ICFN Recipes
WILD GARLIC PESTO
Look for wild garlic that grows abundantly around Inverclyde. It’s food for free! Just make sure you pick it away from road or path edges where dogs may have visited. Wash it well before using.
Ingredients
100g hazelnuts
350g wild garlic leaves
100g parmesan cheese
150ml extra-virgin olive oil
Method
Toast the hazelnuts in a small dry pan set over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes, shaking the pan every so often so they brown evenly. Tip out onto a clean tea towel, fold over the corners to enclose the hazelnuts, then rub vigorously to loosen the skins. Set aside.
Put the wild garlic leaves in the bowl of a food processor and pulse briefly to break them down. Once the leaves are coarsely chopped, add the peeled toasted hazelnuts and pulse again. Now add the cheese and the olive oil and pulse again until you reach the desired texture. Season the pesto generously with salt and pepper and adjust the consistency with more olive oil, if you like.
Use a rubber spatula to scrape the pesto out into a large sterilised jar. Tap the jar on a work surface to help settle the pesto, then trickle a thin layer of olive oil on top to seal. Seal and store the pesto in the fridge, where it will keep for up to 2 weeks.
RED SOUPER SOUP
(from www.heartuk.org)
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 small red onions, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 stick celery, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
250g red cabbage, finely shredded
50g red pepper, roughly chopped
100g red lentils, precooked in boiling water
2 cans chopped tomatoes, (pureed if you are not going to blend the final soup)
½ litre vegetable stock made from 1.5 cubes of reduced salt stock cubes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Ground black pepper
Flat Leaf Parsley, to garnish (optional)
Method
In a large pan, sweat the onions and the garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes until softened, taking care not to colour the onions.
Add the celery and carrots and continue to stir and cook for a few minutes on a low heat
Add the red cabbage, red pepper, cooked lentils, pureed tomatoes and vegetable stock and simmer until all the vegetables are cooked and tender, about 10 minutes
You can use a hand blender to puree the soup if you prefer or serve it with chunky vegetables in a delicious tomato soup
Add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and season with black pepper before serving in warm bowls. Garnish with fresh parsley, if using and serve with thick slices of wholemeal bread.