French Sel de Guérande (salt) and Black pepper, and added finely chopped Chives and Garlic.

I then chopped up the rest of the Leaves, Stalks and Roots, topped with LF Beans and Endive, anda tonne of Mrajoram and doused in vinaigrette for a lovely spring-scavenged raw vegan green salad!

Winter Roots, Spring Shoots in Permaculture Magazine

I have an article containing quite a bundle of Seasonal recipes, from the cultivated root (Oca, Salsify, Jerusalem Artichokes) to the foraged green (Nettles, Sea Beet, Dandelion, Sorrel) in this quarter’s Permaculture Magazine.  I won’t yet divulge the secrets, but you can get hold of a copy here – this issue also contains lots of  inspired writing on growing Fruits in Hedgerows, Figs, even Hopps, and why not adopt a local Apple Tree...

An Omelette, An Aside and An Ortolan Bunting.

An Omelette:

This week the chickens in Kabul are laying so vigorously that a communal omelette has taken the place of the fought-over-fried-egg.   This one contains an Afghan version of Feta cheese.  But do note first the dreamy nectar-yellow of the yolks, the chickens fed on kitchen scraps alone…

An Aside:

As an aside, I am reminded of the extraordinary tale by Edgar Allen Poe, The Duc de L’Omelette.  Poor Duke Omelette dies of shock when his precious Ortolan Bunting arrives on the platter not prepared as it should be.

So that the same does not occur for you, I thought it only best to elaborate on the preparation of the Ortolan Bunting – an apparent delicacy once-upon-a-time in France.

An Ortolan Bunting:

The Ortolan Bunting, Emberiza Hortulana, is fattened to four times its own size, then drowned in burning Armagnac for eight minutes.  To eat the tiny bird, one covers one’s head with a linen shroud, to keep in the aroma and to hide the appalling act from God.  The head dangling from between the lips, one gorges on the whole bird, lungs, heart and bones.

Fortunately in this case the Duke beats the Devil at cards, and is given another chance...

Chick-a-Pics

  The aforementioned "at-long-last-laying hens"  in a snowy Kabul garden...

...the three black ones are named after warlords who continue to have a large stake in the current government - Sayyaf, Marshal Fahim and Dostum. The white one, which is bullied by the others and doesnt produce eggs, is called Bashardost, after the most outspoken MP who frequently rails against corruption and warlordism to much ridicule from others.

Notes on the omelette to follow...

Fermentation Fervour

A message from Fermenter extraordinaire, and author of Wild Fermentation, Sandor Katz : 

I’ve been in semi-seclusion trying to get my new book written.  It’s another book on fermentation, more in-depth, more ferments, more variations (many contributed by readers of Wild Fermentation and people who have written to me), more exploration of underlying processes, and more troubleshooting.  The new book is coming along, but slowly.  I’m currently projecting completing the manuscript by September, I’ve been doing lots of experiments.  Lately I’ve been malting Barley, making Sake, Hammanatto, and one of my new favourites, Smreka, a tonic beverage from Bosnia.

Smreka could not be simpler to make:  Place about 2 cups (1/2 litre) of Juniper berries in a gallon (4 litre) jug, and fill it with water.  No sugar or anything else required.  Ferment for about a month, stirring or shaking and releasing pressure periodically.  Truly delicious. 

Thanks to Luke Regalbuto and Maggie Levinger of Wild West Ferments for sharing that one with me, and thanks to all of you who shared feedback, ideas and recipes for the book.  I’ll keep you posted.

To stay focussed on the book project, I do not have much teaching scheduled this coming season.  But I do have some, most near home in Tennesse.  Please help spread the word.  After my book is finished I expect to resume periodic travels spreading Fermentation Fervour, but I am not prepared to make more commitments until then.  However, if you are teaching fermentation classes, or know someone who is, please send me the details and I will gladly post them on my website.   There is such a tremendous hunger for this information that the fermentation revival needs more teachers.  Workshops can be very simple.  Consider spreading your Fermentation Fervour wherever you live.

To find out more about Fermentation, see previous posts on my blog under the label "Fermentation", or visit Sandor's website...

A Good Stock

Mrs Beeton writes a recipe for Pocket-Soup.  An elaborate recipe, bringing one step-by-step through a lengthy process in which an animal carcass is slowly transformed into a dehydrated stock cube – an art indeed.

While the sight of a pot of Bisto, a stock cube and even an artisanal organic bouillon horrifies me, I will uphold the merits of a good stock.  Primarily, a Stock is an excellent example of the beneficial use of waste products, it’s a sort of alternative to the compost… and it doesn’t have to contain meat, one of the best summer stocks is the simple combination of Pea-Pods and Onion Skins.  

