Rachel Demuth

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IN THE KITCHEN WITH

Rachel was chef-proprietor of the

award-winning Demuths vegetarian

restaurant in Bath for 25 years, and is

now dedicated to running Demuths

Cookery School. She is the author of

four vegetarian cookbooks, including

the Green Seasons Cookbook.

Spring brings thoughts of fresh, new growth.

It’s my favourite time of year and I find my

eating habits change accordingly to include

all things green, fresh and nourishing.

I like to welcome in spring with nettle soup,

which is traditionally eaten as a tonic at this

time of year. When cooked, nettles have a

unique flavour with a spinach-like quality

and a beautiful emerald-green colour. Once

picked and wilted, the leaves don’t sting

– honest! Or try sheep sorrel tossed into a

frittata, wild garlic leaves to pep up a spring

risotto, watercress for a rich green pâté, or

dandelion leaves in a bitter salad.

Foraging in the countryside is great fun,

but you’ll be surprised by how much you can

find in your own back garden or a local park.

Dandelions, loved by the French, hardly

need a description as they grow in everyone’s

lawn, whether you want them to or not!

Dandelion leaves are very good for you, with

a bitter action that stimulates digestion and

liver function. Every part of the plant can

be used: the leaves make an excellent salad

and are sometimes blanched by covering

with a flowerpot, to reduces the bitterness;

the roots can be harvested in autumn and

used as a vegetable like salsify, and also

roasted and ground for coffee; the bright

yellow flower petals add colour to a spring

salad, make delicious wine and look stunning

suspended in a clear crab apple jelly.

Most of the edible wild plants that are

worth the trouble of finding and harvesting

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FROM THE PANTRY

WILD GARLICWild garlic is a beautiful herb with a delicious flavour and is incredibly easy to forage. April is the time to go picking, and wild garlic is hard to miss: it’s one of the first plants to carpet the woods and its pungency is all pervading, in contrast to the delicate flavour once cooked.

The leaves are best when very tender, so pick when the garlic is just coming up. Choose small tender leaves – the moment flowers appear the leaves become too strong and brash in flavour, but the flowers do make a pretty addition to spring salads. Be adventurous and use wild garlic instead of spinach leaves. They also go well with watercress, or add the leaves to your favourite pasta sauces, in a tangy pesto, or as a filling for stuffed portobello mushrooms.

are easy to identify and are difficult to

confuse with harmful plants. But be safe.

Never pick a plant if you are unsure of its

identity, which parts are edible and how to

eat it. Steer clear of plants that grow outside

your garden, in places where they may be

sprayed, exposed to car fumes on busy roads

or where dogs walk!

Spring’s arrival brings with it new ingredients, as our resident chef shows you how to forage and cook wild garlic and nettles.

EAT WILD

HOW TO PICK AND COOK STINGING NETTLES

Nettle tempura On our wild food courses people seem

most interested in finding out about nettles.

They love the soup, marvelling at how

generous you have to be with the amount

of nettles in it. But the real surprise is the

nettle tempura – the surprise being that

the nettles don’t sting once cooked! You

can pick fresh nettle tips, dunk them

straight into the tempura batter and

deep-fry until they are deliciously crisp!

Serves 4 | Prep 10 mins | Cook 2 mins

sunflower oil, for frying

150g nettle tips

lemon wedges, to serves

For the batter:

200ml ice-cold water

1 large free-range egg, beaten

90g plain flour, sifted

2–3 ice cubes

1 To make the batter, pour the ice-cold

water into a mixing bowl, mix in the beaten

egg, add the flour and roughly fold in with

a fork. Do not beat – the batter should be

lumpy! Add the ice cubes.

2 Heat the oil in a wok or deep-fryer.

3 Choose succulent nettle tips and leave

enough stalk to hold on to. Dip the nettles

into the batter a few at a time, allowing any

excess batter to drain back into the bowl.

The nettles should be only thinly coated.

Fry until golden, then drain on kitchen

paper and keep warm.

4 Serve hot with a pinch of salt, a wedge of

lemon and a salsa verde.

n PER SERVING 309 cals, fat 24g, sat fat 3g,

carbs 18g, sugars 1g, protein 5g, salt 0.2g,

fibre 2g

Make your tempura eggless by adding ½ tsp salt and 1 tbsp cornstarch in with the flour.

Wild garlic pesto This delicious pesto can be served with

sourdough bread, as a pasta sauce, or as a

dip for crudités.

Serves 6 | Prep 20 mins

50g pine nuts or blanched almonds

75g hazelnuts

150g fresh young tender garlic leaves,

washed

175ml extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp apple juice concentrate or agave syrup

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.

2 Toast the pine nuts in a small frying pan,

with no oil. Heat gently and stir continually,

until they start to turn golden, then

immediately decant on to a plate.

3 To roast the hazelnuts, place them on a

baking tray in the oven and roast for about

8 minutes, until the skins easily rub off.

Do use a timer, as the moment you smell

nuts cooking it’s too late and they will

be burnt!

4 Crush the nuts roughly using a food

processor or pestle and mortar, then

decant them into a bowl and set aside.

5 Purée the wild garlic leaves with a pinch

of salt and the olive oil, just enough to

break up the garlic to a rough texture. Add

the lemon juice, vinegar and apple juice

concentrate and mix.

6 Pour the wild garlic mixture into the

crushed nuts and stir in. Season to taste

and check for sweetness – you may need to

add a little more to balance the sourness.

COOK’S TIP The pesto will keep in the fridge

for 1–2 weeks, as long as the top is covered

with a layer of olive oil. It is also delicious

made with rocket, young spinach leaves,

watercress or, of course, basil.

www.vegetarianliving.co.uk | 59

Chef’stablel Follow Rachel’s blog at www.demuths.co.uk/rachels-blog l Sign up for the Demuths

Cookery School newsletter, with offers, recipes and tips at www.demuths.co.uk

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Freeze in small containers, so that you can take out a little at a time.

freezeme

ESSENTIAL TIPS…

The next Wild Food Forage and Cook Day at

the Demuths Vegetarian Cookery School will

be on 10 May 2015. For more information,

visit www.bit.ly/WildFoodForage.

As we move into spring, nettles are

starting to appear. They may sting, but

they’re also hugely versatile, and right

now they’re at their seasonal best: young,

tender and ripe for picking.

l HOW TO FORAGE The leaves are best

enjoyed when very tender, so pick in the

spring when they are starting to come up,

or later in the season pick just the young

leaves from the tips. Use rubber gloves

or pinch the leaves hard, so you don’t get

stung. When cooked, nettles reduce to a

quarter of the amount you picked, so a

supermarket plastic bag full of nettles will

be about 500g.

l PREPPING IN THE KITCHEN Once

picked, lay the nettles on a tray to wilt,

after which they can no longer sting you.

When wilted, strip the leaves off the stems.

It’s important to always cook nettles to

destroy the stinging formic acid – nettles

are not suitable for salads! However, they

do make a relaxing herb tea.