Wild Garlic, Gooseberries and Me: A chef’s stories and recipes from the land

Whatever the validity of some of the more outrageous of these claims, there is definitely something to be said for the plant’s ability to stimulate the mind. In Ireland, it has a special place in the mixture of folklore, myth and history that makes up what we know of the lives of saints, sages and holy men. Monks were known to spend long periods living on watercress alone, or sometimes supplemented with a little bread. This wasn’t a case of self-flagellation but an attempt to stimulate their thinking powers. The combination of the plant’s cleansing and healing properties with its reputed effect on the brain would have been a powerful stimulant to those who set themselves apart in isolation to confront the great issues of mind and soul. Even if the effect were not purely scientific, the very deliberate act of putting yourself in that situation of‘taking to the watercress’ would surely sharpen and focus the mind. Whatever gets the work done, I say. And they certainly got some work done. The religious communities in Ireland have been credited with carrying the torch of civilisation during the Dark Ages. They took on the task of writing down as much as possible of European literature, even as the barbarians were destroying it, and later disseminating it back across the continent. Many of these communities were fiercely isolationist, putting themselves in seemingly uninhabitable places, like the Skellig rocks off the south-west coast, in order to have the physical freedom and safety as well as the sense of remove that were needed to carry out their visionary work.

Perhaps it’s just foodie wishful thinking, but I’d like to think that, although taking to the watercress was a form of fasting, it was done with such positive and specific purpose that these holy men would have enjoyed the stuff. Watercress is one of the most flavourful and easily digestible greens, so it certainly must have been better than if they had attached mind-enhancing properties to nettles or the like.

The taste of watercress is a pungent mix of mustard-like heat, an aromatic freshness and a slight bitterness. Some varieties of land cress are available, similar in appearance to their watery cousin but grown in soil, and the flavour is usually a much more direct hit of unadulterated heat with none of the subtleties of watercress. It is only in direct comparison that you really appreciate the exquisite and complex flavour of the original.

Watercress makes a great salad green, bringing a peppery vibrancy to any mix. It’s delicious with orange, fennel, the oily nuts like walnut and pecan, as well as pears and green apples. Blue cheese is fabulous with cress, as are soft mild cheeses, especially those made from goat’s or sheep’s milk. Despite all that, I actually cook it as often as I serve it raw, although cooking is probably not quite the right word. If you heat it for much more than a minute or so, you risk losing both the vivid colour and the full impact of the flavour. In risotto, pasta, sauces and even soups, I add the cress at the last second so it just warms through. Eaten as part of dishes such as these, you may not get enough to turn you into a seer, but it certainly adds a kick to your dinner.

The future might be greener than you think

There is no doubt that we’ve come a long way from regarding greens as a purely medicinal form of food. Or maybe it’s not so much that we’ve moved on but that we have eased into a more comfortable relationship with green vegetables. We live in an age where we could easily give them up for a few supplemental pills, and yet vegetables are actually becoming more embedded in our food culture than ever. This is partly due, in an era of extreme health-consciousness, to the wonderful research conducted on the healing and disease-inhibiting characteristics of so many greens, especially watercress and almost all of the brassicas. But it is also true that, released from the slavery of feeling we have to chuck the stuff back to keep us off our deathbeds, we have actually come to love green vegetables for their flavour, texture and almost indefinable life-force quality. When greens were medicine, they were cooked as such and swallowed reluctantly. I especially pity the poor kids of America who had to swallow whole cans of slimy spinach in an effort to grow protruding muscles and strong jaws. Now that we are free to enjoy our greens, we are constantly playing with new ways to flavour the familiar, as well as looking for new varieties to add to the repertoire.

Almost half of the vegetables discussed here are new to me, in the sense that up to two years ago I didn’t have sufficient quantities of them to cook with. You only have to walk through the markets of small towns in Italy or China, or to browse through the vegetable-growing books of pioneers like Joy Larkcom, to see that the potential for further growing and cooking experimentation has barely been touched. Next time you eat some wonderfully exotic, if bitter, greens in Italy, don’t come home only extolling the joys of Italian food culture. Wonder, too, why it is we don’t grow them here. Yet.

Sprouting Broccoli and Oyster Mushrooms in Ginger Broth with Pumpkin and Macadamia Dumplings

First make the broth by bringing the water to the boil in a large saucepan and adding all the ingredients except the soy sauce. Turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the soy sauce and leave for 20 minutes more. Strain through a sieve into a bowl saving the broth and discarding the vegetables.

