A seasonal treat that’s quick to prepare and easy on the budget!
We live in a place where wild garlic dominates the hillsides in late winter and early spring. I love the smell of it—delicate at first, and stronger as the flowers begin to emerge, until it can become quite overpowering later in the season. Mid-season is a good time to forage for wild garlic leaves: there’s plenty about, yet they haven’t yet begun to go leathery, and there’s few flower stalks in the way.
Quantities given are per person for a main dish; it will serve more as starters.
Ingredients:
| A double handful | Wild garlic (ransom) leaves |
| 1 small | Leek |
| 1 tablespoon | Vegetable oil |
| 1 medium or 2 small | Potatoes |
| 1 cup (1/2 pint) | Vegetable stock |
| Bunch | Fresh parsley (optional) |
| 1 tablespoon | Plain yogurt (optional) |
| Dash | Nutmeg |
Directions:
- Rinse and pick over ransom leaves. Discard any that are damaged, or old and leathery. Chop roughly.
Rinsed ransom leaves
A few leaves chopped up - Clean and chop leek(s).
- Heat oil in a saucepan; add chopped leaves and stir around. Cover and leave to sweat over low heat while you prepare the potatoes.
- Wash potatoes and slice thinly. Cut large slices in half crosswise.
- Stir potatoes in to leaves. Add stock–it should cover all the veg.
Veg mixed together
Just enough stock - Increase heat to bring to a boil.
- While the stock is heating up, chop a handful of parsley if you’re using it. Add to the pan, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked fully.
- Whizz the soup to a thick velvety texture, with or without any remaining chunks of veg.
- Return to heat for 5 minutes or more, to bring it back up to serving temperature.
- Serve in warmed bowls. Garnish with yogurt, nutmeg and parsley sprigs.
Vegan version with no yogurt
I'm an American living in the UK, combining rural Mid-west ideas about food with a suburban coastal British reality. It's fun!
Creative Economy in the Kitchen 
We missed the ransoms this year with lockdown. We took a few leaves from the local park for use in quiche, but they don’t have enough for us to have more than a few leaves for seasoning.
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Such a shame! Our nearest source is less than a five minute walk away, with plenty for as far as we’re able to walk, at least in one direction! But the season is over now. Time to start on young spinach leaves from the garden…
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