Scottish Hazelnut Shortbread

Today I made some truly Scottish Hazelnut Shortbread, with Hazelnuts I foraged in Fife last week.

This recipe makes about 40 small shortbread bites - enough to feed my colleagues and give me the option to snack on dairy-free treats at work.

Ingredients:

100g Hazelnuts (out of their shells)
100g sugar
225g plain flour
200g dairy-free spread (or butter)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Toast Hazelnuts for 10 minutes.

Rub hazelnuts in a clean tea towel/muslin/between your fingers to rub off their skins (the hazelnuts, not your fingers).

Leave to cool.

Grind hazelnuts to a powder.

Mix together hazelnuts, flour and sugar.

Mix in dairy-free spread until it makes a soft dough.

Dust work surface with a mixture of flour and sugar.

Roll/flatten dough to 1cm thickness.

Cut out shapes.

Dip in sugar (optional).

Bake, one tray at a time, for 10 minutes.

Allow to cool.

Eat.

Until next time... Good Foraging! :)

Hedgehog Korma (v)

Today I made a Korma with the kilo of Hedgehog Fungus (Hydnum Repandum) I picked earlier this week. I love cooking with these guys because they fill the kitchen with a gloriously sweet smell.

I'm not a fan of spicy food, hence making a Korma, but you could subsitute Hedgehogs for the chicken in your favourite taste-bud-destroying recipe.

Hedgehog Korma

Ingredients

1kg Hedgehogs, torn into pieces
200ml coconut milk (save any remnants)
Ginger, 2cm peeled and grated
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
6 Cardamom pod, bashed
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 tablespoon cornflour
2 teaspoons garam masala
1/4 tsp dried crushed chillies
2 onions, finely sliced
50g cashew nuts
50g butter
60ml rapeseed oil

Method

Grind the garam masala, dried chillies and  cashews in a food processor or pestle and mortar (I use a coffee grinder). Transfer to a large bowl.

Add the ginger, garlic, tomato puree, coconut milk, cardomom and Hedgehogs and mix well.

Cover and leave in the fridge to marinate (2 hours+).

Once marinated, contiue as follows:

Heat oil and butter in a large frying pan.

Fry onions until browned.

Add Hedgehog mixture and cook for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Mix together 3 tablespoons of coconut milk (or water if there's not enough left) with the cornflour.

Add to pan and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Season to taste and serve.

Chanterelle Cake

Here we are again in the midst of foraging season and the weather has been perfect... for mushrooms! Lots of rain = lots of delightful goodies to be found.

I've been finding hordes of Chanterelles over the last few weeks and I decided to hide them in cakes. This was today's recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Chanterelle Cake 

(I can't believe it's not Carrot Cake)

Cake Ingredients:

275g sugar
200g butter, melted
4 medium eggs
300g Chanterelles, grated
Candied lemon and orange peel
225g wholemeal plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vanilla extract (I make my own by steeping vanilla in rum and it's less concentrated than shop-bought versions, so you may only need 1 tsp)

Topping Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter, melted
125g cream cheese
275g icing sugar
Candied lemon peel to decorate

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C

Grease mini loaf or muffin tin

Mix together the sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs.

Add the grated Chanterelle and candied peel.

Then add the flour and baking powder and mix well.

Fill the loaf/muffin tins about half-full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer poked in comes out almost clean.

Whisk together the cream cheese and butter.

Add the icing sugar and stir together.

Finally whisk to remove any lumps.

Spread some topping on each (cooled) cake and decorate with candied peel.

Try not to eat them all.

Until next time... Good Foraging.

Porcini Tortelloni

Last year I made pasta with dried chanterelles and mused about a future recipe using dried Porcini. Today, I made Porcini Tortelloni. Tomorrow is the taste test.

All the Porcini I used in this recipe were foraged in Fife; some within walking distance of my house.

For the pasta:

Ingredients:

30g dried porcini
170g '00 grade' flour
2 eggs

Method:

Make pasta dough (see my previous post for details).

For the filling:

Mozzarella Pearls
Bresaola

Porcini Tortelloni:

Cut rounds from the freshly made pasta dough (I used a pint glass, as it's what I had to hand).

Wrap each mozzarella pearl in a small strip of Bresaola (just enough to cover once).

Place a Bresaola Pearl in the centre of each round.

Trace the edge of a round with water and fold into a semi-circular parcel.

Pull the edges together around your thumb to make a tortelloni shape. Check out this post by Emma Christensen for a step-by-step guide.

