Wild chervil, or cow parsley, (Anthriscus sylvestris) is a plant we use regularly at this time of year. It has a dangerous lookalike in hemlock (Conium maculatum), so take a look at this post to help tell them apart.
Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) were intoduced to the British Isles by the Romans. It’s most often found near the coast but I’ve found it inland as well, the green in Egerton being one example and Nethergong another. We have loads of it growing along the downs at Herne Bay and as it’s an early spring plant we’ve been making the most of it. Nicola collected some yesterday and we had it in a tart for dinner. It was delicious!
Ingredients
- A good handful of roughly chopped Alexanders
- Some finely chopped wild chervil (make sure your foraged ingredients are well washed!)
- Pastry case
- 3 eggs
- A knob of butter
- A spalsh of milk
- Grated cheese
- Chopped garlic
- Grated nutmeg
- Black pepper
How to make the Alexanders and wild chervil tart
- Blind bake the pastry case
- Wilt the Alexanders in a frying pan with the butter, garlic and nutmeg
- After 10 minutes add the wild chervil
- Mix the eggs togetehr, add a little milk and season with black pepper
- Place the wilted Alexanders and wild chervil into the pastry case and pour over the egg mixture
- Sprinkle the grated cheese on top
- Place in a pre-heated oven at 180ºC for 20 mins or so, until the top is light brown and the mixture has set
You can see plenty of photos from our Wildfoods & Woodland Cooking courses on our Facebook page.
