Category: spring

Wild Garlic

21 March 2024

From February to June, you can find Wild Garlic (Ramson(s) Daslook, Bear Leek, Ail des Ours, Bärlauch). It’s a shade-loving plant with beautiful white flowers that you can forage for in the woods or grow in your garden or on your balcony. If you decide to pick wild garlic, be careful not to pick its lookalike: the poisonous Lily of the Valley. Check if it’s wild garlic by grinding your fingers on the leaf. If you smell garlic and onion, you should be fine. If in doubt, don’t use it.
Wild garlic is much loved in Germany, Austria, France and other parts of Europe. The leaves and the flowers are edible (and so are the bulbs, but we haven’t tried these yet). Some sources mention that you should only eat the leaves before the plant starts flowering. But then you can’t combine the leaves and the tasty flowers in your dish, so we suggest ignoring that idea. The flowers are a touch sweet because of the honey. We suggest tasting the leaves and the flowers well before using. Adjust the quantities accordingly.
The taste is a bit like a combination of onion and garlic, but much greener, longer lasting and with a touch of bitterness at the end.  Works very well as a pesto, but equally nice with potatoes or gnocchi. You can also add the leaves and the flowers to a salad, but we feel the taste benefits from some warmth. Be very careful when cooking wild garlic because the flavour deteriorates quickly and at its best becomes unpleasant and onion-like. However, it’s possible to prepare a very tasty wild garlic soup.

We use wild garlic in four dishes. One is Farfalle with a wild garlic-based pesto, the second is a soup and the third is with white asparagus with morels and is published in the excellent book Mushrooms by Johnny Acton and Nick Sandler.

The cheese we use on our potato-wild-garlic-mash is Vacherin Fribourgeois. It originates from the region around the Swiss city Fribourg. It’s a semi-hard, creamy cheese made with raw cow milk. It matures for some 10 weeks in a damp cellar. Its taste is aromatic, floral, full-bodied and lasting, with a touch of sweetness, bitterness and umami. Ideal to combine with gnocchi or an omelette. Unfortunately, it’s not a widely available cheese. We bought it at one of our favourite cheese shops. You could replace it with Gruyère or perhaps Emmenthaler.

We combined out potato-wild-garlic-mash with a nice steak, but you could also serve it with an excellent organic sausage, perhaps one with sage?

Wine Pairing

The combination of the rich and flavourful mash and the red meat suggests a red wine with sufficient acidity, structure and tannins. We decided to enjoy a glass of Le Jardin de Queyron Pindefleurs 2018, Saint-Emilion, made from 78% merlot, 20% cabernet franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. It’s an elegant wine with aromas of dark fruit, liquorice and toast. The wine was a perfect balance with the various flavours in the dish.

What You Need
  • Floury (Starchy) Potatoes
  • Milk or Cream
  • Butter
  • Pinch of Salt
  • Cheese
  • Wild Garlic
What You Do

Bring a pan of water with a pinch of salt to the boil. Add the potatoes and cook until tender. Transfer to a colander and drain. Return to the pan (on low heat) and allow to dry. Mash the potatoes using a fork or a potato masher. Add hot milk, or cream and (melted) butter. A few minutes before you serve the mash, coarsely chop the leaves and grate the cheese. Quickly add the cheese, mix, taste, adjust, perhaps some more, perhaps some black pepper and then add the chopped leaves. A few seconds later the mash is ready.

PS

Watch this video (in English) about a communal garden in a park in Amsterdam, featuring Lynn and her beloved daslook.

Wild Garlic and Potato Mash ©cadwu
Fresh Wild Garlic ©cadwu

Fairy Ring Mushrooms with Tarragon and Fennel

17 August 2023

July was sunny and very warm in some parts of Europe, but not in the Netherlands. Moderate temperatures, a bit of sunshine, sometimes, and lots of rain. Not ideal for sunseekers but very promising for mushroom lovers.
Let’s enjoy one of our favourites, the Fairy Ring Mushroom, a very common mushroom in many countries. It’s a small, very edible mushroom, available from early spring until late autumn. Its taste is a bit sweet (the mushrooms contain a sugar called trehalose) and perhaps that’s why some people suggest using them to make sweet mushroom cookies.

