Hungarian Bean and Mushroom Soup

This is a delicious soup, which is substantial enough to be served as a main meal. The mixture of dill and paprika is an unusual flavour but they compliment each other very well, especially with the addition of smetana a type of sour cream found in Eastern European delicatessens.

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 banana shallots or 1 large onion
  • 400g Mushrooms (Rehydrated weight if using dried mushrooms)
  • 1-2 tbsp mushroom powder (optional)
  • 300g of broad beans (preferably peeled) or 1 x 400g tin of beans (suggest blackeye beans)
  • 2 medium sized floury potatoes
  • 1 tbsp of rice flour (can use plain wheat flour)
  • 1 heaped teaspoon of sweet paprika
  • Slug of mushroom ketchup
  • ½ bunch of dill (approx. 15-20 stalks)
  • ½ bunch of parsley
  • 10-20 chopped wild garlic leaves or tablespoon of dried wild garlic flakes (substitute for chives or crow garlic if not in season)
  • 2 tsp of nutritional yeast flakes
  • 1 tbsp barely miso (Or 4 tsp vegetable stock power)
  • Twist black pepper
  • Cream or smetana to serve (optional)

For the stock –

  • Edible garden weeds such as nettle and goosegrass, leek tops and bay leaves and shallot/onion skin

Method

  1. Half fill a large pan with garden weeks, chopped leek tops, add 4-5 bay leaves and top with water.
  2. Warm the butter and olive oil then add the shallots or onion.
  3. Once they start to turn translucent, chop the mushrooms into small pieces and add to the pan.
  4.  After 3-4 minutes coat the mushrooms in the paprika and stir well, cook for a minute or so then add the rice flour and sprinkle in the mushroom powder.
  5. Add the miso paste or stock powder.
  6. Top up with approx. 1 litre of the stock.
  7. Chop the potatoes finely and add to the pan.  
  8. Simmer for 5 minutes or so then add the drained can of beans.
  9. Simmer for another 5 minutes then add the finely chopped stalks of the herbs, the nutritional yeast flakes and the mushroom ketchup.
  10. Continue to simmer for a few more minutes until the potato is soft, at this point chop the tops of the herbs and add to the mix.
  11. Check for seasoning, add the pepper if necessary.
  12. Serve with a good helping of single cream and crusty bread (suggest seeded sourdough)

Elderberry

Adoxaceae or Moschatel family

The Elder ‘tree’ is a flowering shrub growing to around 6m in height. It produces heads of creamy-white flowers in the spring and dark berries (black, blue/black or red) in the autumn. Both the berries and the flowers are only edible once cooked.

This article covers how to cook elderberries and it’s nutritional benefits and some advice on different cultivars and how to grow them.

Nutrition

Amount needed for 100% Vit C

180g           160g

Amount needed for 100% Iron

540g          925g

Culinary

Elderberry and flower should always be cooked due to the presence of cyaniding glycosides which can cause sickness.

Both the flowers and the berries can be made into cordials and wines.

The flower umbels can be dipped in batter to make fritters. Savoury fritters can also be made by using spiced gram flour for the batter.  The berries are often mixed with apples or crab-apples to make desserts, jams and jellies.

The berries also make an excellent ketchup-like sauce known as Pontack Sauce. The sauce is named after the Pontack’s Head a 17th Century London Inn and eating establishment.  The sauce is made using a mixture of spices, often including ginger, cloves, allspice and pepper. The berries are cooked like a casserole in the oven with the addition of cider vinegar. The spices are added on the hob before the whole thing is stored away for anything up to seven years, after which time the flavour is said to greatly improve.

Where to find

Elder is a common shrub in lowland temperate climates. It grows on wasteland, in gardens, hedgerows, woodland and in parks.

Flowers- The flowers should be picked on a sunny day, well after the morning dew.

Berries- The berries are best picked fresh. They can be removed from the stalk using a fork.

