Cook and Drink

Only a few days to go before the end of the Wild Garlic season. The season starts early February when the first leaves appear. Mid-April the star shaped white flowers appear, beautiful and also edible. When the flowers go to seed it’s the end of the season and the leaves become bitter and chewy.

Wild Garlic can be used to make pesto, it can be added to a dish with white asparagus and morels and it’s delicious when combined with fennel and potato. Preparing Wild Garlic soup is also a good idea. The first time we tasted it, at Zum Fliegenden Holländer in Potsdam, Germany, we expected the soup to be a bit simple, probably we would taste onion, touch of garlic and potatoes. We were wrong, the soup was much more complicated and sophisticated than expected. The flavour was mild, we could clearly taste the Wild Garlic, but very gentle, with some sweetness. The overall taste was pleasant and lasting. Perhaps the potato was too present, but that was a minor detail. Bärlauchsuppe proofed to be delicious, refreshing and very much a tribute to spring.

What You Need

• 150 grams of Wild Garlic Leaves
• 500 ml of Stock
• 1 Shallot
• ½ Garlic Clove
• Potato Starch
• Cream
• Olive Oil
• Black Pepper
• Nutmeg

What You Do

Wash and dry the leaves. Chop the shallot and the garlic. We were lucky, our bunch of leaves also contained a few flower buds. We chopped these as well. Warm a pan, add some olive oil and glaze the onions and the garlic (and the flower buds). After a few minutes add the stock. We used homemade quail stock, which brought additional sweetness to the soup. Leave to simmer for a few minutes. Coarsely chop the leaves, add these to the pan and leave for perhaps one minute. Be careful, you don’t want to discolour the leaves. Use a blender to make a smooth liquid. Pass the liquid through a sieve. Add one to two teaspoons of potato starch and mix very well. Add cream and leave for a few minutes. Just before serving add some excellent olive oil and black pepper, blender for 1 or 2 seconds and serve with some freshly grated nutmeg.

PS

We use potato starch to remain close to the basic idea of the Bärlauchsuppe in Potsdam. Potato Starch has a neutral taste and a high binding strength. If you use a (starchy) potato, then peel and cube it and add it to the stock. Remove the potato cubes when they are ready, add the chopped leaves, leave to simmer and then blender. Mash the potato cubes, combine with some of the liquid, add the mash to the soup and whisk well. If you blender the liquid with the potato, you risk ending up with a gluey, sticky soup.