Steam the pumpkin until tender and mash it. Stir in the nuts, lemon zest and juice and coriander, and leave to cool.

Place the wonton wrappers on a work surface, with a corner facing you. Put a teaspoon of the pumpkin filling across the centre, shaping it into a rectangle. Moisten the uncovered wonton pastry and fold up first the nearest corner, then the sides and finally the top corner, to make a neat rectangular parcel. Repeat with the rest of the filling to make eight dumplings.

Reheat the ginger broth gently in a large saucepan and keep warm over a low heat. Heat a little vegetable oil in a wok or large frying pan, and fry the broccoli and mushrooms over a medium heat for 5-6 minutes, occasionally ladling in a little of the broth to keep the vegetables moist. Add the spring onion and continue cooking for 2 minutes more.

When the vegetables are almost tender, bring the broth to the boil, drop the dumplings in, lower the heat and simmer for 2 minutes, then remove them and place two each (or four if serving as a main dish) in warm shallow bowls. Divide the cooked vegetables between the bowls and ladle in the broth.

Spring Cabbage Dolma of Pumpkin and Chickpeas with Sesame Yoghurt Sauce

Serve these lightly spiced dolma with couscous, either simply steamed or flavoured with lemon and herbs. Any squash with reasonably dense flesh will work in this recipe, including the widely available hokaido and butternut squash.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6. Chop the pumpkin into 1cm (1/2 in) dice. Toss these in a little olive oil in an oven dish that is large enough to spread them out in a single layer, then roast them in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until lightly coloured and tender. Lower the oven temperature to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

Cut the leek in quarters lengthways, wash it and slice it thinly. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, and fry the leek over a medium heat for 5 minutes.

While the leeks are cooking, toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a heavy pan over a low heat, then crush them lightly in a pestle and mortar, just enough to crack them open. Add the seeds to the leek pan with the garlic and chilli, and fry for 2 minutes more.

Mash the chickpeas coarsely with a fork, then add them to the pan and continue frying for 5 minutes more. Gently stir in the roast pumpkin, season with salt, take off the heat and leave the mixture to cool.

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Remove the stems from the cabbage leaves, either by cutting them out to give two pieces of leaf, or in the smaller leaves by trimming them to the thickness of the leaf You will need twelve pieces of cabbage leaf (about 4cmx10cm [1 1/2 inx4in] in size) to make the dolma. Boil the leaves in the water for 4-5 minutes until tender, then drain and immediately cool in a bowl of cold water.

Gently pat the leaves dry with some kitchen paper. Place a leaf on a worktop and put a tablespoon of the filling at one end. Roll the cabbage leaf up one turn and fold in the sides, then continue rolling to the end, to make a cylindrical parcel about 6cm (2 1/2 in) long and 3cm (1 1/4 in) thick. Make twelve parcels and place them close together in an oven dish brushed with olive oil. Brush the parcels generously with olive oil too, sprinkle them with enough water or stock to barely cover the bottom of the dish, and cover it with foil. Make a few steam holes in the foil, then cook in the oven for 20 minutes, until the parcels are lightly coloured. Check once or twice that the dish isn’t too dry. You might also want to remove the foil cover for the last 5 minutes of cooking.

For the sauce, whisk approximately 150–200ml (5-7fl oz) water into the tahini to get a pouring consistency, then add the garlic, cumin, cayenne and lemon juice. Stir in the yoghurt and season with salt.

Serve three dolma per portion with some of the sauce drizzled over the top (or serve it separately on the side).

Fresh Pasta with Abyssinian Cabbage, Dried Tomato, Chilli, Pine Nuts and Sheep’s Cheese

This recipe is for two only, because I think it is a very tricky business mixing anything more than a simple sauce into long, fresh pasta, often resulting in the pasta becoming overcooked in the process. If you are cooking for more than two, dress the cooked pasta in olive oil and a little finely grated cheese, and put it in warm bowls before spooning the vegetables on top, encouraging people to mix their own.

Heat the olive oil in a wide pan and cook the onion, garlic and chilli over a medium heat for 1 minute. Add the cabbage leaves, tomatoes and pine nuts, and cook for 2-3 minutes more until the cabbage has softened. Season with a little salt and pepper.