Repeat process for all other rounds and dust each tortelloni with flour.To cook:

Boil in salted water for 5 minutes or until the tortelloni rise to the surface.

I hope they taste as good as they smell (wonderful)!

Update - they were delicious!! So much so, that I now keep a jar of pre-mixed Porcini pasta flour in my cupboard, so that I can whip up these rascals on a whim :D

Until next time, Good Foraging! :)

Death by Gin? (Bird Cherry Gin)

This morning I took an amble around Gartmorn Reservoir (my favourite local foraging location).

I saw apples, plums and hazelnuts and picked some Scotch Burnet Rose Hips. I also picked some Bird Cherries and thought I would take a wee gamble on them.

Bird cherries are small and incredibly bitter. Try biting into one and you'll see what I mean; first you get the juicy cherriness and then your entire mouth becomes instantly dry - hardly a thirst-quencher. Nevertheless, I thought I would try to make them palatable.

I thought it might be possible to use them to flavour gin. My only concern is that the seeds are said to be toxic. I'm thinking that this is the same toxicity that applies to all prunus seeds and that the small quantity I have used is unlikely to cause any harm. Any volunteers to taste my recipe?!

Bird Cherry Gin

177g bird cherries, washed and de-stemmed
100g granulated sugar
350ml gin

I'll shake this every day or so, to macerate the fruit. It should be ready for winter.

Until next time, Good (non-toxic) Foraging.

Forager's Chicken

Yesterday I took the dog for a walk in Tulliallan woods and neither of us were disappointed. 2 hours later we returned home with a bag of ceps, a bag of chanterelles and big smiles on both of our faces.

I've dried the ceps for a future recipe and I decided to do my own take on Hunter's Chicken (chicken in bbq sauce and cheese) - Forager's Chicken.

For the BBQ Sauce:

300ml tomato ketchup (or a can of passata/tomatoes)
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tablespoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
Freshly ground pepper

Method:

Fry onion until it softens.

Grind mustard seeds and chilli flakes to a powder (or use mustard and chilli powder).

Add powder to onion and fry for a minute or two.

Add all remaining ingredients and bring to the boil.

Reduce to simmer for 90 minutes.

For the Chanterelle sauce:

200g fresh Chanterelles, chopped
Milk
30g Butter
1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
Seasoning

Method:

Fry chanterelles in butter for 5 minutes.

Add flour, stir and cook for 2 minutes.

Add milk a little at a time and stir to combine.

Aim for a white/cheese sauce consistency.

Season to taste, bearing in mind that the bbq sauce will have a kick.

Forager's Chicken:
I adapted this recipe from Amy Jones

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
5-6 rashers smoked bacon
BBQ Sauce
Chanterelle Sauce
30g cheese - I used mature cheddar as it was what I had, but I think parmesan would work well here.

Method:

Preheat oven to 200°C

Slice a pocket in each chicken breast and place them in an ovenproof dish.

Cover with BBQ sauce and top with bacon.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Top with Chanterelle sauce and grated cheese.

Increase oven temperature to 220°C.

Bake for a further 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Good Foraging.

Wild Gooseberry Crumble

I'm staying up in Falkland for a couple of nights and I found a wild gooseberry patch on my wanders.

It's quite late in the season for gooseberries but that didn't stop me foraging enough to make a crumble.

I'm staying in unfamiliar surroundings, so this recipe was made without scales - crumble is pretty forgiving though.

Wild Gooseberry Crumble

Ingredients:

2 handfuls wild gooseberries
2 handfuls of plain flour
1 handful of caster sugar
1 handful of demerara sugar
1 (estimated) handful of butter
Pinch of salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C

Wash, top & tail gooseberries.

Place gooseberries in an ovenproof dish and sprinkle with the caster sugar.

Rub butter, salt and flour together until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in demerara sugar.

Top gooseberries with crumble mix.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown on top and bubbling from beneath.

Until next time, Good Foraging!

Kirkcaldy Cake (Black Forest Gâteau)

We are finally in full-blown fruit season in Scotland and I'm taking advantage of that. I currently have my eye on raspberries, redcurrants, pears and early brambles but today's recipe uses cherries (including homemade cherry jam and homemade cherry liqueur).

I made the cherry liqueur using the fruit and the stones of cherries. This adds a delicious almondy flavour and is the reason I call it 'Bakewell Tart' Liqueur.

I picked the cherries in Kirkcaldy, Fife, and decided to pair them with dark chocolate Toblerone to complement the almondy flavour of the liqueur.

