Sunday 21 April 2013

Friday Jaunts


Friday was the beginning of this wonderful warm sunny spell we are enjoying, and I was itching to get out and about. Now regular readers will know that I am not the world's most active of people, but there are times when even I feel the desire to stride out - even if I don't stride very fast or very far! I am trying to improve my  ....er....track record..........

My Friday jaunt began in the early afternoon when I went for 'afternoon tea' with a new bloggy friend Maggie - visit her blogs A reading corner, and A corner by the fireside. Maggie and I started visiting each others blogs some time ago, playing the guessing game as to where in Norfolk we each lived. Eventually we realised we lived quite near to each other, and made arrangements to meet up. I didn't take my camera as I thought it might be rude! However I'm kicking myself now as Maggie has a lovely garden which you would love; it has several features which I would LOVE to incorporate into our garden but it is never going to happen - the Mister does the gardening (apart from the herbs) and if he doesn't like something I've suggested it doesn't happen! I think it is one of the few areas in our relationship where I have to grit my teeth and walk away! So, no lovely gravel garden, like Maggie's, no raised beds, no fruit trees. But hey, it's not worth arguing about in the final analysis; we are not going to fall out over it! Mind you I did gaze at Maggie's garden and sigh. I went expecting to have a quick cuppa and go - but it was two and a half hours later that Maggie and I said goodbye, having had one of those chats which you have when you 'click' with someone straight away.

On the way home I decided to get out and stretch my legs, and do a bit of foraging; I had come armed with plastic bag and scissors!


I parked the car and began my stroll. This was not, I have to say, a jog or even a brisk walk! Can you guess where I was going?


If you look closely you will spot the wild garlic. I've no idea how it came to be here, in such abundance, within a very specific area.


This is the actual corner of Onion Corner, and marks the boundary of the Ramsons' territory.


I think these might be previously coppiced willows, now left to become overgrown, unused. They spread throughout the whole of the ramsons wood.


Walked past these lovely chaps, how wonderful to live down the road from the field where your horses are contentedly cropping the fresh spring grass, with a couple of easily accessible bridle-paths on your doorstep.


See, Norfolk isn't as flatas folks think!And there are bigger hills than this! Looking in the rough direction of Sandringham.


                               Looking like blossom, these are small pale catkins.



I call this, whimsically, the River Withywindle, just a small stream, really, meandering through the ramsons and the willows. There was a duck gently cruising along when I approached but he had floated out of view by the time I had pointed and clicked!


On my way back I stopped to gather another bagful of wild garlic. I noted yesterday that the editor of The Independent has been reading my blog, as there was a 2-page spread on the topic, with a few recipes. You see, I've gone viral!

Once home the leaves were washed, dried and stored in the fridge, and yesterday I whipped up these goodies in about an hour, including clean-up.


In this batch of wild garlic pesto I used pine-nuts, almonds, and a mixture of sunflower seeds and sesame seeds, instead of the usual pine nuts, or the cashew nuts I used last time. I also replaced the parmesan cheese with some extra strong mature cheddar.


Two for the fridge and  four for the freezer. So far we have eaten it mixed with hummus on soda bread or crisp-bread, in minestrone soup, and as the base of a sauce for our Saturday Night Pasta. Mmmmm!


And taking a leaf (!) out of Independent columnist Mark Hix's article,  I dried the remaining leaves in the cooling oven, crumbled them and ground them with some chunky sea salt. So my ramsons  will be flavouring our food long after their growing season has passed. I know there has been a lot of interest in my wild garlic gatherings, I hope you have managed to find some near you and you have been experimenting too! Enjoy the rest of this lovely weekend.

24 comments:

  1. I wish Mr Bea liked to garden! He's reluctantly mows the grass when it reaches our knees.....or fed up with my nagging. He's yet to learn that if a request is carried out straight away it doesn't become a nag!
    I used my supermarket points on a bottle of red (not tomato ketchup) and this months Simple Things, lots of wild garlic things in there....right I can delay no longer, decorating to be done! :) x

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    1. I know, Ada, there seems to be no happy medium, does there? And that bit about the nagging - I used to say that to the boys all the time - a nag is just a request which has been ignored!

      Yes, it was the Simple Things which got me started, I think it's a nice little magazine which plenty of really useful articles in it. Enjoy the decorating but do stop and smell the ......daffodils? Lx

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  2. Oh thank you for the compliments.. I have to say I felt so at ease with you, and your photo doesn't do you justice! And always, always appreciate being given flowers, it's the kind of thing I always used to do when visiting a friend, or take a cake in the days when I used to bake a lot. The gravel garden should look better in a few months, I am sure you will see it, and you are welcome with the camera, only don't point it in my direction please! Now I am desperately trying to think where Onion Corner is......

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  3. Just a thought, do you drive down a certain road in CR, passing the church on your left and the almshouses on your right and continue to the bottom? It looks a lovely spot for a dawdle.....

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    1. That's the one, Maggie, I gave a whopping clue in the last post, for Dc of Frugal in Norfolk - she will be trotting over there soon I think!