In this recipe we enhance their specific sweetness by combining them with tarragon and fennel. Both come with their own sweetness plus a hint of liquorice and anise. Flavours that go very well with fish, veal and mushrooms. A delicious, aromatic and surprisingly light dish. We served the mushrooms and vegetables with veal rib eye.

Wine Pairing

A glass of Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay could be nice, but we prefer an unoaked Merlot. A fruity red wine with an intense colour and flavours of strawberries and raspberries. For instance a glass of Merlot as produced by Di Lenardo in Italy.

What You Need

  • What You Need
  • Mushrooms
    • 150 grams of Fairy Ring Mushrooms
    • Tarragon
    • Vegetable Stock
    • Black Pepper
    • Olive Oil
  • Fennel
    • One Fennel
    • Fennel sprigs
    • Olive Oil
  • Veal Rib Eye

What You Do

Chop the fennel and add it to a pan with some olive oil. Allow to simmer. This may take 20 minutes.
Meanwhile clean the mushrooms with kitchen paper. Remove the stems. Chop the tarragon. Add olive oil to a heavy iron skillet and gently fry the mushrooms. No rush. Add the tarragon. Add one or two cubes of homemade vegetable stock. Reduce.
Happy with the firmness (or softness) of the fennel? Add some fresh tarragon and black pepper to the mushrooms. Taste and adjust. Add some fennel sprigs to the fennel, mix. Serve the fairy ring mushrooms and the fennel with gently fried veal rib eye (with some extra tarragon, obviously!).

Fairy Ring Mushrooms with Tarragon and Fennel ©cadwu
Early (non edible) Mushrooms ©cadwu

Asparagus Soup (Blended)

15 June 2023

Earlier we wrote about the traditional way of making asparagus soup. It starts by using the skin and woody ends of the asparagus with leek or shallot to make a stock. Then extra flavour is added (the tips of the asparagus, cream or salmon and dill) and the consistency of the soup improved, for instance by making a roux. This way you will get a nice, thickened soup with a velvety mouthfeel. It’s still a bit one dimensional so if you want a more complex soup, you need to replace the water by chicken or vegetable stock.

Another way of thickening the soup is by blending the asparagus. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help a lot since asparagus do not contain starch, so yes, the soup is tastier, a touch more structured but its consistence remains watery. What to do? Egg yolk? Corn starch? A potato? Cream? More white asparagus? A roux after all?

What You Need

  • 300 grams of White Asparagus
  • 1 small Shallot
  • Butter
  • 350 ml Chicken or Vegetable Stock
  • Bouquet Garni (Parsley, Bay Leaf, Chives)
  • Cream
  • White Pepper

What You Do

First decide how you want to thicken the soup. A roux is not preferred because it will flatten, reduce the flavour plus we want a try a different approach. You could use a small starchy potato (not preferred because it will bring the typical potato flavour to the soup which is great in combination with leek but not with the subtle bitterness of asparagus), corn starch (great thickener but one that reduces flavours), egg yolk (classic, but we haven’t tried it yet with this soup) or potato starch (flavourless, simple, no impact flavour wise, only colour wise).

Peel the asparagus and cut of the woody ends. Peel and slice the shallot. Add butter to a pan, glaze the shallot. Now add the skin and woody ends of the asparagus, coat with the shallot and butter mixture and add the stock. Allow to simmer for 30 – 45 minutes. If you cook the stock too long, then it will become bitter. Pass the liquid through a sieve. Squeeze to capture all the lovely asparagus juices. Keep on low heat. Chop the asparagus, add the slices to the soup and keep the tips. After 20 minutes blender the soup. Add some cream, slice the tips lengthwise and add these to the soup. 10 more minutes later the soup is ready.

And The Winner Is…

We prefer the blended version to the roux version. The stock and the other ingredients support the asparagus flavour, making it into a tasty, light yet rich soup.

Asparagus Soup (Blended) ©cadwu
Asparagus Soup (Blended) ©cadwu

Asparagus Soup (Traditional)

8 June 2023

Preparing Asparagus soup starts by using the skin and woody ends of the asparagus with leek or shallot to make a stock. Since the stock is fairly bland and watery, you need to add additional flavour (the tips of the asparagus, cream, salmon and dill) and improve the consistency of the final result. The traditional way of doing this is by making a roux. You will get a nice, thickened soup with a velvety mouthfeel. It’s still a bit one dimensional so if you want a more complex soup, we suggest replacing the water by chicken or vegetable stock.