Kirkcaldy Cake

(Nothing like Dundee Cake)

Ingredients:

225g cherries (weighed with stones removed)

500ml double cream

200ml creme fraiche

4 tablespoons Kirsch (cherry liqueur)

2 tablespoons cold water

100ml boiling water

100g cherry jam

25g cocoa

300g plain flour

2 eggs

200g dark Toblerone

375g caster sugar

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt

Method:

Heat oven to 180°C

Grease and line two sandwich tins.

Heat butter & 75g Toblerone over a low heat, stirring until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat.

Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

Whisk together eggs and creme fraiche.

Add chocolate and egg mixtures to the flour mixture and add the boiling water. Mix until smooth.

Divide mixture between 2 sandwich tins and bake for 25-50mins (my oven is wonky but just check with a skewer - pierce the cake and if the skewer comes out clean then they're ready).

Mix the water and liqueur together.

Pierce the top of each cake a few times and drizzle the liqueur mixture evenly over each cake.

Allow to cool.

Heat 200ml of double cream until almost simmering. 

Pour hot cream over remaining Toblerone and mix until chocolate is all melted.

Mix together the jam and cherries.

Gently whisk the remaining cream with the icing sugar.

Layer: cake, cream, jam, cake and then cover in the chocolate cream.

Eat in small portions - it's wicked!

Until next time, Good Foraging xx

Shakira Jelly (Rosehips Don't Lie)

Shakira Jelly

It's nearing the end of my foraging season, but I happened upon some of my favourite rosehips whilst out walking at the weekend so I felt it would be rude not to pick some.

Rosehips come in various shapes and sizes, but my favourites are the hips from the Scotch Burnet Rose. These hips look black and are spherical, unlike the torpedo-shaped hips of the Dog/Wild Rose. Scotch Burnets make a beautiful deep-purple jelly, so that's what I used them for today.

Scotch Burnet Rosehips

I picked 4 apples from a local, wild tree, so I'm not sure what type they are - maybe an apple expert will happen upon this blog and inform me.

Unidentified Foraged Apples

Shakira Jelly

Ingredients:

• 250g rosehips (one small sandwich bag full)
• 4 small apples (crab apples work well, too)
• Jam sugar
• Water

Method:

• Wash apples and rosehips separately

• Put rosehips in a pan and cover with water.

• Bring to the boil and simmer for 40mins, topping up with water if necessary.

• Chop apples and add to rosehips.

• Cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for 15mins.

• Strain overnight in a jelly bag/muslin/a clean dish towel.

• Measure strained liquid and add 1g jam sugar for every 1ml of liquid (I used 350g sugar to 425ml juice, as I like my jelly quite tart)

• Bring to a rolling boil and check for a set using the wrinkle test (put a plate in the fridge and put a spoonful of jelly on the cold plate - after a minute, push the jelly with a finger. If it wrinkles, it's set. If it doesn't, keep boiling until it does).

• Pour into sterilised jars.

• Enjoy, once it cools. 

This may be my last post of the season, but that won't stop me looking. Until we meet again, Good Foraging xx

Bramble and Apple Strudel (Virgin Strudel)

Low-mileage Fruit

October is upon us and that means that my driving is rather more erratic than usual, as I swerve to investigate apple trees.

In the spring, I made a mental note of the locations of apple blossom and went back to check them last month. I was rewarded with some beautiful wild cooking apples. And what better to pair with them than Brambles (Blackberries to non-Scots).

I am very proud to say that both the apples and the brambles came from patches within 10 minutes walk of my house, so probably the lowest mileage of any foraged fruits I've ever used.

I made an apple and bramble strudel. This was my first ever attempt at making a Strudel, hence the Virginal aspect of the name. My name was also once misheard as Virgin Strudel, so it seemed particularly appropriate.

I used this recipe, although I found the dough very wet and added about 100g of flour whilst kneading it.

Another word of warning would be not to fold the ends of the pastry over the top, as this means the pastry underneath will be undercooked (if you'll pardon the pun).

I ate too much raw pastry while making this, so I don't think I'll be able to sample the cooked product until tomorrow. It does, however, smell delicious.

Blaeberry Bites

Blaeberries

Once again, the sun has been shining on Scotland. We've also had plenty of rain, as we always do. This combination makes for some wonderfully juicy Blaeberries and an excuse to blog.

Coming from part-Yorkshire stock, I grew up calling these Bilberries, but I now usually use the Scottish term. Around the UK these are called many different things, including Wortleberry and Whinberry. Whatever you call them, they are delicious - and here they are plentiful.