      Really good to meet you, Maggie, and I'm not giving up on the gravel, but I think the raised beds are a lost cause! Yes, will bring the camera too next time, and promise not to point it in your direction! Lx

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  4. What a lovely "Taste of Fame" to be published this way!!! I love something for nothing and love stowing away such treasure to use through the seasons. I think it's the "War Baby" mentality I experienced and developed through post WW2 rationing and it's good to see it shine on your blog whilst so many around us waste so much. I enjoyed your photos and sharing your jaunts.
    Off to make a cake now from those black bananas in the kitchen!
    Jo x

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    1. You know Jo, I think you are right, my mum always have a good store cupboard, and I fantasise about jam and jelly making but seldom get round to it; just lovely to be standing back and admiring the stuff I've made over the past week.

      Now you see, we often have bananas which go black - and I seldom get round to popping them in a cake - mmm banana bread, yummy! Lx

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  5. I've used wild garlic before in salads but never thought of making pesto - excited now! How lovely that you 'clicked' with Maggie (although I've just tried the links and they don't seem to be working)- but would you please remember your camera next time - her garden sounds lovely! Jane x

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    1. Hi Jane, sorry about the links, they came up beautifully while I was editing the post - but if you google the names you should come up with them no problem. I'm so crap at the techie side of things! And yes, garden photos are on the agenda for my next visit, MAggie has said so! Lx

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  6. Hi Lynne I'm not sure if there is any wild garlic near me, I'd probably pick the wrong thing! Can you tell by the smell? I like the idea of the dried leaves and salt and I can almost smell your pesto from here :-) Rowen@Coastal Colours x

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    1. Hi Rowan, it grows mostly in woody areas. If you have a read of the previous two posts I'm sure I've put close up photos and a good description of them. You can smell them, and although they can sometimes resemble lily-of-the-valley leaves (but you'd know if the flowers were out!) , you can taste a tiny bit of leaf and you will recognise a mild chives flavour with a faintly garlicky back-note. If you dry any herb - don't let it burn - you can crumble it and grind it with coarse sea salt; I made basil salt this morning! On a roll now!! Lx

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  7. I have just eaten stuffed wild garlic leaves for my lunch! Must go and do the washing up now!

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  8. Oh you MUST say more! Did you roll them like dolmas? And did they change colour when you cooked them? I love sorrel - I grow quit a bit of it but hate the way it turns into grey bloop when you cook it.Lx

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  9. Lovely photographs. Isn't is great when you meet fellow bloggers and you hit it off straight away. Last year a lady knocked on my door selling surplus organic veggies her hubby had grown, she saw my house sign and asked if I wrote a blog, she has been reading my chunterings for ages and thought I must live quite close by, it turned out she lived across the road about 100yards away!! We are good friends now and they deliver me a huge box of lovely veggies every week through the summer and autumn.

    Loving the wild garlic tips, nothing round here though :-( but my daughter in law made a brown lentil salad thingy with chives and shredded wild garlic in a vinegarette dressing it was really nice, she has some growing in her garden so I might get a bit next year.

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    1. Now that IS a handy person to know!! I bet the salad was nice - and if I were you I would be asking if you could dig up a plant now....always supposing she enough to spare ...and get it going for next year. Failing that, when her plants start to lose their flowers, take as much seed as you can and get a seed bed started, don't leave it til next year! Lx

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  10. I did indeed roll them like dolmas and yes they did change from bright green to a dull olive during the cooking (in the oven in a covered dish with a little stock)If you want the recipe let me know and I will e-mail it to you.

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    1. Jane that would be great. I knew the sorrel went a bit yucky so wondered if the ramsons did too. Never mind ~I'm assuming they tasted great and yes please to the recipe! Always looking for an excuse to go and pick some more! Lx

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    2. Can you let me have your e-mail address so I can send you the recipe. You will find my address on my profile on my blog.

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  11. I think there's loads of it around this year - I saw some the other day and remember saying to Mr PJ, 'Look at all that Wild Garlic' - now just have to remember where we were when I said it so I can go back and get some now you've told us what to do with it! xCathy

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    1. Oooh Cathy go and find it! I've spent some happy hours this past week, mixing and chopping and blending and pouring. I have a selection of little jars full to show for it. Our favourite is pesto and hummus mixed on homemade bread - we have it for lunch most days. Lxx

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  12. Your Pesto looks great - and so versatile!
    Claire

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    1. Try it Claire - I've found all sorts of ways to use it - and soon I'll be trying Jane's stuffed wild garlic leaves.....watch this space! Lx

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  13. That's it, I am off to CR tomorrow to see if I can sniff it out. I made pesto with my curly parsley and Lincolnshire Poacher cheese last year and it is good, and I will be experimenting with ransome dolmas if I am lucky.

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    1. I'll be popping along late afternoon to get some for dolmas, so make sure you leave some for me, Pam! Actually there is HEAPS of the stuff as you can see from the photos.
      Thanks for following and visiting, and do post some photos of whatever you make with them. I'm wondering what it would be like mixing in some lovage leaves - you know, that hint of celery leaf flavour, I think it would be good. I've experimented with a few different nuts/seeds combinations, but so far the cashews are coming out tops.

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