My Uncle has sent through pics of his post-Christmas Goose Stock.  The Recipe is as follows: add one Onion in its skin + 2 large Carrots + 2 Celery Sticks to 1 Goose Carcass, cover with water and simmer for +/- 8 hours, adding water when needed to cover carcass. 

 

Made by covering the ingredients in water, bringing to the boil and then allowing to simmer very slowly, preferable overnight, it is then strained, and the liquid kept.  The liquid can be used in soups or stews, where it adds a depth of flavour and structure to a dish, as a consommé on its own or as a simple addition to rice.

The joy of a stock is that you can use anything you can find, and each is a unique creation.  An excuse to let your creative juices run, Carrot tops, Bay leaves, Garlic Skins, Giblets and Lemon Rind are just some of the ingredients I like to stuff into the stock pot.  It is not quite alchemy, but certainly has something of the potion about it.  I never add salt to a stock but alter the salt levels when actually using the stock to cook with.  It can be used immediately (if it contains a lot of fat cool first and skim off with a metal spoon) or frozen and saved for another occasion.

p.s. More Stock Recipes avidly awaited!  Send to olivheal@gmail.com.

 

Storing...

An art indeed in the post-modern, post-global, peak oil, food-insecure… era is the storing of foodstuffs in order to be able to provide in times of scarcity. Jo Newton of Irish Seed Savers teaching on Patrick Whitefield’s excellent Sustainable Land Use Course looked yesterday at the myriad methods of doing this, an enabling and empowering step towards self-sufficiency.   I offer a list here, and hope to cover most of the means of food storage in this blog over the seasons.

 In the GROUND

Recent harsh winters are making it harder to store in the ground, but many roots, such as Oca, Swede, Jerusalem Artichokes, Salsify and Parsnips will happily sit snug in the ground over winter – the only difficulty is in digging them.

 SILOS and CLAMPS

Both are traditional methods of food storage.  A SILO is a hole in the ground, aerated with straw, leaves and branches into which the roots are placed and then covered in earth.  While more suited to wet climates, a CLAMP is a pile of veg on the ground, similarly mixed with a material – nettle straw a traditional one for keeping off vermin, around which a trench is dug, the earth is used to cover the pile.  The terms are continue to be used in modern industrial agriculture, but the meanings are somewhat altered.

 STORING ROOTS and FRUITS
Otherwise, buckets or boxes in which particularly carrots, beetroots and celeriac are layered and covered with sand, peat, leaf mould, straw or sawdust, a slightly moist mulch to keep the veggies fresh, at a constant 4C or thereabouts to prevent roots shooting or freezing. 

  Apples and pears can be stored on palettes with air circling between them.  They keep better than roots due to their high level of acidity.

  Pumpkins and Squashes keep very well, and in warmer temperatures (up to 10C) provided they have been ripened off and their shells are hard.  Ripen off by leaving in direct sunlight, or using a cloche if necessary.

 Don’t keep anything showing signs of mould or rot as this will spread fast. 

 DRYING and DEHYDRATION

Windowsills, Dashboards and Airing Cupboards can be used for drying pulses, fruits, tomatoes…  hang your apple rings in the kitchen window.  Herbs are best dried away from direct sunlight in order to preserve their volatile oils.  In the case of wetter fruits and veggies a solar-dehydrator might be in order…

 SMOKING and CURING

Used for meats and fishes and often involving salt these are pre-freezer methods of storing… Gravadlax is one of my favourite and all-too-easy to do at home.  Recipe to be posted, one day.

 PASTEURISATION and STERILISATION

While Pasteurisation (see previous blog) happens at 72C for 20 minutes, Sterilisation happens over a longer period of time at 100C.

  FREEZING

While freezing is an exceptional means of conserving fresh vegetables without them losing any nutrients it demands much gas and electricity… commodities not to be reckoned on.

  LACTO-FERMENTATION

A no-energy means of preserving, a skill lost and returning to Europe with a new-found sense, see my many previous blogs on the subject.

  In SUGAR, In SALT, In BRINE, In VINEGAR, In ALCOHOL…

A myriad ideas and recipes to follow over the coming year.

Pasteurisation... Wintry Apple Compote

As ‘tis the season of eating all those vittles so lovingly preserved in the height of the harvest season, I thought I’d write a note on Pasteurisation.

