We had our first Forage & Feast foraged picnic of the year at Hackney Marshes recently, so I thought I’d share our picnic menu with you and some of the recipes. We used a mixture of seasonally foraged and stored ingredients for the menu, but everything was home-made and freshly prepared.
Our ingredients included fresh, seasonal Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum), and Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica). Stored Wild Mushrooms (various), Elderflowers (Sambucus nigra), Poppy Seeds (Papaver rhoeas), Hazelnuts (Corylus avellana), and Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale).
We went for a nice long walk in Hackney Marshes, discussing the various trees and plants we saw. Some were tasty and edible, some edible and not so tasty, and some toxic plants to be avoided. After and early start and lots of walking and talking, we were all ready for a sit down in the warm with some lovely food and drink…
The Foraged Picnic Recipes
- Cheddar cheese and wild garlic scones
- Stinging nettle pizza
- Wild Mushroom and Gruyere quiche
- Pork and wild garlic sausage rolls
- Herb & wild garlic dip with crudités
- Elderflower and almond loaf cake
- Coffee, rum and hazelnut cake
- Poppy seed and lemon drizzle cake
- Stinging Nettle cordial
- Elderflower cordial
- Dandelion root coffee
- Birch sap wine