Sautéed Wild Garlic Shoots with Smashed White Beans

Everybody's favourite wild spring veg is back - wild garlic, ramsons, bear garlic, alium ursinum or whatever you want to call it and now we can't imagine how we went through the rest of the year without it. 

It's appearing in February which is strange, but we have had an incredibly mild winter. If you want to make this dish I advise you get out there rather quickly as these shoots will very soon turn into fully formed leaves and I've even seen buds beginning to appear.

You will definitely need a foraging knife for this (I just use my curved peeling knife for all of my foraging needs, a mushroom knife is also perfect) as you will need to cut a little under the ground below where you see the shoot forming.

Once picked these little shoots require a bit of cleaning as there is usually mud hiding beneath the sheath. But all in all, I promise it's worth it. 

Ingredients

About 20 Ramson shoots, washed and dried

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tin of butter beans, drained

1 sprig rosemary 

1 garlic clove 

Black Pepper to taste 

Salt to taste 

2 tsp butter 

Splash of Milk 

1/2 tablespoon of chopped parsley 

Method

1. Combine 1 tablespoon of olive oil, butter beans, rosemary, garlic, pepper and parsley in a saucepan  on a medium heat to warm the beans, stirring constantly.
2. Take off the heat and add the milk and butter then crush roughly using a potato masher. 
3. Remove from pan and place onto serving dish or plate. 
4. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tsp butter in a frying pan on a high heat and sauté the ramson shoots for 1 minute, stirring regularly, add salt and black pepper to taste along with the lemon juice.
5. Pour the ramsons and juice over the butter beans and serve immediately.