Much of what we foraged was necessarily green and leafy and invariably tasted similar to either spinach or watercress (nothing wrong with that), however a few stand-out discoveries were Wild Sorrel (sharp and more lemony than a lemon), Goosefoot (seeds like tiny hazelnuts) and best of all, Fuchsia (sweet fruits reminiscent of Pomegranate). Less desirable was a fungi called Jews Ear, the eating of which was like sucking mushroom-flavoured jelly from a slightly perished condom.

Canal @ Walsden

Miner Lettuce

Good King Henry

Chickweed – loved by chicks, hated by gardeners

Greater Plantain

Sorrel – lemony delight

Wild Raspberry – a smaller, more angry version of the cultivated Raspberry

Fennel – aniseedy

Nettle – why not try this soup?

Red Nettle – same as above but with red/pink flowers

Ribwort Plantain

Some would-be foragers

Hawthorn – texture of avocado, flavour of nothing much

Nasturtium – sprinkle of salads

Goosefoot

Black Mustard

Himalayan Balsam – the seeds taste like hazelnuts

Elder – the flowers can be used to make ‘champagne’ – a definite future project

Jews Ear – so called because Judas was supposedly hung from an Elder tree (its favoured host)

Bilberry – a micro Blueberry

Bitter Cress – like Cress, but bitter(er)

(My Lovely) Gorse

Fuchsia – tastiest of the day

Mike -pointing at some Gorse

Fox(XXX)glove – best avoided as given the chance it would kill you

Finally, thanks to Mike and the Incredible Edibles for a most interesting 2 hour introduction to foraging.

* UK and Ireland only. Terms and conditions apply.

This was never going to be a pretty dish.

Preparation time: 45 minutes plus OVERNIGHT SOAKING
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Skill level: easy
Serves: 2 – 4 depending on level of greed

Ingredients

For the soup

• vegetable stock – 1.5 litres
• pearl barley – 100g
• finely grated rind of 1 lemon
• saffron – pinch
• Greek yoghurt – 500g
• cornflour – 2 tsp
• 1 free range egg – lightly beaten

For the kofta

• dried chickpeas – 125g
• bicarb of soda – ½ tsp
• 1 onion – finely chopped
• ground turmeric – 2 tsp
• smoked paprika – 2 tsp
• ground cumin – 2 tsp
• coriander and/or flat-leaf parsley – finely chopped – big handful
• fresh mint – finely chopped – small handful
• tomato purée – squirt
• olive oil
• s & p

Start by soaking the chickpeas overnight in 2 litres of cold water with added bicarb of soda.

The next day boil them up for about 20 minutes until tender, drain and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.

When cool, put the chickpeas in a food processor with the onion and process to a fairly fine paste.

Scoop out into a large mixing bowl, add the herbs, spices and tomato purée and stir to combine. Season to taste.

Lube your hands up with some olive oil and then roll the kofta mix into walnut-sized balls.

Place on a baking tray lined with lightly oiled baking paper and place in the oven for about 20 minutes or until pleasantly golden brown (turn occasionally to avoid hot spots).

Meanwhile make the soup…

Bring the stock to a boil over medium heat, add barley, lemon rind and saffron and simmer until barley is tender (20-25 minutes).

As this is happening, pour the yoghurt into a large bowl along with the beaten egg and mix until smooth.

Mix the cornflour with 50ml of cold water to form a smooth paste and then add to the yoghurt.

Add 100ml of the barley stock to the yoghurt mixture and whisk to combine.

Now add the yoghurt mixture to the barley stock, place on a low heat for 4-5 minutes and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring continuously … take care NOT to boil.

Season to taste.

To serve, place some koftas in the bottom of warmed soup bowls and pour over the soup. Drizzle with olive oil if the mood takes you.

Prepare yourself for strangeness …

Verdict: Wow, this is the weirdest soup I’ve ever had … a sort of savoury lassi with the consistancy of tapioca … unsual but pretty darn tasty, and perfectly accompanied by the spicy (and fairly hot) koftas. If you are put off by the tapiocosity of this dish, try substituting the pearl barley with rice. Weird.

Drink: A crafty monday night bottle of Rosé.

Entertainment: Still working our way through the fifth season of ‘Homocide: Life on the Streets’.

Yumblog Junior is left unattended in a pub garden with only a packet of Swan Vestas to play with.

This recipe (such as it is) came straight from the horse’s mouth … or rather straight from the mouth of the enthusiastic Italian bloke at Borough Market who sold us our eighth of vacuum-packed Bottarga. As a result the quantities are fashionably vague … you just need to use your common sense. Incidentally, in her indispensable book ‘The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking’, Marccella Hazan describes the tuna Bottarga we had bought as a ‘much cheaper, but not desirable substitute’ for the grey mullet variety.

