Try this Lesser Celandine recipe with a cold bottle of beer and an aioli dip. You will only require the leaves of the Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) for this recipe. These can only be used in early spring before the flowers appear. The stalks can be saved and used in a stir fry or would be a welcome addition in a noodle soup.
Ingredients
- 75g washed celandine leaves
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- 225g plain flour
- 100g butter, cubed
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Suggested Instructions
- Steam the celandine leaves for 2-3 minutes, when they should have just wilted. Turn out onto a chopping board and chop them very finely.
- Put the seeds into a small frying pan over a medium heat and leave to heat for a few minutes. When the spices start to release their fragrant smells, tip them into a mortar and grind.
- Place all the ingredients, apart from the celandine, in a food processor and blitz until the mixture forms crumbs. Tip into a bowl and add the celandine and enough water so the mixture just comes together with your hands. 1-2 tablespoons should be sufficient. With your hands shape the dough into a square.
- Place a sheet of cling film on a work surface. Add the dough and cover with another sheet of cling film so the dough forms a filling between as plastic sandwich. Using a rolling pin, roll into a larger square so it is about 30 cm wide and 25cm deep. The dough should be about the thickness of 2 x £1 coins.
- Place the dough, still wrapped in its cling film in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up. Preheat the oven to 180ºC Gas 4
- To make sure the dough is not sticking to the cling film I usually lift the top layer, place it back onto the dough and turn the whole thing over, before removing the top sheet. Using a sharp knife cut the pastry into 1cm strips. Twist each one before spacing a little apart on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper.
- Bake in the prepared oven for 15 minutes when they should have browned. Leave to cool on a cooling rack and then store in an air-tight tin for up to a week.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I have loads of this in my front garden and they are just emerging, so I’ll look forward to trying this recipe.
It should be stressed that Lesser Celandine becomes poisonous as it matures, so do not pick it once it starts to flower. Only ever use young leaves.
Rakesh: I agree with what you have said (only use the leaves before the plant flowers), however in reality the amount of protoanemonin in the leaves is negligible, and is not cumulative. I know of one extremely experienced forager who eats plenty of the leaves after the flowering stage to no ill-effect, and I have done to.
Foraging is about knowing your own tolerance levels, and re-discovering the wisdom of your own body. For me it is about ‘knowing’ rather than ‘knowledge’ and that takes years to accumulate.
One thing I have learned over the years is that many of the wild food books are written by researchers and not practising daily foragers, which is why a lot of misinformation does the rounds.
Only last week I had one such flavour-of-the-month ‘author’ contact me, asking to be taken out for a day or two so she could learn foraging and write a book! Sometimes I have to shake my head at the BS these people get up to. Needless to say I told her how I felt and what I thought.
My point, use the information in books as guides, and not necessarily as absolute fact or truth… and there is only one way to know how plants react in your body and that comes by hauling your bum out into the countryside and getting down and dirty with the plants.
I agree, you can read books till you are blue in the face, but nothing substitutes for the real thing