Wellbeing
It's the start of April and time for our montly recipe from the super Lucinda at The Lonely Cook instagram page. But as I know Lucinda and her husband, I know he has now returned from his travels so she is no longer a Lonely cook!
Wise words from The Lonely Cook again this month. Finding your produce locally and just being aware of the time and energy that goes in to producing foods for us to eat. Everything has an energy so making choices to understand how and where you food is being grow is all part of changing this life that has been pushed a pon us with grand supermarkets and endless nameless produce. Like Lucinda says it's great to speak to the farmers and just generally independent shop keepers in your area. It's understanding that our money doesn't just have to line the pockets of the big Corperate companies making them even richer anymore. We can now start thinking about spreading that money out evenly across an a ray of artist, framers, independent shop keepers showing them that having a passion and enjoying their work is being recognised and validated. This shift in peoples awareness brings a warmth and joy to my life as I feel my kids may now experience a society where we are encouraged to follow our passions and dreams.
Recipe
" There’s no doubt about it, spring is here, and with the longer days and shorter nights comes one of my favourite things: wild garlic. Also known as ‘ramps’ or ‘ramsons’, by mid-March banks are bursting with its lush green leaves and throughout April they become dotted with beautiful globes of white flowers. Whilst I am by no means a forager, the sheer abundance of wild garlic in spring, much like that of blackberries in autumn, makes it irresistible. It is also ludicrously easy to harvest – just grab a bunch at the base of the stems and pull! A few large handfuls go a long way and will last for almost a week in the fridge. Make sure you pick undamaged leaves, away from polluted areas, and of course wash it before you use it.
With a gentler flavour than its bulbous cousin, it still shares many of the health benefits of regular garlic: it is antibacterial, antiseptic and antibiotic, and the wild variety is even more effective at lowering blood pressure and so reducing risk of heart attack and stroke; it is full of folic acid, an essential B vitamin for everyone, not just pregnant women; AND it works as a pre-biotic helping to promote a healthy gut-flora which is the key to all round good health, but especially useful for boosting the immune system and repairing the damage done by pharmaceutical antibiotics. The leaves are delicious both raw and cooked and the flowers make a stunning addition to salads or would make incredible tempura if you’re au-fait with the whole deep-frying thing (I’m not, that amount of boiling oil in close proximity to my lanky and clumsy limbs is a disaster waiting to happen!). Slice the leaves finely and stir through scrambled eggs or hot pasta, use instead of or as well as basil to make an amazing (and considerably cheaper) pesto, make wild garlic aioli, or add at the end of cooking to soups and stews for a bright and fragrant hit or to a goat’s cheese and spring vegetable quiche for a fresh hint of garlic. Basically, use as much of it as often as possible before it disappears!
Of course the beauty of foraging is that it provides you with free and delicious food, but eating locally and seasonally is something we all know we should be doing more of outside of our brief forays into hunter-gathering. By using local ingredients we ensure we get produce when it is at its peak nutritional value and lower our hefty carbon footprints, leading to a delightful sense of eco-smugness! We are so lucky in Bath that we have a fabulous weekly farmer’s market with local producers selling organic vegetables and meat, crusty pies, cheeses of all varieties, cider, cakes, and even local chocolate. I love going and spending time talking to the stall-holders and finding out about their lives and work. Whilst the obvious bonus is having a fridge full of the most nutritious and delicious food, I have found that understanding the huge difficulties that are faced by farmers and independent producers, and the massive life-sacrifices they make to do what they love doing, makes me appreciate the food even more and encourages me to think more carefully about what I eat and how I eat it. I really savour the food I buy at the market and whenever I leave with my overflowing bags I feel as if I am going home with a sack-full of gifts! Some of my favourite stalls are Homewood Sheep’s Cheeses, Bath Organic Community Farm, Harina Bakery and Sevenhills Chocolate, so go and pay them a visit this weekend to fill your house with Easter goodness, or hunt out your own local markets, farm shops or sellers.
When you have the best ingredients I really believe in allowing them to speak for themselves in the simplest of dishes. I have never been into complicated cooking and eating simply and quickly have always been a priority for me. There is such a buzz around cooking at the moment, that we can get caught up in thinking that every meal should be a culinary extravaganza. Not only does this lead to expensive and time-consuming living, but sometimes, I think, to a lack of appreciation of individual ingredients. So this month I leave you with the easiest of meals (I daren’t even call it a recipe) that lets it star ingredients sing: wild garlic, local oyster mushrooms (grown in the cellars beneath the market floor!), organic rocket, and a nutty spelt sourdough from Thoughtful Bread. Over Easter there tends to be much cookery and feasting and an overdose of chocolate, so these mushrooms on toast are for kitchen breaks when you need a super speedy and healthy breakfast, lunch or dinner. I was told by a mushroom grower that you should always fry mushrooms for about ten minutes to get the best flavour, so don’t skimp on the cooking time. Top with a poached egg for extra oomph if you like.
Have a wonderful Easter everyone, I hope you find dozens of eggs hiding in the hedgerows!
Lots of love from
the lonely cook xxxx "
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