• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • about me and belleau
  • contact me
  • pr & demo’s

Belleau Kitchen Homepage

Recipes from my Lincolnshire kitchen

  • Home
  • Chicken Thighs
  • Bread
  • Cakes
  • Eggs
  • Vegetarian
  • Everything else

foragers tortilla

21 April 2019 by Dominic Franks

foragers tortilla

If you’re a keen gardener or happen to be lucky enough to live with a garden fanatic like I am then you’ll know that this part of April and early May is one of the most beautiful times in the garden.  All the hard work over the Spring suddenly starts to pay off. Everything begins to bloom and it’s that wonderful first flush of the summer that you’re seeing; the first heads of the lupins burst into colour, the fox-gloves stretch up to the sky and the cape daisies spread the sunshine across the barren patches of the boarders.  What you’ll also know is that the common weeds are too enjoying the lushness of the season – pesky nettles are everywhere, goosegrass tries to reach for the heavens through your dahlias and ground elder is a real nuisance that can quickly take over if you don’t watch out.   Thankfully for your garden (and for the chef in all of us) all of these so-called weeds can be foraged and eaten. And if it’s not growing in your garden it’ll be growing along the hedgerows and in little woodlands; the young leaves of the herb bennet can be used as a substitute for spinach, borage is divine in salads, the infamous wild garlic makes an epic pesto and even the humble daisy leaves make for a great salad leaf.

I’m a big advocate for foraging and I have been ever since I met the incredible BBC Gardener Alys Fowler at the Wolds Words Festival in Louth about 6 years ago, who was hosting a talk on foraging.  She inspired me to get out into the countryside and harvest what naturally grows all around us.  Of course you can’t just go digging up any old patch of ground, or snipping bushes that don’t belong to you.  It’s important that you try and seek permission before you take anything, however abundant it might be growing.  You also must ensure you know what you’re picking and eating is safe to do so and never pick or eat anything you’re not 100% sure is edible.  There are lots of guides out there and most of the stuff i’m suggesting you use is pretty basic weeds that a child would recognise but it’s always worth double-checking first.  A great place to start in terms of guidebooks is the brilliant The Thrifty Forager by Alys Fowler.

foragers tortilla

foragers tortilla

The great thing about eating a tortilla with foraged plants is that it is a great vehicle for what you’ve picked as it has a subtle background taste that is a great bedrock for all the flavours of foraged goodies.  This tortilla recipe is also very simple but you’ll be surprised how far one tortilla will stretch.  It will make a delicious lunch served cold with a salad or a terrific dinner served warm with vegetables or pan-fried fish.  You’ll need patients as there’s lots of low and slow cooking but it’s worth it for the results will be divine and you’ll wonder how the humble egg has been lifted so gloriously by a few bits of green you plucked from the garden boarder.

All of the plants suggested in the recipe freeze really well, simply wrap them in clingfilm or chop them finely and sprinkle them into ice cube trays and fill with water, they should last in the freezer for a month.

Remember to wear gloves when picking nettles and don’t pick any that have been too close to a busy road or anywhere that a dog has easy access for obvious reasons!

  • 4 shallots – finely chopped
  • 400g new potatoes – un-peeled and thickly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives – roughly 5 or 6 chive stalks (if in season, keep flowers for sprinkling)
  • 1 bunch (handful) of wild garlic – washed well (use spinach if you can’t find)
  • 8 nettle tops (the very top 4 leaves from the top of the nettles) washed well
  • a large handful of ground elder leaves (use kale if you can’t find)
  • 150ml extra-virgin olive oil and a large nob of butter
  • a sprig of fresh thyme
  • 6 large free-range eggs

for the above ingredients I am using a 25cm deep non-stick frying pan

heat the oil and large nob of butter in a large frying pan, mix the onions and potatoes well and then add them to the pan and stew gently, partially covered, for roughly 10 minutes, then add the rest of the foraged leaves and leave for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the potatoes are softened.

carefully pour the potatoes and veg through a colander into a large bowl and pour the oil back into the panbeat the eggs in another bowl and then pour onto the potatoes and veg with plenty of salt and pepper and stir it all together, then let it sit a while whilst you re-heat the pan.

tip everything into the pan and cook on a gentle heat for about 5 minutes without doing anything, then use a spatula to shape the omelette into a cushion by softly pulling the edges in and slowly rotating the pan to flood the empty spacewhen it’s almost set with a little liquid still visible, take the pan off the heat and leave for 4 mins to cool a little, then place a large dinner plate on top and carefully flip the pan so that the tortilla is now on the plate, then slide it back into the pan and cook a few more minutes. Invert twice more, cooking the omelette briefly each time and pressing the edges to keep the cushion shape… slide it back on to a plate and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

foragers tortilla

eat and of course, enjoy!

foragers tortilla

Share this post:

Twitter Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn E-mail

Filed Under: Eggs, Vegetarian Tagged With: eggs, foraging, nettles, tortilla, vegetarian, wild garlic

Previous Post: « soured cream cinnamon swirl loaf cake
Next Post: asparagus, cheddar and butterbean pottage »

Reader Interactions

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Comments

  1. Jean says

    23 April 2019 at 8:51 am

    I have never used nettles or ground elder in cooking, but will give them a try. We have become fans of wild garlic, thanks to your recipes.
    The one thing I would never forage for is mushrooms. I can recall my father occasionally bringing a bag of freshly picked little white mushrooms for breakfast on Sunday when I was little. In those days bought mushrooms were a luxury but our visit to the fascinating mushroom museum near Saumur taught us that the perfectly edible and delicious ones look very much the same as the completely lethal ones. Since then I vowed only to use mushrooms bought from a shop!

