5 WILD GARLIC SOUP

25g butter 2 potatoes, diced 1 onion, chopped 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock 2 large handfuls of wild garlic leaves, washed and roughly chopped 110ml regular or double cream Crusty bread, to serve

1 Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. When foaming, add the potatoes and onion, and toss in the butter until well coated, then season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down, cover the pan and cook for 10 mins or until vegetables are soft, stirring regularly so that the vegetables don’t stick and burn.

2 Next, add stock and bring to a rolling boil, then add the wild garlic leaves and cook for 2 mins or until the leaves have wilted. Don’t overcook or it will lose its fresh green colour and flavour.

3 Immediately pour into a blender and blitz until smooth, then return to the clean pan, stir in the cream and taste for seasoning.

4 Serve hot with crusty bread.

COOK’S NOTE:

Harvest garlic leaves between March and May before the plant flowers. Be mindful and pick a little here and there. Wild garlic looks similar to the poisonous lily of the valley so always crush the leaves and check for the smell of garlic before picking. Recipe from Recipes From My Mother by Rachel Allen (Harper Collins). Photography: Maja Smend