Remove Elderberries from the stem using a fork

Buying Elderberries

Flowers- Dried flowers can be found in homebrew shops, some health food shops and herbalists.  Elderflower cordial is widely available.

Berries- It is rare to find the berries for sale fresh but Elder syrup is commonly found in health food shops and herbalists. Similarly, the dried berries can be found in herbalist and from specialist online retailers.

Peak Season

Northern Hemisphere

Flowers Early Summer

Fruit –Late Summer/Early Autumn

Uncommon in Southern Hemisphere

Cultivars

The antioxidant levels of foods are often measured by Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity or its ORAC value. Most foods with a high ORAC value are herbs and spices such as cloves, turmeric and oregano. However, these are consumed in relatively low amounts (typically 5g-10g at most) and their importance in the diet is often overstated. Elderberries can be consumed in large quantities when made into desserts, typically more than 100g at a time. They contain twice the ORAC value of Blueberries and a third more than cranberries.

Cultivation

It is possible to grow Elder from seed. However, semi-hardwood cuttings, taken from new growth are the preferred method of propagation. Cut a piece at least 1ft or 30cm long. The cuts should be made above a bud on the top and below a bud on the bottom. The top cut should be slightly slanted away from the bud to allow rainwater to run off (and to distinguish the top from the bottom).

The cutting can then be placed at two-thirds of its depth either straight into its final growing position or into a pot containing a mix of sand or perlite and compost. Keep the pot well-watered and plant out a year later.

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/P1150253.jpg

Large elder cutting can be placed straight in the ground.

Care When Growing

This shrub grows in most soils, wet or dry, but does favour more fertile ground. Elder tolerates a very hard pruning right down to the stump.  It needs little care but can attract large numbers of aphids in the summer.

Three Unusual Wild Foods to Look For in March

During March, many wild foods are at their best as nature begins to wake up from its long winter slumber. It can be a month of crisp mornings, sunny afternoons and visibly longer, warmer day. Whole hillsides are flushed a vibrant spring green as their edible, early leaves break bud. Birds flit around frantically building their nests as herbaceous plants break their dormancy, pushing their nutritious spring leaves up through the soil.

Primrose, Primula vulgaris and other Primula species

CC Image William Warby
Primrose – A delicate sweet flavour
Photo CC William Warby

In the wild, primroses can be found growing amongst hedgerows, roadsides and the fringes of woodlands. Their name derives from the Latin ‘Prima Rosa’, meaning the ‘first rose’ of the spring.  In the wild, they are a delicate yellow, whilst those in flower beds can be all nearly all the colours of the rainbow. Often put in as bedding plants, a wasteful practice in my opinion where flowers are planted just before they come into bloom and removed soon after.

Where I live, they generally begin to flower in February, but it is March that they become more conspicuous.

Eating Primrose

You should only eat the flowers of the primrose and not any other part of the plant. You might put them in salads or use them as a decoration for cakes to add a pop of colour. They have a mild but detectable sweetness and slight floral notes. Their flavour is delicate and can be easily overwhelmed in a dish so mix it with mild flavours if you want the taste to really sing.   

Forsythia, Forsythia spp.

A Forsythia Hedge

Forsythias burst into life during the early spring with a profusion of bright-yellow four-petaled blooms. They put on this glorious show for two to three weeks before all but vanishing back into the garden as a rather non-descript green shrub. Forsythia is a catch-all name for several species, most of which are native to Asia. There is only one European species, Forsythia europaea, which is native to the Balkans. Most of the garden plants are hybrids cultivated from plants that would have grown on dry banks and scrubland in the Far East. 

Eating Forsythia

The uncooked blooms can be added to salads to give much-needed spring colour. The taste is mildly floral but can be bitter so it’s best to offset them with sweeter plants, such as sweet cicely or use a sweetened dressing, like balsamic vinegar and honey.

Forsythia golden syrup

Yellow forsythia blooms can be used as the base for a bright, golden syrup.