Pasteurisation is a means of preserving fruits and veggies in jars.   It slows microbial growth and is particularly useful in storing products of high acidity such as tomatoes and fruits, the results keep for up to a year.  The process simply involves heating the jar containing the product to 72C, keeping it at that temperature for twenty minutes, and then rapidly cooling it. 

Wintry Apple Compote

Chop up a variety of apples, particularly those that don’t keep well, are better cooked than eaten or have a particular flavour.  I like using nutty Egremont Russets and Bramley for the sharpness, this also gives a really nice mix of textures.

Cook gently in a pan, with a little water to prevent burning.  Stir and add grated Root Ginger and a Spice Bag containing Cloves, Mace, Cinnamon sticks and a touch of Star Anise.  If cooked quickly the apples will break down, if simmered very slowly they will retain some of their shape.

Taste for sweetness and add a raw Sugar or Syrup to taste.  Heat, stirring.

Remove Spice Bag and pot in Kilner or Jam Jars rinsed with boiling water to sterilise.

Place the jars in a Water Bath to their necks, bring the water up to 72C and retain at this heat for twenty minutes.  Remove jars and allow to cool rapidly.  The compote will keep like this for up to a year.

Much like Apple Compote, Tomato Pasatas, Ratatouilles, Summer Soups and Stews, Curries and Gruels can be stored like this.  Keep them in a cool, dark place and enjoy when the garden is bare.

A note from Harry on Cider... Vinegar

We've been making some cider over the last couple of months, and this batch turned to vinegar.  It's tasty stuff - we used Cox, D'Arcy Spice & Worcester apples & Japanese pears, all in equal quantities, but it did throw some massive protein-tannin ectoplasm after the yeasts died. We filtered out the protein-tannins with some muslin and let it settle - and I think we'll have to do another filtering later. I also ran some tests using the soil testing equipment at work, and discovered that it has a fearsome pH 3.5!

...

A note on the apples - Cox is the well-known Orange Pippin, a very full flavour, best in early autumn, recognisable by its rattling seeds when shaken.  D'Arcy Spice, an East Anglian apple, belongs to the Russet family, sweet, small apples of grey/green colour, popular in Cider.  Worcester is most likely Worcester Pearmain, a desert apple, very crisp and used cut up in salads very early Autumn.  The Japanese pears... I know not.   

...

More to follow on Cider making, but perhaps not till the Autumn.

Sourdough Share

A furore of sourdough last week…

I have a lovely Wheat/Rye Sourdough, given to me last year by the Clare Island fellows.  It is, unlike my homemade Rye pictured previously, very stoic, and easy to revive even after a couple of months.  The sourdough was passed on to them seven years hence by a German friend, and they have sent it in jars, in pockets, all over Ireland, to the UK and to France.  A nice thought – the fermented dough putting bread on the table the breadth of Europe, perhaps even further abroad… a share much like sharing a good loaf, sat by the hearth…

A very simple recipe, passed over the sea from Clare Island.  Make at night, Bake at dawn.

For two loaves

1 (lg) yogurt pot of Rye

1 yogurt pot of Wholemeal Wheat

¾ yogurt pot of White Wheat

Salt

Water

Seeds (optional)

Add small amount of water to the Sourdough. Stir.

Add wet Sourdough to mixed Flours.

Stir.

Add water to mixture until dry dough.

Add Salt.

Knead briefly and then bring from bowl onto wet surface.

Knead adding water for ten minutes, until the dough becomes a wet, but manageable consistency.

Remove a hunk of dough to act as the successive sourdough.

Leave this in a open jar for between 10-15 hours, until well-risen, then store it, airtight in the fridge until next baking occasion.

Fold/knead seeds into the rest of the dough if desired, I use Pumpkin, Lin, Sunflower seeds for a lovely crunchy, nutty bread.

Put into greased and floured loaf tins.

Leave to rise between 10-15 hours, the warmer and moister the conditions, the faster the bread will rise, the dough should have doubled in size and small geyser-like bubbles appearing on the surface.

Bake at 220C for 20mins then 180C for another 20 mins. 

The bread should knock easily out of the loaf tins.  Now bake the loaves upside down for five to fifteen minutes depending on how thoroughly cooked it is.  This creates a lovely crust.

Knock on the base of the bread, a hollow sound means it is done.

Leave a while, for a day even, particularly if the quantity of rye flour is high, before cutting into as the crumb can be very wet and sticky immediately out of the oven.

Pass the sourdough on!

(Notes on the science of sourdough to follow at another stage)

Purge!

Back on Clare Island we feasted on various ferments that had been sitting in hibernation since my last visit.