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10-12 minutes (or as long as it takes you to cook your spaghetti)
Skill level: easy
Serves: 2

Ingredients

• spaghetti – 240g
• Bottarga – finely grated – 50g
• unsalted butter – melted – as much as you want/dare
• parsley – a good handful – chopped.
• s & p

Coming soon from Yumblog: Celebrity Chef Top Trumps

Cook your spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water.

(I vaguely recall ‘Nigella’ looking coyly at the camera and delivering a scripted quote supposedly from her grandmother about how pasta water should be as salty as the Mediterranean sea)

Meanwhile grate your Bottarga using the finer part of your grater.

Also finely chop your parsley.

Also melt your butter.

When the pasta is cooked, drain, return to the pan*, add the butter, Bottarga and parsley, stir and serve immediately.

Incidentally, the same stall at Borough Market was selling this stuff – a mixture of olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, fennel and chilli. It’s VERY unusual and VERY good.

* With the heat off – Bottarga should never be cooked.

Verdict: I had such high expectations for this that I must say I was a tad disappointed. Bottarga is certainly packed with salty fishiness but personally I prefer an anchovy. Perhaps the grey mullet option IS a lot better. If you want to find out, it can be bought from here.

Drink: A sharpener at The Market Porter, a few alarmingly expensive bottles of beer from Borough Market and a cheeky bottle of red.

Entertainment: The Christmas edition from the second series of ‘Homicide, Life on the Streets’. ‘Ho Ho Homicide’

Preparation time: 30 minutes (plus overnight soaking)
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Skill level: medium
Serves: 2

Ingredients

For the gremolata poached tuna

• 2 tuna steaks
• a good bunch of parsley – finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic – crushed
• finely grated rind of 1 lemon
• olive oil – 100 ml

For the bean salad

• dried cannellini beans – soaked overnight in cold water – 150g
• green beans – trimmed – 150g
• cherry tomatoes – 125g
• ¼ red onion – finely sliced
• ¼ small fennel bulb – thinly sliced (save fronds for garnish)
• Kalamata olives – pitted and roughly chopped – 30g
• bunch of parsley – roughly chopped
• rocket – handful

For the dressing

• extra-virgin olive oil – 40ml
• white wine vinegar – 1 tbsp
• fennel seeds – toasted – ¼ tsp

Soak the beans overnight, drain, place in a saucepan, cover with water, bring to the boil and cook until tender (40-50 minutes).

Drain and set aside to cool.

(or use tinned beans)

For the gremolata-poached tuna:

Mix together the parsley, garlic and lemon rind in a bowl and season to taste.

Place in a Ziploc® bag and add the tuna steak (obviously as there are 2 steaks you’ll be using 2 bags and dividing the ingredients between each)

Shake to coat evenly with herb mixture, add the olive oil and seal the bag, pressing out any excess air.

Place this inside another Ziploc® bag and seal (hopefully this should give you a good water-tight seal.

Meanwhile, bring a saucepan of water to the boil, remove from the heat and drop in the TunaBags®.

Stand until tuna is cooked through (30 – 40 minutes).

For the dressing:

Combine the ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

For the salad:

Blanch the green beans in boiling water until tender (2-3 minutes), drain, refresh in cold water and drain again.

Place in a bowl with the other salad ingredients. Pour over the dressing and mix together. Season if necessary.

Divide between 2 plates and top with a tuna steak.

Serve with a suggestion of liquid nitrogen.

Verdict: Well the ‘Boil in the Bag’ technique worked. The tuna was moist and cooked through although the lack of any ‘pink’ would be considered over-done by many. Obviously a shorter ‘cooking’ time would sort that out. Overall this was an excellent and filling salad packed with a complex range of aniseed/citrus/peppery olive flavours. Why not order it the next time you’re at ‘The Yummy Duck?

Drink: A temperate Monday evening.

Entertainment: The final episode of ‘Rev’.

So what are you going to do with your tomato essence?
Make Raymond Blanc’s ‘Tomato Risotto’ – recipe to follow.

Preparation time: 15 minutes + 6 hours chilling + overnight hanging
Cooking time: none
Skill level: easy
Makes: 600 – 800ml

Ingredients

• cherry tomatoes – 2kg
• ½ a smallish fennel – sliced
• ½ a celery stick – chopped
• 1 garlic clove – finely sliced
• ½ an onion – finely sliced
• 4 chicory leaves – sliced
• 1 sprig fresh basil
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• Tabasco sauce – 4-6 drops
• Worcestershire sauce – 1 tbsp (leave out for a vegetarian version)

Place all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix together.

Put the mixture into a food processor (you’ll have to do this in batches) and pulse five times for 1-2 seconds each time until crushed, but not puréed.

Transfer the tomato melange into a large bowl and repeat until all of the vegetables have been crushed.