  • Prepare a jar of blossoms, a jar of water and half a jar of sugar.
  • On the hob, dissolve the sugar in the water on a medium heat.
  • When all the sugar has been dissolved, take the pan off the heat and allow it to cool a little before adding the blossoms, which will shrink.
  • Allow to steep, leaving the flowers in the syrup overnight before straining the following morning.
  • Forsythia syrup can be kept for up to three months in the fridge and used on pancakes or to add a splash of colour and flavour to gin or vodka and tonic.

Hawthorn Leaves, Crataegus spp

Hawthorn is a large shrub or small tree. It has white blossoms with five petals and red berries in the autumn.  In the early spring, the leaves are light green and good to eat with a mild but satisfyingly fresh, flavour. It is often planted as hedging so look for it on the sides of paths, down country lanes and in parks and gardens. It will also grow as a shrubby tree that can be found on the fringes of woodlands and in edgelands or neglected urban areas. 

Eating hawthorn leaves

You can eat the young bright green leaves of hawthorn in the spring. Add them to couscous, a salad, in sandwiches or just munch them straight from the tree.  

Where the Wild Things Grow

Where the Wild Things Grow, A Foragers Guide to the Landscape’ is a book about the wild foods growing all around us.  Referencing close to 200 different wild foods, it explores what can be foraged in the manmade environment, the countryside, coast and woodlands. Each of these are split into smaller sections, such as coastal marshland, conifer wood, roadside and gardens. The beauty of ordering by habitat is you can simply flip to the right chapter whenever you want to find something in a specific area.

The book is crammed full of recipe ideas, foraging tips, snippets of food science and even a smidgen of folklore. 

Flowers, plants, fruits, nuts, seaweeds, mushrooms of every kind are featured. It is a must for foodies, foragers, walkers, cyclists or anyone with an interest in the natural world. 

It is my longest book to date marking the culmination of years of study into the subject of foraging from my first wild garlic forays in South Wales aged just 21 to teaching Guardian Masterclass decades later.

Why not look at Dave’s other books?

Family Foraging

Written with clear information, instructions and illustrations, Family Foraging is a book the whole family can enjoy.  Learn how to safely identify 30 common edible plants,  found in our parks, woodlands and hedgerows.  Create delicious recipes like, sea beet huff-a-puffs, puffball kebabs or my personal favorite, roasted hazelnut chocolate spread!

 With both child friendly recipies and easy to ID plants, this book is great for parents looking for things to do with their kids.

Photo Jason Ingram

From Darwin to David Attenborough, many naturalists built their careers on a curiosity which began in childhood. However, in this digital age our children can easily become isolated from meaningful contact with the natural world.  A day gathering edible plants, picked in the wild, can be a great way to reconnect with family and nature. So get ready for your new Family Foraging adventure and pick up a copy today.

Wild Ruins

Wild Ruins reached the Amazon Top Ten Sales Rank during it’s first month of publication. It has gone on to sell over 25,000 Copies since it’s release.

With a Foreword by Tony Robinson, the book charts some of Britain’s most romantic ruined buildings. It has easy to follow directions, concise descriptions and excellent photography throughout.

Here’s an extract from a piece I wrote for BBC History online which I feel best describes the book

“If history is written by the victors, as Winston Churchill allegedly said, then what of the losers; how is their tale told? Our nation’s ruins offer this alternative history. Ruins tell the story of a constantly shifting balance of power. They tell us how even mighty armies and steadfast institutions can topple in the shifting sands of time. Ruins tell us of the forces, often way beyond our control, that continue to shape our lives to this day. The history of the ruin is, after all, the history written by the losing side.”

