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Omelette with Caerphilly & Wild Garlic

During wild garlic season, this tasty omelette recipe is a must. An update on classic omelette fillings, this dish features crumbly Caerphilly and wild garlic.

From the book

Genevieve Taylor

Introduction

Wild garlic is now forming a lush green carpet in the woods at the bottom of our hill. The season is brief, just a few weeks from early March, and I try to gather it as often as possible. If I’m feeling time-rich or I just can’t resist the lure of the morning sun, I walk the dogs the long way home after the school run, the exercise and fresh air doing us all the world of good. Today’s longer walk saw the extra benefit of a bag of wild garlic leaves and a hastily concocted plan to use them in an omelette for lunch.

I do think an omelette is perfect for one and if I am working at home it is often on my lunch menu. Simple and speedy, this one was on the table in three minutes flat, much faster than I could make a decent sarnie. The garlic was so fresh and delicious, it didn’t take me much longer than that to eat it, meaning I was soon back at my desk and making up for time lost dithering about with the dogs in the morning.

If you can’t get hold of wild garlic, you could make this with a handful of spinach leaves wilted with a little crushed garlic. But the real thing is worth hunting down and not as uncommon as you might think. We live but a mile from the city centre, where a thin ribbon of woodland follows a brook downstream. If you have even a small patch of woods near you, go exploring. You never know, you might be lucky. The vibrant green, strap-like leaves are unmissable by their scent alone.

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Ingredients

A knob, about 10g butter
A generous handful, about 40g wild garlic leaves, thoroughly washed & roughly chopped
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
A splash of olive oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
50g Caerphilly or other crumbly cheese (like Cheshire or Wensleydale), broken up

Method

Melt the butter in a small frying pan and as it starts to foam, toss in the wild garlic and stir-fry for a minute until it just wilts, seasoning with a little salt and pepper. Tip on to a plate and add a splash of olive oil to the pan, allowing it to get hot over a medium-high flame.

Lightly beat the eggs in a small bowl; season. When the oil is hot, pour in the egg. Using a fork, draw the sides in as the omelette cooks and tip the pan from side to side to spread the egg out. When it is almost set, scatter over the cheese and the wilted wild garlic. Fold in half, slide on to a plate and eat immediately.

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