Last week I was dining on wild garlic and poaches eggs, a delicacy. A reader recommended wild garlic and mushroom risotto so off I went to collect more in the woods. I had to be content with bought mushrooms, there aren’t many wild edible ones at this time of the year as far as I know. A successful recipe and I had garlic leaves to spare, so froze a bag of them.
Wild Garlic and Mushroom Risotto.
This week I turned my attention to the garden which has become a little, maybe a lot, neglected in the last two years. I didn’t have to worry about the lawn as it is ‘No mow May’. But the borders needed weeding, I donned my thick gloves and started with the nettles and brambles. Before long I had a barrow load of nettles. I set to and stripped off the youngest, freshest leaves for cooking. I have often made nettle soup before and checking a few recipes found one with wild garlic – how convenient. I washed the nettle leaves and defrosted the frozen garlic. Cooked an onion and added the all the leaves whilst boiling a few potatoes. The latter were added, along with seasonings and left to simmer. I still use a pressure cooker for soups. Add a little cream and I had the most satisfying tea. I use ‘tea’ as in the Northern style – a substantial meal early evening. ‘Dinner’ is at lunchtime and ‘Supper’ a snack before bed. ‘Lunch’ doesn’t figure.
From garden to table. It must be full of goodness.Â
Whilst in the garden I managed to capture a shot of an Orange Tip enjoying my geraniums. These early butterflies are everywhere at the moment but had eluded my lens the other day. 
