Wild garlic and rocket arancini with tomato sauce.

After the Spring equinox on March 21, Nature opens her pantry doors and beneath our feet emerge fresh green leaf forms with their distinctive shapes, aromas and properties. 

The first food to arrive in Nature’s larder are nettles, dandelions and wild garlic (or ramsons), and they all have beneficial properties to nourish our winter depleted bodies. Wild garlic is very high in vitamin C and magnesium.

When collecting wild garlic, cut it at the base of the leaf, taking care not to disturb the bulbs in the ground. When harvesting, make sure that you only gather wild garlic because it grows abundantly on woodland floors and verges, sometimes obscuring other newly emerging leaves such as young lords and ladies or dog mercury which are toxic and can be found in amongst it at this time of year. It’s easy to identify wild garlic due to the elongated pointed shape of the leaves which have veins running the length of the leaf from the stem to the tip without branching outwards from a central vein. However, most notably, wild garlic smells of garlic!

If you have ever planted wild rocket, you will know that it comes back in abundance at this time every year. The young leaves are soft and peppery and their flavour compliments wild garlic very well. If you don’t grow it, wild rocket is easy to buy at the greengrocer or supermarket.

The risotto recipe below is very simple as it is intended also as the base for the arancini. You may want to set aside some of the basic risotto below to make arancini, then you can add optional extra ingredients to the risotto such as chopped onion, mushrooms, peas, parmesan or goats’ cheese, as you wish.

Ingredients:

200 g risotto rice

A large bunch of freshly picked wild garlic leaves

A large bunch wild rocket

2 bay leaves

olive oil

One garlic clove

Juice of a lemon

Salt & black pepper 

Method:

1. Heat a little oil in a saucepan and add the rice, stirring to coat the grains with oil. Add the bay leaves and just enough water to cover the rice. Simmer the rice, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Keep adding a little more water and stir frequently. The rice will be cooked after about 25 minutes. The water should be absorbed but the rice should be sticky rather than too dry.
2. In a blender, or pestle and mortar, combine the chopped wild garlic and rocket with the juice of a lemon, a clove of garlic (for enhanced garlic flavour), olive oil, salt and black pepper. 
3. Remove the bay leaves from the risotto rice and add the wild garlic sauce, stirring through the risotto rice until it is fully worked in. You can reheat gently if you wish.

Arancini

Ingredients:

Wild garlic and rocket risotto

Grated cheddar cheese (or any alternative cheese that you may prefer)

Breadcrumbs, preferably sourdough

Method:

1. Grate or cube some cheese and form into balls no smaller than a marble.
2. Using your cupped hand to form the arancini balls, place some risotto into the palm of one clean hand and using your finger, make an indentation into the risotto and place a ball of cheese into it. Cover this with more risotto and shape it into a ball between the size of a golf ball to a tennis ball.
3. Gently coat the arancini with breadcrumbs.
4. To cook, you can either deep fry, or shallow fry moving around the pan very gently, so as not to break the balls, or they can be baked in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs are turn golden.
5. Serve on top of tomato sauce.

Tomato sauce

Ingredients:

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 onion, finely chopped 

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 teaspoon capers, finely chopped

A pinch of dried mixed herbs

Olive oil

Salt and freshly ground, black pepper

Method:

1. Sauté the chopped onions in a little olive oil until they soften and become translucent, taking care not to burn.
2. Add the garlic and herbs to the onions and stir quickly, being very careful to avoid burning the garlic.
3. Add the tomatoes, capers and salt and pepper to taste and heat through.
4. To serve, put a generous portion of the tomato sauce onto warmed plates and place the arancini on top.