Put this mixture into a bowl, cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for six hours.

Line a clean bowl with a large piece of muslin and spoon in the tomato mixture. Draw the corners of the muslin cloth together and tie up tightly. String the muslin ‘bag’ up above the bowl to catch the strained juices.

Leave to strain overnight. (Do not be tempted to squeeze the muslin.*)

Once strained, pour into a suitable container, cover and refrigerate until needed.

I’m not sure what Monsieur Blanc did with his tomato pulp, but we thought it was far to good to throw away and so used it as the base for a very tasty tomato (and honey) soup.

* As an experiment the next morning we squeezed the drained bag of tomato mixture and compared this resulting juice with the tomato essence we had collected overnight. It was cloudy and although tasty, nowhere near as intense as the essence. So heed Raymond’s advice and don’t squeeze.

Verdict: (Literally) The very essence of tomato.

Drink: This indeed could be drunk on it’s own as a cold soup – such as.

Entertainment: A weekend preparing the house for a new arrival.

Click here for dish of the day

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 – 45 minutes
Skill level: Medium
Makes: 4
Recipe: Yotam Ottolenghi

Ingredients

For the batter:

• chickpea flour (aka gram flour) – 200g
• water – 450ml
• olive oil – 1½ tbsp
• salt – ½ tsp

For the topping:

• cherry tomatoes – halved – 300g
• thyme leaves – 2 tbsp
• onions cut into rings – 800g
• white wine vinegar – ½ tsp
• olive oil
• s & p

Serve with:

• Crème fraîche

Preheat the oven to 130C/250F/gas mark ½.

Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and place cut-side up on a baking sheet, sprinkle with olive oil, season generously and place in the oven for 25 minutes. The object is to dehydrate the tomatoes rather than to actually cook them.

Meanwhile heat some oil in a frying pan and add the onion and thyme. Season and cook over a low heat for 20 minutes, by which time the onions should be gold and tender. Add the vinegar, adjust the seasoning and set aside.

Once the tomatoes are done, set to one side and turn up the oven to 170C/325F/gas mark 3.

To make the batter, place the flour, water and oil in a bowl, season with s&p and whisk until smooth and lump-free.

Line 2 baking sheets with greaseproof paper brushed with a little oil and put in the oven to warm through.

Brush a small (roughly 14cm in diameter) frying pan with a little oil and place over a high heat for a minute or two. Ladle in a quarter of the mixture, turn down the heat and cook for a few minutes – small bubbles should appear as the mixture heats and sets.

When the underside is golden brown carefully turn over and cook the other side.

Turn out onto one of the baking trays and return to the oven to keep warm.

Repeat three more times with the remaining batter mix.

To construct your meal, spread the onion mixture over the Soccas and top with the tomatoes. Place in the oven for about 10 minutes until everything is thoroughly heated through.

Serve with a side dollop of crème fraîche.

Verdict: Very interesting and pretty damn tasty. More flavour than a pancake, less stodge than a blini. Socca are often sold as a street food and are eaten plain with plenty of black pepper, however this tomato, onion and crème fraîche topping makes the whole socca experience an extra bit treaty.

Drink: Co-Op own-brand Polish lager.

Entertainment: Season Five of ‘The Shield’ had arrived … so we binged.

“Have you ever been to a Harvester before?”

An artist’s impression of how exciting this recipe could be if you cooked it over a 10,000 Mega Joule thermal lance.

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 – 25 minutes
Skill level: Easy
Makes: 2 portions

Ingredients

• spaghetti or linguini – 220g
• 6 garlic cloves – thinly sliced
• 1 or 2 red chillies – finely chopped
• extra virgin olive oil – several good slugs
• coarsely chopped fresh parsley – a good handful
• s and p

Find a skillet or frying pan large enough to accommodate your spaghetti (about 12″ in diameter).

Pour some oil into this pan and add the garlic and chillies. Sauté until the garlic is golden.

Remove and set aside.

Next add the pasta to this pan and pour on enough cold water to cover along with a teaspoon of salt.

Place over a high heat and cook uncovered for 8 – 10 minutes until the pasta is almost al dente. You’ll need to stir frequently to keep the pasta submerged and to stop it from sticking to itself.

Pour most of the water into a bowl, so that there is only a little remaining in the bottom of the pan.

Add the cooked garlic and chilli to the pasta along with the parsley and a generous amount of olive oil.

Return to the heat and stir everything together – you may want to add a little of the starchy cooking water to make the sauce creamier.

Adjust the seasoning and serve immediately with a salad.

Verdict: Well I never, this just goes to show you don’t need a large pan of boiling water to cook pasta properly. This made a refreshingly clean and simple evening meal. Experiment and have fun.

Drink: Our sommelier recommends and crisp, young and lively white.

