Whilst most of us might hesitate at picking wild mushrooms without an expert (although interestingly, did you know more Italians die from attempting to pick mushrooms from dangerous places like cliff tops than from eating poisonous varieties?) wild garlic is something we can easily identify. It's not hard to find, especially you can smell it a mile off. Although, having said that, you should be careful when picking it, as the mottled leaves of Lords and Ladies often grow alongside and can look pretty similar (but will obviously make you very sick!), so you should pick them leaf by leaf rather than in clumps. If the plants haven't actually flowered yet, you should only pick a few leaves anyway before moving on to the next plant as you risk it not growing the following year.
Once you have a good couple of handfuls, take them home,wash them properly (have another look for speckly/mottled leaves just in case) and make this... Chuck it over a bowl of decent pasta (although it will make even the cheapest pasta taste good) with a good helping of Parmesan on top to finish and a glass of something cold and white!
Quick Garlic Pesto: Wash a large handful of wild garlic leaves, pat them dry and place in a food processor. Add a generous grinding of salt and pepper, a good squeeze of lemon and around 100g of freshly grated Parmesan. Blitz for around 30 seconds. Slowly drizzle in 100mls of Olive oil until you reach the desired consistency. Keep in the fridge for two to three days – if it actually lasts that long!
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