Wild garlic tapenade

Wild garlic tapenade

    We moved house last November, and although we spent our last pennies on the leaky roof, boiler and  re-wiring, it's still quite crumbly and desperately needs painting/plastering/over hauling. 

But for the moment I'm calling the decor 'vintage' and the house a 'restoration project',  so I can just ignore it while I make this blog and create Fern & Olives catering menus! 

     Anyway, to the garden which I plan to fill with herbs and some easy to grow edible things,  but at this moment in time is full to the brim with wild garlic. This is a very exciting surprise and a massive bonus! If you fancy collecting some from the woods ~  Read all about it here. 

This is what I've made so far:

Wild garlic potato farls

and...     

Wild garlic, feta, olive & pink peppercorn salad

              

     Todays recipe however is neither of these. It's for Wild garlic tapenade which is delicious and very useful for making into even more food!

60g / 2oz Wild garlic / Ramsoms       FREE

juice of 1/2 a lemon                            15p

40g walnuts                                       50p

1tsp capers                                        10p

1tsp caper vinegar from the jar            5p

7 dtsp of olive oil                                8p

1/2 tsp brown sugar                           3p

1/2 tsp salt                                        3p 

total                                                  91p

(to be honest I have just made up the prices for sugar, salt & oil if anything I think 3p is too much!) 

     Hopefully you have a blender or food processor or pestle & mortar, otherwise just a lot of fine chopping will work well,  you'll end a slightly crunchier version but equally tasty. 

So thats it, and when the wild garlic runs out you could try using other lovely leaves like water cress or rocket. But until then - here are some tasty things you can make with tapenade.

Cheddar & wild garlic tapenade, toasted sour dough sandwich. 

Wild garlic and smoked chedder pinwheel bread.

Coriander Chutney & Oat Pancakes

This recipe is so amazingly easy and delicious, and apart from frying the pancake, there's noooo cooking AND it's delicious, warming, filling and healthy!
I used to make this coriander chutney back in the Fat Olive Cafe days, you need to bear in mind this makes a jar full that lasts a couple of weeks in the fridge, and you can add it to all sorts of dishes like noodles, soups and sandwiches (and pancakes!) to make them very, very tasty.
I think I got the recipe from a Nigella cookbook.
The Fat Olive Cafe, in case you're interested, was my little cafe that I owned at the back of the Assembly Rooms. It was a happy and popular place and we sold lovely veggie food and delicious cakes, but I couldn't fathom out how to work 6 days a week and have kids, so I sold it, and now that Vince is 6, I miss it!
Anyway back to the Coriander Chutney, you will need:

100g Corriander              £1.25
1& 1/2 limes                    45p
50g ginger                       20p
1 clove garlic                    10p
1 little chilli                     10p
100g creamed coconut     30p
150ml hot water
salt & pepper
1 tsp brown sugar

 Total                           £2.40

Making is just a case of mixing all these ingredients in a blender, or finely chop everything and blend in a bowl.

Wash the coriander and and chuck away (compost!) the chunkier stalks. Peel and chop the ginger and garlic. De-seed and chop the chilli and squeeze in the lime juice.

Melt the creamed coconut in the hot water and add, along with salt, pepper and a teaspoon of brown sugar. Wizz, mix or stir. Then refrigerate.

The Pancakes

These pancakes are a mix of two recipes, one for Staffordshire Oatcakes and one from my friend Brenda who pointed me to Revolution from Home. They also make a really nice breakfast, topped with fruit and yoghurt or jam. Or wrapped around a tasty salad and cheese for lunch!  

I used 50g ground oats and 50g spelt flour but you can use either. This makes enough for 4 or 5  pancakes. Using oats and plain yoghurt does makes them even cheaper!

For the Oaty pancakes:

100g of ground oats/ spelt flour         10p
cold water
1 egg                                              30p
1 tsp bi-carb or baking powder           3p
pinch of salt
1-2 dtsp of yoghurt of almond milk    10p
butter or oil for frying                        3p

Total                                              56p

Mix the oats and spelt in a bowl and pour over just enough cold water to cover them, leave them to soak overnight.  (I ground some rolled oats in the blender, but you can buy them already ground.)

In the morning add the egg, bi-carb & salt and enough almond milk or yoghurt, (which ever you prefer) to make a pancake/drop scone kind of consistency - dollopy!

Fry over a medium heat, flip over when a few bubble holes start to appear, they don't take long!

Top with the coriander chutney while still hot and devour.