Cook and Drink

So many names for this great plant: Ramson(s), Wild Garlic, Bear Leek, Daslook, Ail des Ours, Bärlauch, Ramsløg, Aglio Orsino, Allium ursinum, it is one of the highlights of spring. Powerful, pure and tasty. It can be harvested from the wild, but fortunately some green grocers also sell Wild Garlic. The taste is a combination of onion and garlic, but much greener, longer lasting and with a touch of bitterness at the end. You can turn the leaves into a strong pesto, but better use it as herb with for instance potatoes or gnocchi. It is also great when used in a dish with white asparagus and morels. The flowers are also edible and are a great decoration for savory dishes and salads.

We combine Wild Garlic with potatoes and fresh fennel. The anise-taste and the light crunchiness of the fennel go very well with this rich, lightly onion flavoured potato mash.

What You Need

• Potato
• Butter
• Cream
• Fennel
• Wild Garlic
• Black Pepper
• Salt (optional)

What You Do

Dice the peeled potatoes and cook until ready to mash. Very finely dice some fennel, let’s say one tablespoon per one large potato. Add cream, butter and diced fennel to the mashed potato, mix and leave on very low heat. Remove the veins from the wild garlic leaves and tear the leaves, as you would do with basil. Add some of them to the mash, add black pepper and perhaps a pinch of salt. Leave for a few minutes, add more butter or cream if so required and more leaves. If you’re happy with the consistency and the taste, it’s time to add some more torn leaves to the mash. Serve immediately.

PS

Other elements on the plate are Saucisse de Morteau, Frankfurter and petit farci. More about the latter in one of our next posts!