Another way of improving the consistency and enhancing the flavour is by adding asparagus to the soup and blending the result. In this post we will prepare the traditional version.

What You Need

  • The skin and woody ends of lots of White Asparagus
  • Shallot
  • Butter
  • Water (Chicken or Vegetable Stock preferred)
  • Five White Asparagus
  • 30 grams of All Purpose Flour
  • 30 grams of Butter
  • Cream
  • White Pepper
  • Pinch of Salt

What You Do

Peel and slice the shallot. Peel the five asparagus and cut of the woody ends. Add butter to a pan, glaze the shallot. Now add the skin and woody ends of the asparagus, coat with the shallot and butter mixture and add cold water. Allow to simmer for 30 – 45 minutes. If you cook the stock too long, then it will become bitter. Pass the liquid through a sieve. Squeeze to capture all the lovely asparagus juices. With the stock ready it’s time to make the (white) roux. Warm the butter in the pan, add the flour and stir. Keep on medium heat until you just begin to smell cookies. Now start adding the warm liquid, slowly at first, keep stirring and adding until you have used all the liquid. Taste, add some white pepper and a pinch of salt. Keep on low heat. Slice the five asparagus, add the slices to the soup and keep the tips. Stir every 5 minutes. After 20 minutes add some cream, slice the five tips lengthwise and add these to the soup. 5 more minutes and the soup is ready.

Asparagus Soup (Traditional) ©cadwu
Asparagus Soup (Traditional) ©cadwu

Farfalle with Saint George’s Mushroom, Oregano and Pancetta

5 June 2023

Nearly the end of the season for the Saint George’s Mushroom (at least, where we live). So far it’s been a great year for this mushroom and the Fairy Ring Mushroom. Unfortunately, it’s been a poor year for another of our spring favourites: the morel.

Saint George’s Mushroom have a strong, not very pleasant aroma (it disappears when you heat the mushrooms) and a long lasting, earthy taste. Famous chef, author and mushroom expert Jane Grigson wasn’t a fan. In her classic book The Mushroom Feast she wrote “I have omitted one or two which our mushroom books follow each other in praising too highly. One of these is the Saint George’s Mushroom.” Obviously, we humbly disagree with her. It’s a bit of a puzzle to find the right combination of ingredients when one is the Saint George’s Mushroom but isn’t that part of the fun?
Earlier we wrote about an omelette with Saint George’s Mushroom and a starter with udon. This recipe is a combination of fat, moist, slightly sweet pancetta and earthy mushrooms, with the egg sauce and the oregano making it into a delicious dish.

Wine Pairing

We matched the rather intense flavours with a Pinot Noir, made by La Cour Des Dames. In general you’re looking for a red, medium bodied wine with aromas of berries, floral notes and delicate wood. The tannins should be soft or well-integrated. 

What You Need

  • 100 grams of Saint George’s Mushroom
  • 100 gram of Pancetta (slab preferred)
  • Fresh Oregano
  • Two eggs
  • Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
  • Black Pepper
  • Farfalle

What You Do

  1. Start by cleaning the mushrooms with kitchen paper. Slice.
  2. Dice the pancetta. We used pancetta produced by Fumagalli. Sustainable, organic, ecological etcetera.
  3. Use a heavy iron skillet and fry the pancetta on medium/high heat. No need to add olive oil.
  4. When nicely coloured transfer the pancetta to a plate, remove most of the fat and gently fry the mushrooms.
  5. After a few minutes transfer the pancetta back to the pan.
  6. Add fresh oregano leaves, bigger ones shredded.
  7. Add the farfalle to a pan of boiling water and cook until al dente.
  8. In the meantime, beat two eggs and add some parmesan cheese.
  9. When the farfalle is ready, taste the mixture in the pan, perhaps add some extra oregano and transfer the farfalle to the pan.
  10. Wait for a minute or so until the excess water has evaporated.
  11. Move the pan away from the heat, add the egg mixture and combine (like you would do with Spaghetti Carbonara).
  12. Add black pepper and some extra Parmesan cheese before serving.
Farfalle with Saint George’s Mushroom, Oregano and Pancetta ©cadwu
Farfalle with Saint George’s Mushroom, Oregano and Pancetta ©cadwu

