Wild garlic is here in abundance. If you are lucky enough to live in the country, as I did when I grew up Devon where it stank out the woods, or even  in Hampstead, where you can find it on the Heath – then rush out and pick it! Otherwise my farmers’ market has it aplenty. It’s delicious in omelettes, or in any kind of oriental miso or chicken broth-style soup, with tofu, shitake mushrooms etc, or in a simple soup as here. I made it for a little supper party. If you like dairy, then feel free to add cream, or creme fresh. But not for me!

Serves 4

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 250g new potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
• 125g wild garlic leaves, washed and roughly chopped
• 1 litre vegetable stock or 1 litre water with 1 tsp vegetable bouillon
• squirt of lemon
• salt
• mild chilli flakes

Method

1. In a large saucepan, sauté the onion in the rapeseed oil for about 10 minutes, until soft, add the cubed potatoes and quickly stir-fry.
2. Add the stock to the onion and potatoes. Simmer until the potatoes are just soft, which will take 15 minutes, depending on the size of the cubes of potato.
3. Add the wild garlic, cover and simmer for a couple of minutes until cooked, but are still a vibrant green colour. Either serve at once chunky or but i prefer to liquidise to a smooth consistency.
4. Check for seasoning and add a squirt of lemon juice. Decorate with mild chilli flakes. Serve hot.

The rest of the meal was  my delicious butternut, chickpea and coconut curry, home-grown cavolo nero and rather failed ends of purple-sprouting broccoli, with some red rice. YUM YUM YUM