In a previous blog, I made a Blaeberry Pie, which is also worth checking out. This time I decided to make some bite-size Blaeberry snacks, so that I could share them with my colleagues.

This recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen and I haven't changed it, other than using Blaeberries instead of Blueberries.

Blaeberry Bites

Ingredients

• 4 cups Blaeberries
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 4 tsp cornflour
• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 225g cold, unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 1 and a half cups of sugar

Method

• Preheat oven to 190°C
• Mix together the lemon zest, salt, 1 cup of sugar, flour, butter and egg to make a flaky dough.
• Press half of this mixture into a baking tin or casserole dish
• Mix blaeberries with remaining sugar, lemon juice and cornflour
• Spoon blaeberry mixture over the dough in the tin/dish
• Top with crumbled pieces of the pastry
• Bake for 45 mins or until golden brown on top
• Allow to cool in fridge overnight
• Slice into sections and keep refrigerated until you eat them (not for long, I'd imagine)

Until we meet again (hopefully soon) - Good Foraging! Xx

Baked Blaeberry Crumble - ripe and ready for slicing

Wild Raspberry Sorbet

Yesterday I went for a 3-hour forage in Dean Plantation, outside Dunfermline. The plan was to look for Porcini, but there were so many Raspberries that I felt I had to pick some.

Raspberry Sorbet

I realise that my posts have become more cooking-focused, so I thought I'd remedy that by adding a few mushroom tips today. 

We are currently in Chanterelle season, with a few Porcini and others starting to show. Porcini, aka Boletus Edulis, are part of the Bolete family of mushrooms. These are identifiable by their lack of gills (the brown bits under the cap of cultivated Portobello and button mushrooms). Boletes have pores - think the holes in a sponge or the bubbles in an Aero. There are many types of Bolete in the UK, and the majority of them are edible - just stay away from any specimens with pink or red pores.

On my walk, I also spotted some Shaggy Parasols (pictured). These are a good, firm mushroom and are often cooked in breadcrumbs/batter and served with a dip. The green plant that looks like clover is also edible, it's called Wood Sorrel. It contains a chemical called Oxalic Acid (also found in Rhubarb leaves) and this plant should not be eaten in large quantities.

Shaggy Parasol Mushroom and Wood Sorrel

And now for the recipe. I'm hoping to pick some Salmonberries this month and as I'm not a fan of ice-cream, I plan to make a sorbet. This recipe is my trial run.

Raspberry Sorbet

Ingredients:

• 500g raspberries
• 1 and a half cups of sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Juice of 1 lemon

Method:

• Squash raspberries through a sieve to extract the juice and remove the seeds.
• Add all other ingredients to the raspberry juice.
• If using an ice-cream machine, add mixture to machine and follow the manufacturer's instructions. If you don't have a machine, then put mixture in a container and put it in the freezer. Remove every two hours (about 2-3 times) and mix with a fork to break down ice-crystals.
• Serve once slushy or freeze for later use.
• Yummy!

Hopefully my next post will be Salmonberry Sorbet. Until then, Good Foraging xx

Cherry No-Bakewells

Last week I wrote that I might make a Blaeberry recipe this week, but something else appeared which grabbed my attention.

I took my car into the local garage in Kirkcaldy and on the walk back to pick it up, I found a Cherry tree with beautiful ripe cherries hanging from it. How could I pass that opportunity by!

I have previously made Bakewell Tarts with Wild Strawberries, but I wanted to try something new. Facebook helped me to make my decision: several people have been raving about the new Nakd Bakewell bars, so I decided to make my own.

The recipe is from The Kitchen Shed and I haven't changed it.

I picked 750g of cherries (weighed with stones) and they dehydrated to 120g, although I over-dried them by mistake.

I don't have a food processor (it's on my wishlist for payday), so I used my coffee grinder to chop the nuts and cherries. I chopped the dates with a knife.

Cherry No-Bakewells

Ingredients:

90g dried cherries
150g cashews
6 Medjool dates

Method:

• Chop all ingredients finely and mix together thoroughly
• Press mixture firmly into a container
• Refridgerate for 2 hours+ (I left them overnight)
• Tip out the hardened mixture and cut into 8 sections
• Eat

These tasted delicious! However, I didn't think they tasted like Bakewell Tarts. If I were to make the recipe again, I would substitute ground almonds for some (if not all) of the cashews.

