Bread & Foraging

Hope comes to the kitchen in the bright green form of wild garlic this week.

Before I go to bed tonight will begin the process of making bread with the sourdough starter that I have been growing in my kitchen. It is a wonderful thing, the speed with which the simple mix of flour and water begins to ferment. I have made a sourdough starter once before, but did not pursue the baking for long as the kids were smaller and my time was better spent using dried yeast for bread making. But now that the kids are grown and I am maintaining a focus on my gut health (bread and stress are the two biggest negative influences) I have decided to give sourdough baking another go – if nothing else it will save me a lot of money in loaf buying. If the baking of this first loaf is a success then I shall share the process here – wish me luck…

On my way home from the kitchen earlier I stopped at a faithful patch of wild garlic, hoping to pick a few of the pungent leaves to use for dinner this evening. Nature did not disappoint and the patch is already hearty with leaves ready for the picking. As counselled by Robin Wall Kimmerer in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, I always ask permission of a plant before harvesting and love the way that this practice enhances engagement. This morning I asked after the garlic’s experience of winter while I took one leaf from each discernible bunch like plant in the ground, taking a total of 20 leaves, plenty for my needs.

There is an organic cabbage in my fridge that needs eating and I am thinking about how I can cook it with the wild garlic, soft bright green leaves ready to impart flavour wherever I put them. As for so many, my heart is heavy. I went to work, had a cry and left to come home, via the wild garlic patch. I feel very lucky to be my own boss in these moments, but also I cannot help but wonder if I would be better able to galvanise and go off to work if I had responsibility to someone other than myself to act as impetus. Pushing through work is proving exceptionally difficult in this moment, the value and point in things is murky and lost within the vast fear and trauma being wrought around the world. I do what I can to stay informed while also taking opportunities to disconnect, but my business necessitates a presence on social media and an active one at that, and I am finding this increasingly challenging to fulfil.

Gosh, but it feels petty to complain about social media stats and work fatigue. I do know how very lucky I am.

I am feeling lazy and so think I shall cut the cabbage into wedges through its core, laying the pieces in a roasting tray with a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper before gently roasting until they are soft and lightly coloured. Perhaps I will make a bean puree with the wild garlic for the cabbage to sit on? Rich with tahini, warm yellow from turmeric, bright green from the garlic. I might cook some sliced onions low and slow in butter with thyme and a bay leaf until they are darkly golden and sticky sweet, and griddle some halloumi to mark it with blackened stripes of flavour. The plate of food I have in my mind is full of greens and golden browns. For colour and texture maybe I shall grate some carrots and beetroot, meanwhile frying some nuts and seeds in sesame oil, finishing them with a sprinkle of chilli flakes and salt crystals. The plate is assembled thus: dollop of wild garlic and bean puree, wedge of cabbage topped with onions and halloumi with a side salad of grated carrots and beetroot finished with a sprinkling of sesame toasted, chilli nuts and seeds.

Here is an earlier recipe for Wild Garlic & Walnut Pesto.

These few things have helped my Hope levels over the last week:

Prompts for bed time mind clearance from Valerie Johnson on Instagram.

YK Hong’s newsletter Liberation Toolbox is always worth reading, I found this week’s Antidotes for News Overwhelm particularly helpful.

Hallelujah with Sendolo Diaminah, the latest episode of Becoming the People podcast “offers inspiration for how we can all take more potent action in our lives.”

My heart is with all those experiencing the dread fear of war.

With love, Chloe x