It's January and there's nothing about...?
No, that's not true. It's actually possible to have quite a nice little forage, even in snow.
I nipped out on my bike and found a whole host of ingredients which I've used to make a Burns' Night broth.
This is the perfect thing to eat after a wee winter foray and makes a nice seasonal first course for your Burns' Supper.
Ingredients, all foraged.
Judas ear
Pink purslane
Gorse flowers
Hedge garlic
Tiny wild garlic shoots
Scarlet elf cups
Dock leaves
Dandelion
Ground elder
Wood avens
Golden saxifrage
Greater cuckoo flower
Lesser celandine.
Method
1 Have soaked the broth mix in cold water over night, drain.
2 Wash and spin out the herbs, keeping the extra root, scrape the dirt from 2 wood avens root and slice up thin. Also rinse the fungi in cold water and clean.
3 Simmer the Judas ear in 400ml water with the wood avens and all the scrap roots of the washed herbs, making sure there's plenty garlic shoots in there. Simmer for 20 minutes.
4 Pass stock removing the judas ear setting aside and pressing out the flavour of the herbs.
5 Roughly chop a nice mix of the herbs and elf cups, even some gorse flower, keeping it random, set aside.
6 Fry the broth mix gently then add the passed stock, simmer for 5 then add more water to this and give the mix a chance to cook out. Chop up the judas ear and add to broth.
7 Simmer for a further 2 hours at low heat adding more water and salt to taste.
8 Turn up the heat to boil broth adjusting the salt and consistency, add chopped herbs etc, bring back to the boil and serve.
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