Fairy Ring Mushroom with Udon

18 May 2023

Spring brings us several edible or even delicious mushrooms, such as the Fairy Ring Mushroom, Morels and the Mushroom of Saint George.
The Fairy Ring mushroom is a very common mushroom in many countries. The name is not very helpful since many mushrooms grow in the pattern of a ring. The German and Dutch names (Rasen-Schwindling and Weidekringzwam) are more helpful; these refer to the fact that the mushroom grows in meadows and lawns.
It’s a small, very edible mushroom, available from early spring until late autumn. Its taste is a bit sweet and perhaps that’s why some people suggest using them to make sweet mushroom cookies. Hm, we think you can do better than that! Earlier we combined the mushroom with pork chops. Today we use the sweetness as a starting point of a vegetarian dish with udon, our favourite noodle.

Drink Pairing

Given the sweetness of the dish, the depth of the udon and the hint of spiciness (fresh ginger), we suggest a medium bodied, dry white wine. Could be a Riesling or perhaps a Grüner Veltliner. A well balanced, round sake will also be great with the dish.

What You Need

  • 100 gram of Fairy Ring mushroom
  • 2 Scallions
  • Soy Sauce
  • Sesame Oil
  • Ginger
  • Oyster Sauce or Mirin
  • Vegetable Stock
  • Olive Oil
  • Udon

What You Do

Start by cleaning the mushrooms with kitchen paper. Remove the stems. Slice the scallions thinly, separate the white and the green. Add the udon to boiling water. The noodles will take some 10 minutes, which gives you sufficient time to prepare the mushrooms. Fry the caps in olive oil. After a few minutes, add the white of the scallions. Fry for a minute or so. Reduce heat. Add some grated ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil. To enhance the sweetness of the mushroom, add some oyster sauce or mirin. Add a teaspoon to start with. Taste and adjust. Perhaps a second one? Be careful not to overpower the delicate flavor of the mushroom. When ready, add the udon straight from the pan to the mushrooms. Combine. Leave for a minute or two. Add a bit of stock. You’re looking for generous coated udon with shining mushrooms. Just before serving add some freshly grated ginger, a dash of sesame oil and the green of the scallions.

PS

In some countries the mushroom is known as Mousseron, which sounds French, however in France the Fairy Ring mushroom is called Faux-Mousseron, to distinguish it from the real Mousseron, the mushroom we know as the Mushroom of Saint George. At least both are edible!

Fairy Ring Mushroom with Udon ©cadwu
Fairy Ring Mushroom with Udon ©cadwu

The Art of Sauces: Beurre Blanc

11 May 2023

We love the classic ways of eating white asparagus, served with a nice white wine from the Alsace region in France (Pinot Blanc, perhaps a dry Muscat). We were talking about different ways of preparing them. We browsed through various recipes and found a combination new to us: white asparagus with scallops (Coquilles Saint Jacques). Some add a tomato and tarragon sauce, others mayonnaise or (even) a tapenade. Not combinations we would like to see on our plate. Why not serve with a sauce that supports the subtle sweetness of both the asparagus and the scallops? Could be Hollandaise or Kimizu, but these are probably too rich for the scallops.

Beurre Blanc is an interesting sauce: it’s basically a reduction of white wine, vinegar and herbs, thickened with very cold butter.  The more butter you add, the thicker the consistency, although it will remain thinner than an emulsified sauce. The benefit of beurre blanc is that it comes with that lovely velvety mouthfeel without being too rich. And the acidity works beautifully with the asparagus and the scallops.

What You Need

  • 4 tablespoons Dry White Wine
  • 2 tablespoons White Wine Vinegar 
  • 4 tablespoons of Water
  • 1 Shallot
  • Thyme
  • Bay Leaf
  • Black Pepper
  • Double Cream
  • 75 (or more) grams very cold Butter

What You Do

Chop the shallot and crush the black pepper corns. Add the wine, the vinegar and the water to a pan. Add the shallot, the black pepper, thyme and one bay leaf to the pan. Allow to reduce to 1/3. Pass through a sieve. In total you should have 3 or 4 tablespoons of reduction. Warm the reduction. Add a splash of cream and reduce to 1/2 or 1/3. Whisk regularly. Remove the creamy reduction from the heat and start adding small cubes of ice cold butter, one by one, whisking constantly. Keep adding butter until you have the taste and the consistency you want.