Wild Ruins BC – The Explorers Guide to Ancient Britain

My latest book Wild Ruins BC (Wild Things Publishing) is my most ambitious work to date. It took me three years to complete, during which time I traveled the length and breadth of Britain. It was an extraordinary adventure, taking me to distant and remote corners of the country. Rather than take the standard route, focusing on just megaliths or stone circles, the book charts ALL of human prehistory.  Beginning with the first human footprints 800,000-950,000 years ago on a Norfolk beach, it takes the reader to Paleolithic cave shelters, Mesolithic burial sites, Neolithic Axe Factories and Megaliths. It then finds some of the most spectacular Bronze Age burial mounds and windswept hill-forts.

A lot of work went into the Writing of Wild Ruins BC and although no author writes for just financial gain (they are in the wrong business if they do!) it doesn’t hurt to make a little back.   Typically an author’s receives 5-10% of books revenue from online purchases. Buying direct from an author might cost a little more but it gives them a fair share of the sale price and helps ensure more books like Wild Ruins BC are written.

Photo Dave Hamilton – Stonehenge replica of megalith on rollers

The Polisher Stone – Where ancient axes were carved – Photo Dave Hamilton

From the Introduction of Wild Ruins BC :

“The creation of this book was not just an adventure of the body but also one of the mind. I had set out to understand the world of our ancestors. From the earliest footprints trodden on British shores over 800,000 years ago to the coming of the Romans in 43AD. The more I studied, the more fascinated I became with these strange, alien cultures that once shared our lands. Why did they go to so much effort to erect lonely megaliths and stone rows, and what did they use them for? Did the stone circles of Dartmoor and Bodmin have the same purpose as the recumbent stone circles of Aberdeenshire? Were the hillforts of Somerset and Dorset a meeting ground or defensive structures? Who made the engravings of cup and ring marks into the stones of Northern England and southern Scotland, and what did they signify?

The more I studied, the more I realised how little we really know for certain of these mysterious and ancient people.

Wild Ruins BC took me three years to write and has been my most ambitious work to date.

About Dave Hamilton – OLD

Hello! I am Dave Hamilton, a writer and tutor living in the South West of England with my partner and two young sons. I have sold over 70,000 books worldwide and have been translated into five different languages.

The themes of the outdoors and food run through both my written work and the subjects I tutor.  I run foraging and gardening classes for adults and children (see list of current courses here). I am also available for hire for classes, talks and workshops.

Wild Ruins BC (Left) (Wild Things Publishing) I toured Britain for three years from the Isle of Wight and Cornwall up to the Hebrides and Orkney in search of the relics of ancient Britain (more about the book here).

This followed on from my first travel book ‘Wild Ruins(Right) released in 2015 which reached number 10 in the Amazon Charts.

Cover photo Jason Ingram

Family Foraging (White Lion/Quarto Press) is the culmination of years of study. It explains how to identify and cook 30 of the most common wild foods you might find in the Northern Hemisphere. Although aimed at children it is suitable for adults looking for an introduction into foraging.

English language versions of the book are available in the UK, USA and Canada with books also translated into French, Dutch, Danish and Hungarian.

My writing career began with the book the Self-Sufficienish Bible (Hodder and Stoughton-2008) which I co-wrote with my identical twin brother Andy Hamilton. This followed my experiments in self-sufficiency whilst living and studying in Oxford. By the year 2003 all the fruit and vegetables which came into my house were from foraging or those which I had grown myself.  Again in the book I focused on the outdoor aspects covering the subjects of Wild Food, Fruit and Vegetable Gardening and Seasonal Food whilst my brother, a keen meat eater and drinker wrote about livestock, brewing and herbs. Subjects he still pursues.

Whilst living in Totnes and teaching sustainable horticulture at Schumacher College I wrote my second book Grow Your Food For Free. Published by Green Books in 2011, the book led to a column in BBC Gardener’s World Magazine and won and award for the best practical gardening book of the year.

Landscape Photography

Whilst putting together my two travel books Wild Ruins and Wild Ruins BC, I have been lucky enough to explore many hidden corners of Great Britain. Here is just one small selection of some of my favourite images from the last few years.

Adding Gallery