Carrot Kimchee, a sensational spicy combination of fermented carrots, apples, chillis, ginger and horseradish – the pure expression of fermentation – the carrots crunchy and orange as the day they were pulled.  (not to mention that these were riddled with carrotfly, only rescued for same kimchee…)

Kimchee is a traditional fermented Korean dish, which is served with rice and tends to contain cabbage or a variety of radishes, we have experimented with Apples, Courgettes and Jerusalem Artichokes… See Sandor Katz (Wild Fermentation) for more info.

Cut carrots as desired (I like batons), likewise a couple of apples peeled.  Soak overnight in brine (60g salt to 1lt water).  Following day taste carrots, should taste salty.  (if too salty rinse, if not salty enough add salt).  Drain and reserve brine.  Mix grated ginger, garlic, onion, chillies, horseradish.  Add carrots and apples.  Press into a jar.  Push down until liquid rises.  Add reserved brine to cover if necessary.  Pressure into closed Kilner Jar.  Leave several days at room temp.  Make sure the veg are covered in liquid.  Then move to a cool dark place for several months, until wintry scurvy overwhelms… enjoy!

Jars of Lacto-Fermented Courgettes and Courgette Kimchee (the outcome of this Summer’s glut!) were also on the menu as well as a lovely earthy tasting LF Celeriac, real gritty organic stuff… The LF Courgettes quite the material of cravings… Then these last few days we made several jars of LF Jerusalem Artichokes, combining them with any available herbs, bay leaves and chard, as well as doing them kimchee-style… apparently they are a winner, I have yet to taste.   We toasted our success with bottles of fermented brews – an Elderflower and Gooseberry Wine of 2009 vintage, slightly musty, but more than drinkable and a divine Gooseberry Wine, with a bit of sparkle, again 2009, gold the colour of nectar, a sharp dry white… stuff to salute the stars with.

Back in Norfolk on the ferment side I have been getting through several jars of LF French Beans.  Unfortunately they were picked late and fermented when already old, and although the flavour is good, their skins are tough.  It is important to use the freshest ingredients for fermenting. But chopped into salads they still work as a perky nutritious addition.

What better way to begin the year that with all these gut improving veggies… and what to do with the remaining liquid?  Either use it to ferment something else – it contains the appropriate lactobacilli, just add it to your latest jar of veg… or… for the ultimate New Year Purge – drink it!

Lacto-Fermented Veg Juice aids digestion, soothes the stomach, boosts the immune system, is said to fight cancer and treat flu…

Wet-Kneading Sourdough in a Bowl

Katie's Spelt Soda Bread

...just back from Ireland, and amongst the tips I picked up on an isle far from famed for its culinary talents, was a lovely Spelt Soda Bread.  Nestled in Ballybeg at the foot of the Wicklow Hills, gazing out over the valleys we sat at the kitchen table in Katie's cottage, over cups of tea and slices of this soda bread, women rhythming out myriad thoughts, echoes of the matrilineacy into whose heritage we were bid.


I am not convinced I can recreate this in Norfolk.  But the recipe is as follows:

2 cups Wholemeal Spelt Flour
1 cup White Spelt Flour
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 Egg
1 pt Milk
Seeds

Mix the Flours.  (by a "cup"  I literally mean a small porcelain teacup, the sort you might find on show on a dresser in an Irish kitchen).  Sift the Bicarb into the Flour and combine.  Beat the Egg and add this followed by the Milk***.  Stir really well until thoroughly combined.  Add a handful of Seeds of your choice.  Pour into an oiled and floured loaf tin.  Bake for 45 minutes at 180C.  A knife should come out clean.

***On later recreations of thie bread, I have found 1 pint is too much milk.  Therefore, slowly add milk until you reach a good consistency (think cake mixture).  Likely no more than 3/4 pint.

This is a cakey bread, much like the cornbread (see previous blog).  The mixture should be very sloppy as the Spelt absorbs a lot, and the bread can be dense.  Spelt is an ancient grain, now readily available, with a lovely nutty flavour.  I tried this recipe with 3 cups of wholemeal spelt flour and sprinkled seeds on the top before baking, worked very well - see pic.  Although, I think on another occasion I would add a teaspoon of salt, this might alter the rising and baking - tbc.  Katie has replaced traditional Buttermilk with normal Milk, this increases the fat content and probably makes the bread rather more enticing.  (Buttermilk, a common ingredient in Ireland, is the liquid remaining once the milk has been churned into butter.)  The advantages to the bread, besides being utterly delicious, are that it does not contain wheat, yeast or (interestingly) salt; it takes no time to make and does not need to rise; and it offers a welcome and not too intrepid contrast to your staple bread.