While I was making this recipe, I realised that I could have made a Black Forest Gateau. Never fear, I shall revisit the tree and aim to make a gateau next week. Until we meet again, Good Foraging!

Mini Mushroom Cheesecake Calzone: Sweet Chanterelle Ravioli

Mini Mushroom Cheesecake Calzone in the oven

It's been a mixed week, here in Fife. We've had sun, rain and hail - sometimes all in one day. I have to say that whenever it rains, I just smile and think *that'll make the mushrooms grow*.

This week I found a new Chanterelle patch, less than 20mins walk from my front door. I revisited the patch yesterday and started thinking about what I could make with my haul.

In my last blog I mentioned my dislike for the texture of mushrooms, but I don't think that's the full story. I love finding and picking Chanterelles and my favourite thing about them is their sweet, fruity smell. I think I get confused when I then pair them with garlic, eggs, or other savoury flavours. I want to taste the fruitiness! So, here is my attempt to bring that flavour out:

Mini Mushroom Cheesecake Calzone

Candying Chanterelles with Long Pepper

Candied Chanterelles

Ingredients:

2 cups Chanterelles
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 Long Pepper (Long Pepper is spice which tastes like a blend of cinnamon and black pepper. Raw Chanterelles have a peppery taste, so I thought that Long Pepper would be the perfect accompanying flavour)

Method:

Dice Chanterelles and add all ingredients to a saucepan
Bring to the boil, turning the Chanterelles to ensure they are coated in the syrup
Reduce heat and simmer for 10mins
Leave to cool
Remove Chanterelles with a slotted spoon
Place in oven on lowest setting to dehydrate (I used my trusty dehydrator)
Reserve syrup for dough recipe

Sweet Pasta Dough

Sweet Pasta Dough

Ingredients:
300g 00 Flour
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
4 tbsp Chanterelle syrup

Method:
Place flour in a bowl and make a well in the centre
Add eggs, yolk and syrup and mix in flour gradually with a fork
Work together into a dough
Tip out onto a floured surface and knead for 10mins
Wrap in clingfilm and place in fridge for 30mins+
Roll out with pasta machine or rolling pin until translucent
Cut out circles (approx 3-4" in diameter)

Cheesecake Filling

Ingredients:

400g soft cheese (I used Philadelphia, but I think that Mascarpone would be delicious here)
100g caster sugar
100ml double cream
Grated zest of 2 lemons
Candied Chanterelles

Method:

Whisk together the cheese, cream, sugar, lemon zest until thick and creamy.
Add candied Chanterelles and mix thoroughly.

Calzone

These are really sweet ravioli, but I love Calzone and that is what I was thinking of when I made this recipe. Sweet, sweet Calzone.

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C
Line baking trays with greaseproof paper
Place 1 tsp of filling onto each circle of dough
Fold in half to make little ravioli/calzone/pasties/parcels
Use a fork to seal the edges
Glaze with beaten egg
Place on trays, leaving at least 1" between each calzone
Bake one tray at a time, for 10 mins, or until golden brown
Allow to cool on a rack (again, I used my dehydrator - switched off)

Serve with fruit/cream of your choice.

I will be sampling these tonight and will post an update afterwards.

Calzone chilling

Girolle out the pasta: Chanterelle Tagliatelle

My favourite foraging season is finally here - it's time for Chanterelles! There is nothing more exciting (for me), than walking through woods and spotting the orangey-yellow glint of a Chanterelle in the undergrowth.

I have found a few Chanterelles in woods near Kincardine, but I still like to make my annual pilgrimage to the East Neuk, to pick Chanterelles in Tentsmuir Forest.

As ever, before you pick and eat any wild food, please make sure that you have identified it correctly. I wasted many hours last year in a debate with a 'forager' on twitter, who was celebrating a giant haul of Chanterelles. What he had actually picked were False Chanterelles.

Falsies - or False Friends, as my mum calls them - aren't poisonous, but they neither smell nor taste like the true Chanterelle. Chanterelles smell like apricots and I have previously found them just by sniffing the air and following the scent.

There are many poisonous (often fatally) mushrooms in the UK, so please take care, check and double-check identifying features. If you are in any doubt, then do not eat what you find.