Asparagus and Scallops

We served the Beurre Blanc with steamed white asparagus and scallops sautéed in butter. We opened a bottle of Mâcon-Vinzelles ‘En Paradis’ 2021, produced by Château Vitallis. The wine, made from 100% Chardonnay grapes, is vinified in stainless steel tanks. It has just the right level of citrusy acidity, it is fresh with floral aromas, and comes with minerality and a touch of butter. In general, you’re looking for an unoaked chardonnay, with freshness and some acidity.

Asparagus, Scallops and Beurre Blanc ©cadwu
Asparagus, Scallops and Beurre Blanc ©cadwu

Wild Garlic Soup

24 April 2023

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.

Wild Garlic Soup ©cadwu
Fresh Wild Garlic ©cadwu

Asparagus

17 April 2023

Both White and Green Asparagus are seasonal products. Waiting for the season to begin is part of the fun of enjoying asparagus.

Green Asparagus

Preparing Green Asparagus is simple. Wash them and cut off 1 or 2 centimetres or so from the bottom. You could steam or cook them but you risk getting soggy asparagus. Better to prepare them in a skillet or in the oven. They will only take 10-15 minutes. Great to combine with basil and black olives. You could also grill them, see below.

White Asparagus

Buying and preparing White Asparagus requires a bit more work, but once you know what to do, it’s not difficult at all.

Fresh

Make sure the white asparagus are fresh. Just look at the bottom, where they have been cut off. If the cut looks dry, wrinkly or even moldy, then don’t buy them. If you want to be sure they are super fresh, then rub two asparagus together. If you hear a squeaking sound, then they’re super fresh.

Peeling

Peel White Asparagus, using a peeler, as you would potatoes. In the old days White Asparagus would be peeled twice, but nowadays we like a bit of texture.
Cut off 1 or 2 centimetres from the bottom. If your White Asparagus are fresh, it’s just a matter of removing the original cut.

Cooking

The most popular approach is to cook White Asparagus. Add the asparagus to a pan with plenty of cold water. Wait for the water to just begin boiling, keep it simmering for 1 minute, then transfer the pan to the work top. Wait for 10 minutes before removing the asparagus from the water. If you prefer them a bit softer, then leave them in the hot water for 5 more minutes.
Many add butter, sugar, salt, lemon and/or the skin of the asparagus to the water. We could imagine adding the skin. Adding sugar is a big NO for us.
You could use a special asparagus pan when cooking the asparagus, but actually there is no need for it. As long as the pan can accommodate the asparagus, you’re fine.

Steaming

We prefer steaming White Asparagus for 20 minutes in our Russell Hobbs. The taste of the asparagus will be more intense and richer.

Wine Pairing

In general a Pinot Blanc, Riesling or Dry Muscat from the Elzas will be very nice with your asparagus.

Recipes

Over the years we have prepared asparagus in many ways. Bon Appétit!

PS

You’re probably aware of the side effect of eating asparagus, the typical smell when peeing. It doesn’t happen to everyone, and it also depends on the type of asparagus. The sulphurous by-products (the result of your body digesting the asparagus) that cause the smell, will disappear within a few hours. Could take a bit longer, but nothing to worry about, it’s perfectly harmless.

Classic white Asparagus ©cadwu
White Asparagus with Morels and Ramson © cadwu
White Asparagus with Sauce Périgueux à la Kimizu ©cadwu
Asparagus with Basil and Olives © cadwu
Sauce Gribiche with White Asparagus © cadwu
White Asparagus and Truffle ©cadwu
White Asparagus, Chives, Shrimps and Eggs © cadwu
White Asparagus with Scrambled Eggs and Shrimps © cadwu

Potato, Fennel and Wild Garlic

13 April 2023

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!

Potato, Fennel and Wild Garlic ©cadwu
Ransom © Gail Hampshire from wikipedia commons