At the same time, bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and cook the pasta for 2-3 minutes until just tender. Drain well and add to the vegetables with a sprinkling of the cheese. Toss to mix the vegetables through the pasta, then serve in warm bowls, with the rest of the cheese sprinkled over the top.

Fresh Tagliolini with Shredded Brussels Sprouts, Sage and Pine Nuts

Quarter the sprouts, cut out the core and separate the leaves. In a wide pan, heat the olive oil and cook the sprouts, shallots, sage and garlic over a medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, orange zest and pine nuts, and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 2 minutes more.

At the same time, bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, add the tagliolini and cook for 2-3 minutes until just tender. Drain well.

Add the butter, cheese and cooked pasta to the sprouts and mix well. Serve immediately.

Brussels Sprouts with Roast Shallots and Spiced Potato Gnocchi in a Blue Cheese Cream

These quantities will give you very generous portions for a rich winter meal. The shallots and gnocchi can be prepared in advance. The uncooked gnocchi will keep for a few hours in a fridge or for a week in a freezer.

For the gnocchi, peel the potatoes, chop them into even-sized pieces and steam until tender. Gently mash them and leave them to cool. Stir in the cheese, egg yolks and cayenne, then quickly work in most of the flour. Season well with salt and pepper. If the dough seems firm enough, cut off a small piece, roll it into a ball and drop it into boiling water. If, after a few minutes, the ball floats without breaking up, the dough has enough flour. Bear in mind that the flour helps the gnocchi to hold together but too much flour can make the dough tough.

Cut the dough into three pieces and roll each piece with your hands into a 2cm (3/4 in)-thick tube. Cut each tube into pieces 1cm (1/2 in) long and shape each piece into an elongated ball. Put the gnocchi to one side on a lightly floured plate as you go.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. To roast the shallots, toss them in a little olive oil in an oven dish, cover loosely with baking parchment and roast in the oven, checking and stirring occasionally, until the shallots are soft and golden.

Halve or quarter the Brussels sprouts, depending on size. In a wide pan, heat the butter and cook the sprouts, garlic and caraway over a medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the stock or water, bring it to the boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes, until the sprouts are almost tender. Add the cream and turn up the heat to boil for 30 seconds. Crumble in the blue cheese then turn off the heat and stir to melt the cheese.

While the sprouts are cooking, bring a saucepan of water to the boil and drop in some of the gnocchi, being careful not to overcrowd the pan or the gnocchi will stick together. As the gnocchi float to the top, remove them with a slotted spoon. Keep them warm in a buttered frying pan over a low heat while you cook the rest.

To serve, place some gnocchi in four warm plates or shallow bowls. Spoon the sprouts in their sauce around each portion, pouring some of the sauce over the gnocchi. Arrange some roasted shallots over each portion and finish with nutmeg.

Braised Savoy Cabbage with Apricots, Pecans and Caraway

Soak the apricots for 1 hour in just enough water to cover them, then slice them thinly.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and put in the cabbage, onion and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes over a medium heat until the cabbage has softened a little. Add the apricots, caraway, brandy and a pinch of salt. Bring back to the boil, turn the heat down to low, then cover loosely with baking parchment and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the cabbage is soft and sweet, stirring occasionally to ensure the cabbage doesn’t stick. Stir in the pecans and serve.

Watercress Hummus

Serve this variation on the classic chickpea and sesame dip with warm pitta bread, crispbread or corn chips. It also makes a nicely peppery sandwich filling or topping for crostini.

Put the watercress in a food processor with a tablespoon of the olive oil, and blend to a smooth purée. Transfer to a bowl, then put the remaining ingredients, including the oil, into the processor and blend again. Add this purée to the watercress and stir. Season with salt. When serving, drizzle a little more olive oil over the hummus.

Chinese Broccoli with Cashews and Fresh Chillies

I like most Chinese broccoli dishes with the stems whole, about 12-15cm (4 1/2– 6in) long. This side dish has enough flavour to be served as a simple main course for two or three, with some rice or noodles.

Cut the chillies in half lengthways and remove the seeds. Slice the flesh in thin diagonal strips.

In a wide shallow pan, heat the olive or vegetable oil, add the chilli slices and cook for 1 minute over a medium heat. Add the Chinese broccoli, garlic, soy sauce and stock or water. Cover the pan and simmer for 5 minutes or until the broccoli stems are just tender.

Stir in the cashews and serve.