A fact that makes many of my friends laugh, is that I'm not particularly fond of eating mushrooms, despite my joy of foraging them. I do like the flavour of mushrooms, but I'm not keen on the texture. To remedy this, I decided to employ a technique from my last blog post and to use powdered Chanterelles in my recipe:

Chanterelle Tagliatelle

Ingredients

350g fresh Chanterelle - dried and powdered (I use a dehydrator and a coffee grinder) - this produced 30g of powder.
170g '00' Flour
2 eggs

Method

Mix together Chanterelle powder and flour in a bowl
Tip mixture onto a clean surface, make into a mound and make a well in the centre
Crack the eggs into the well and mix with a fork
Gradually mix in the flour until you have a sticky dough
Knead thoroughly for 10mins
Wrap dough in cling film and refridgerate for 1hr+
Work dough through pasta machine or roll out by hand until it is paper-thin
Fold and cut into strips or feed through tagliatelle attachment on pasta machine
Boil in salted water for 3-4mins (al dente)
Serve

I served this with a simple cheese sauce (parmesan and mozzarella mixed with a roux base and milk).

I loved the colour of this pasta and it tasted superb! I will definitely use this technique again, come Porcini season.

Until I write again, Happy Foraging! Xx

Bloomin' Cheesecake: Elderflower and Rose

I planned to make an elderflower and wild strawberry cheesecake, but the wild strawberries were not quite ripe, so I decided to try a rose petal topping, instead. The elderflower cordial and rose petal syrup (before you add the gelatine) can be made in advance, and can also be bought pre-prepared.

Elderflower

Rosa Rugosa

Wild/Dog Rose

Yesterday I posted on facebook that I would deliver said cheesecake to my friends. This was a rookie mistake, as I hadn't made the cheesecake at that point. The result was more of a soup than a cheesecake, so I tried again. This is the second result:

Elderflower & Wild Rose Cheesecake

Elderflower & Wild Rose Cheesecake

Base

225g oat biscuits - I used Hobnobs
100g butter
1 1/2 Tablespoons of sugar

Method:

Melt butter
Crush or blend biscuits
Mix together thoroughly
Spread firmly into base of a loose-bottomed cake tin
Place in fridge for 30mins-1hr, until set

Filling

400g cream cheese
4 Tablespoons of Elderflower Cordial

Method:

Beat or whisk together until you have a firm cream consistency.
Spread over the chilled base and smooth out with a spatula or knife.
Place in freezer for 2 hours then apply topping.

Topping

Rose syrup recipe adapted from Nithas Kitchen

1 1/2 cups of rose petals (I used mainly Wild Dog Rose, but added 4 Rosa Rugosa blooms to add a deeper flavour and colour)
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
Pinch of salt
3 sheets of Gelatine (I use 1 sheet per 100ml of liquid, but added extra here to ensure a firm topping)

Method:

Boil water and add petals, sugar, lemon juice and salt.
Continue to boil until liquid reduces to a light syrup consistency (about 1 cup)
Cut gelatine into small pieces and add 4 tablespoons of the syrup
Leave for 10mins
Heat gelatine/syrup mixture over a pan of hot water for 5mins
Mix gelatine with rest of syrup and allow to cool a little
Spoon topping over set cheesecake
Allow to set in fridge (approx 2 hours)
Eat.

Next week I'm heading up North for a bit of camping, so hope to be able to post a blog with some foraged, Highland ingredients. Until then, Happy Foraging! X

Rustic Wild Garlic Pesto

It's another beautiful day here in Perthshire, so the pup and I went for a walk around the Birks of Aberfeldy. We were greeted on the walk by the pungent aroma of Wild Garlic. Cue a new recipe - Wild Garlic Pesto.

As with many wild foods, there are some poisonous lookalikes - Lily of the Valley, for example. Wild garlic can be identified by its starburst-esque white flowers and the aroma of garlic. Please make sure you identify it correctly, before you eat it.

As I'm camping, I'm using my gran's system of measurement of "just enough so it looks right" - I never will know how she made pancakes. Also, I don't have a battery-operated food processor, so I used my peg mallet and a plastic bag to crush my nuts.

Wild Garlic Pesto and Chicken sandwiches

Ingredients:
A handful of Wild Garlic leaves
2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan
A squeeze of lemon juice
A handful of Cashew Nuts
Approx 50ml Toasted Sesame Oil
Salt
Pepper
Bread

Method:
Chop the garlic leaves
Crush the nuts
Mix together with parmesan
Add oil a little at a time and blend together
Add lemon juice
Season to taste

I wanted a chunky, spreadable pesto, but you could add more oil and use a food processor to get a finer paste.

I'm presuming you know how to cook chicken, so do that.

Eat chicken and pesto in a sandwich.

Yum! And until next time, Happy Foraging! X