Entertainment: We are currently skipping through the insubstantial, disappointing and unintentionally funny 4th series of ‘Blakes Seven’.

Avon & crew check out the latest ‘E-m@iler Plus Superphone‘ from Amstrad.

* SHOCK PASTA REVELATION COULD LEAD TO A WAVE OF 2 MILLION GYPSY BENEFIT CLAIMANTS!

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25-30 minutes
Skill level: easy (peasy lemon squeezy)
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 4 lemons
• mozzarella – grated or finely chopped – 200g
• ricotta – 200g
• Parmesan – finely grated – 75g
• 2 free-range eggs
• 1 red chilli – finely chopped
• basil – handful
• olive oil
• s & p

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.

Cut the lemons in half length-ways and scoop out the flesh (it helps if you run a knife between the flesh and skin beforehand).

You won’t be using the flesh so discard or use for something else.

In a bowl, mix together all the cheeses, egg and chilli. Season to taste.

Stuff the lemon shells with the cheese mixture and arrange in a baking dish. Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes until cooked with a golden brown crust.

Meanwhile mix together the basil and olive oil (use a blender or mortar and pestle)

When the lemons are cooked, put of serving plates and spoon over some of the basil oil.

Obviously you eat the cheese, not the lemon.

Verdict: A cheesy indulgence with a citrus twist and a chilli bite. An excellent and unusual treat.

Drink: The last bottle of white from Italy.

Entertainment: The postal strikes have meant that our supply of DVDs from LoveFilm have been erratic. An evening with Five: ‘Ghostbusters II’ followed by ‘Ghost Rider’. Scant research reveals that (incredibly) Nicolas Cage is actually in the process of filming ‘Ghost Rider II’.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Skill level: easy
Serves: many

Ingredients

• Cheddar and Lincolnshire Poacher (or any combo of cheeses you can possibly think might go together) – grated or crumbled – 160g
• butter – softened – 60g
• red wine – a big splash
• nutmeg – a tsp
• clarified butter (for sealing – see potted mackerel for recipe)
• s & p

Beat together the cheese, softened butter, booze and nutmeg until fairly smooth (using your weapon of choice). Taste and season as you see fit, then spoon into a ramekin or Kilner jar, and pour over some clarified butter to seal. It should keep for a few weeks in the fridge.

some cheese, yesterday

some cheese and butter and red wine in a bowl, sometime later

this is what it looks like, good eh?

Verdict: We all thought it rather tasty if not mildly confusing. I may have put slightly too much red wine in but this actually meant that it took on an almost meaty flavour, as if we were eating a smooth liver paté. Yum. I had it for sandwiches that week.

Drink: A hazy combo of spirits and Italian wines.

Entertainment: The continuing adventures of Archaeologist-T – she’s got a special hat but she looks nothing like Harrison Ford.

* potted things are always spread, this was not just thrown together
** remember in the 90s when you could go to a restaurant and choose the individual components and then a man would kindly whizz them together in a wok until they resembled a brown mush which you soon realised didn’t work so you had to go back to the counter and choose a better, possibly less complex combination. All the while the big gang of friends that you had come with were going through the same process with the result that the meal was utterly dislocated, ultimately unsatisfying and you really only got to talk to your friends afterwards down the pub as you filled up on crisps.

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30 – 45 minutes
Skill level: easy
Recipe: J’me
Serves: 2

Ingredients

• spaghetti – 200g
• 2 free-range eggs
• 4 anchovies – roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves – crushed
• parsley – finely chopped – handful
• Parmesan – grated – 2 handfuls
• 2 dried chillies – crushed
• olive oil
• s & p

Cook your spaghetti as per usual.

Once cooked run under cold water until cool enough to handle.

Put the eggs, cheese, parsley, garlic, anchovies and chillies in a largish bowl and mix together.

Cut the spaghetti into 3 inch lengths and add to the bowl. Mix thoroughly.

Heat some oil in a large heavy frying pan.

Fork some of the mixture into the frying pan and pat down with a fish slice to form your fritters. Make them any size you like.

When the underside is cooked, browned and starting to crisp, flip over and cook the other side.

Place on a warmed plate in a moderate oven to keep warm and repeat until all your mixture is used up – we got six from these quantities.

Counter-serve with a healthy salad.

Verdict: This certainly is a tasty treat. Eat with a knife and fork, fingers, sitting down, standing up, indoors, outdoors, walking around, anyway you like.

Drink: A pair of St Peters Grapefruit ales at The Jerusalem.

Entertainment: It’s semi-final time in Celebrity Master Chef and among other things the final four were shipped off to Leeds castle to cook dinner for a bunch of plummy toffs. As always this is great stuff only slightly spoilt by the continued presence of the tedious Iwan Thomas and his endless laboured sporting analogies. Wendi to win.