    • Dominic Franks says

      24 April 2019 at 2:42 pm

      thanks Jean… gosh yes!! Would never forage for mushrooms unless I was with an expert

      • Dominic Franks says

        24 April 2019 at 2:44 pm

        oh and also, you’re so right… I always thought they’d be so complicated but they are in fact ridiculously simple!

Primary Sidebar

About Belleau Kitchen

My name is Dominic, I am a cook, food writer and creative event producer. I write the food blog Belleau Kitchen and also write a monthly recipe column for Lincolnshire Life Magazine and Good Taste Magazine. I also run creative event production company The Persuaders, producing global events for brands since 1997. I am based both in the small village of Belleau in Lincolnshire and the smaller village of London! Read More…

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Subscribe

Archives

Foodies100 Index of UK Food Blogs
Foodies100
Tweets by @DomInTheKitchen

as featured in Lincolnshire Life Magazine

Lincolnshire Life
Belleau Kitchen Basics
Simply Eggcellent

creatively managed by

The Persuagers
Belleau Cottage

Footer

dominthekitchen

Cauliflower Coconut Curry This curry is the most Cauliflower Coconut Curry

This curry is the most wonderful warming stew, which is perfect for this time of year.  I love how fragrant it is (the whole house smells amazing!) I'm actually surprised by how quick and easy it was to make - it only took about 20 mins! 

I wanted to find a creative way to use the delicious @zenb_uk Veggie Sticks and Veggie Bites within my cooking. ZENB is a new, organic, plant-based brand that has created delicious on-the-go snacks. The company believes in including as much of the whole vegetable as possible, including the peel, skin, stem and seeds to help to raise awareness around issues of food waste.

I used the ZENB Red Pepper, Tomato and Chilli Veggie Bites in the curry sauce and then crumbled the ZENB Red Pepper Veggie Stick over the top.

ZENB can be purchased exclusively online - link in bio and full recipe now on the blog! 

Use BELLEAU10 to get 10% discount now.

#ad #ZENBUK #Curry #Veganuary #CauliflowerCurry #vegan #organic #vegetables #ZENBBites #ZENBSticks #FoodRediscovered #VeggieSnacks #onthegosnack #belleaukitchen #recipe #foodblogger #foodwriter
Sausage & Mash Pie - nothing quite hits the spot o Sausage & Mash Pie - nothing quite hits the spot on a cold and rainy miserable day!

recipe over on the blog soon - click on the link in my bio for the the picture you want the recipe for. It will take you to my site. 

Today I used @quorn_uk veggie sausages, & @sainsburys frozen mash and cooked it in my @falconenamel pie dish

#pie #sausages #sausageandmash #mashedpotatoes #mash #gravy #vegetarian #veganuary #winterwarmer #food #foodblogger #foodwriter
Mushroom & Kale egg ‘muffins’ ... such a simpl Mushroom & Kale egg ‘muffins’ ... such a simple and easy dish to prepare but SO tasty and healthy too! Amazing eggs from the wonderful folk @scamanseggs 

#recipe coming to the blog soon - check the link in bio

#eggs #eggsofinstagram #eggrecipes #fritatta #omelette #mushrooms #kale #brunch #lunch #healthy #healthyfood #healthyeats
Vegan roast vegetable gravy. The best gravy I’ve Vegan roast vegetable gravy. The best gravy I’ve ever made, easily on par with the roast chicken-wing gravy I made at Christmas. Served here with @quorn_uk ‘meatballs’ and two types of mash - regular potato and swede & carrot. 

#vegan #veganuary #meatballs #meatballsandgravy #gravy #vegetarian #mash #food #foodwriter #foodblogger #sunday #sundayroast
Cake! - is there such thing as a ‘healthy’ cak Cake! - is there such thing as a ‘healthy’ cake?

This fat-free orange and lemon cake is actually an adaptation of the infamous Clementine Cake by @nigellalawson . It’s one of my absolute favourite ‘go-to’ cakes.  If truth be told I usually make it at Christmas because its rich almond nuttiness and intense clementine fruitiness is perfect for the holiday season but looking back over the years I realise I haven’t actually made it for about 8 years! So now seems the perfect time to resurrect an old favourite.  It’s also a great cake to make if you have an abundance of citrus fruit left over from last year.  I always seem to have a few stragglers left in the bowl that really need eating.

#recipe on the website - click on the link in my insta bio for the recipe 

#cake #clementinecake #groundalmonds #baking #citrus #glutenfree #fatfree #food #foodblogger #foodwriter #weekend
vegetable stew with a creamy yoghurt sauce & chedd vegetable stew with a creamy yoghurt sauce & cheddar dumplings with @quorn_uk pieces and @fage_uk yoghurt

The challenge with making food or diet-related New Years resolutions is that it tends to be pretty damn cold this time of year and all we really want to eat is warming soups and stews which often tend to be quite naughty.  With this stew I’ve tried to cut down the fat but still make it unctuous and satisfying although the dumplings are a total cop-out but I’m thinking that this is a ‘one bowl meal’ and I’m not saving it with any other carbs so I’m letting myself off here!

#recipe up on the website now - link in bio

#stew #winterwarmer #dumplings #resolutions #vegetables #veganuary #yoghurt #food #foodporn #foodphotography
Load More… Follow on Instagram

© 2010 - 2021 | All rights reserved | Website by Peckish Digital