Inspired by one of my favourite cookery books, Suffolk Farm Feasts (the book with the green spine) I decided to take advantage of the abundant nettles and wild garlic which are growing in Owl Wood.
Arming myself with a pair of thick rubber gloves, I went nettle picking - making sure that I visited the areas which I know are not visited by Toby.
I also picked plenty of wild garlic and some young dandelion leaves.
The last few leeks in the vegetable garden were leering at me, so I dug them up too. I was beginning to feel that I should have a big black cauldron to throw them all into!
When I say that the book inspired me with the recipe, I must confess that I didn't stick to it very closely.
The recipe called for the addition of a carrot and some cinnamon, but I was carrotless, and I really couldn't fancy the idea of cinnamon in with the greens...hence the wild garlic, which isn't listed as an ingredient in their recipe, nor are the dandelions, leeks or the handful of oats.......
I made soup. 😀
I was worried that my Number One Taster wouldn't like it, but he loved it, so did I. The taste was almost like an asparagus soup.
I tarted up his serving with homemade croutons, snipped chives from the garden and some bits of bacon. He was a happy man.
Homemade bread really does make for the best croutons.
I had my soup with just dotted with chives plus a small dollop of cream. Delicious.
Suffolk Farm Feasts is an excellent and unusual book. Recipes rub shoulders with old countryside lore.
It is a real country book, so you needn't been fazed if someone presents you with the gift of a grey squirrel, crow, woodcock, pheasant or pigeon..
Troubled by weeds? Eat them! There are lots of recipes here.
Chapters are very helpfully arranged according to farm habitat - Arable, Grassland, Farmyard, Hedgerows, Ponds and Woodland and the bounty they offer.
Unsurprisingly, the recipes were collected by people living in Suffolk - members of Suffolk Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group. I live in Lincolnshire, not Suffolk, but that doesn't stop me from making the most of this excellent book!
The small book with the really dark spine (middle photograph) is a very old one. I consult it every year, when I begin foraging. Don't want any accidents.
The title is 'The Poisonous, Noxious and Suspected Plants of Our Fields and Woods' with 44 colour plates.
More of this book another day.
What a lovely post and I bet that soup was a cracker. Very healthy too.
ReplyDeleteI have loved wild flowers since I was 6 years old, and I was given the Observers' Book of Wild Flowers for Christmas. It was my constant companion and joined by many others once I began work and could buy them.
I love the sound of that Suffolk Cookery book - just up my street.
It was even better the following day - as they usually are.
DeleteI took a walk up to the Wild Wood this morning, I did my best to identify the flowers in that ancient woodland, you would have spotted many more. The warmth of the last few days has really had a big impact on everything. Those Observers books were wonderful, I particularly enjoyed my O B of Horses, and the Dogs one. The Suffolk Cookery book cost me the princely sum of 1p, plus postage. Money well spent, because I often use it.
Use a cookery book as a spring board off into the realms of what’s available, what tickles your taste buds, and what gives you joy to prepare and share. Sounds like that delish soup ticks all boxes and for free... what’s not to like?
ReplyDeleteGive my love to your Bro!
LX
Hello Lettice, I'll be sure to do that - Ian still writes a blog - he has left Lincolnshire now and lives on a narrowboat. His adventures on the 'high seas' are told in "Diesel Electric Elephant Company, England". He hasn't changed - you will still love his sense of humour.
DeleteIt is good to see you back!
As Bovey Belle says, what a lovely post! I'd be too nervous to eat things from the wild in case I picked the 'wrong' plants! I know you have to know what you're doing, but the soup you made sounds lovely.
ReplyDeleteMany, many years ago a friend said that there was lovely watercress growing in a stream on one of the walks we used to take our little sons on, and so off we went, and picked bunches and took them home, my friend wading into the stream to get the plants. Later that evening we had a frantic phone call from her husband. "You've not eaten your 'watercress' have you? It's not watercress at all, but a weed ...!" and with that he told us what it was, but I can't remember that, only it wasn't cress at all. We laughed about this for many years, but we were glad we'd not eaten it. Mind you, I reckon one bite and we'd have known it was cress!
I still have my Observer's book of Wild Flowers (plus Birds, plus Horses & Ponies and several others.)
Margaret P
Don't worry, I always stick to picking things which I am confident about - nettles, dandelion leaves and the wild garlic are pretty easy. The only thing you could possibly mistake wild garlic for is lily of the valley, which is poisonous, but they are completely different once you know what each is like. We have both, but nowhere near one another, no point looking for trouble!
DeleteI am very glad to hear that you survived to tell the watercress tale. Oooops!
I think those Observers Books have bought many of us a lot of pleasure, as well as informing our minds, over the years. A very neat format.
My only experience with nettles is on our walking vacation in the Cotswolds. Dan got stung. Never knew they were edible.
ReplyDeleteAs long as you pick only the top leaves, while they are young and fresh and then cook them properly. They were often used as a spring vegetable, to help nourish people during the period before the main vegetable crops came in - also used in the old days as a Spring tonic! If you get stung by a nettle the traditional way to soothe it is to look for a Dock leaf, they nearly always grow nearby. Nature stings and Nature soothes!
DeleteI know I had that Suffolk book once upon a time but it must have been when we were buying and selling books at shows as I don't have it now. I probably thought it unlikely that I would be cooking squirrel or crow!
ReplyDeleteIt is my favourite regional recipe book. I regret to say that even the Lincolnshire ones can't match it. We have been given pheasants and trout, thankfully that is a far as it has gone, though if son-in-law had his way he'd pot the Owl Wood squirrels.
DeleteTroubled by weeds? Eat them! Do you have a recipe for brambles? not the black berries but the actual thorny stab you and rip your clothes part? I could do with that now. I would make the recipe and sit in the garden eating it laughing at the brambles. I hate brambles. awful things. your soup looks yum!
ReplyDeleteNothing for those horrible things, I got mauled by some this morning, you have my sympathy. Ground Elder, Fat Hen, Jack-by-the-Hedge, Hogweed, etc, etc. Revenge, but of course it all depends on how well you know your weeds. The soup was really good, would definitely make something similar again.
DeleteWould not even recognize these ingredients, upon seeing them, in the wild. Sigh. My education is sorely lacking.
ReplyDeleteBut what you make, sounds delicious!!!!
I would really need the small book with the really dark spine!!! Or disasters could occur. ,-)
"Troubled by weeds? Eat them!" Love that!!!!!!
Not lacking, just different. I would be hopeless with American weeds and wildflowers. That soup was so good, Luna, it was safe because i knew exactly what I was putting into it. There are other edible weeds which look very similar to some poisonous ones, I steer clear of anything like that. I forage on a very basic/junior level, so don't worry!
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