Chef Garry Watson on wild garlic

• The Larder
• 11 July 2012

The Angus Larder - Chef's Choice

Garry Watson is spoilt for wild garlic around Gordon's Restaurant, where he works as head chef. He tells us about about his favourite ways to use it

From early April to early June is wild garlic season. We’re spoilt for it around here; it grows in great big areas across anywhere damp.

My dad got me into foraging, but it’s also easy to cultivate, and I now grow it in the restaurant kitchen garden. I use it raw in salads, wilted in butter with fish, or when the white flowers come through later they can be run through bread dough to give it a light garlic flavour.

Because it’s so good in season, you don’t want to try and force it when it’s gone. The wild garlic season is an exciting time for a chef because you know that after the constraints of winter you’ll soon get an abundance of fresh ingredients like asparagus and samphire.

● Garry Watson is head chef at Gordon’s Restaurant in Inverkeilor.