It’s clean out the freezer time here in Santa Fe! Gotta make room before I can store all the new greens I hope to be harvesting over the next few months. Last night I pulled out two vacuum sealed packets of blanched greens (nettles and garlic mustard) and threw together this spring greens gratin. It was a huge hit, and I’m sure I’ll be making it again as I dig deeper into the freezer, using up all sorts of greens to make room for this year’s harvest. Read more
Garlic mustard pesto is a forager’s classic. Not only is it delicious, but the plant is so abundant and invasive that you can harvest to your heart’s content. Garlic mustard leaves take the place of both garlic and basil in this pesto recipe. It comes together in a flash and you can use it several ways: tossed with rice or pasta, as a filling for homemade ravioli or tortellini, or as a soup base (as in the French soupe au pistou). Read more
Poor, misunderstood garlic mustard.
There are multiple web pages devoted to the eradication of this plant (botanical name = Alliaria petiolata). But despite the fact that it’s an aggressive, invasive weed that crowds out many beloved natives, I can’t bring myself to be upset when I come across a patch of it in the woods. Because although it’s a thug in the landscape, it’s very tasty in the kitchen.
Most cocktails aim for a balance of sweet, sour, and spirit. The g3 is a savory cocktail, not a drop of sweetness in there. It’s so named (I named it!) because the spirit (either vodka or gin) is infused with garlic mustard and garnished with a pickled field garlic bulb. Read more
