Happy weekend, guys! Wait, do you actually even know what day of the week it is!? Despite some conflicting and downright nonsensical government advice this week (I often wonder how do these people still have a job?!), most of us are still in a semblance of a lockdown so it’s all a bit of a blur.
Duncan will continue to work from our spare bedroom for the next 5 weeks, at the very least. This is also where our wardrobes happen to be for the time being so, every morning, I have the thrill of making a half-dressed cameo in one of his work Zoom team calls. You find your entertainment where you can 😉 . In all honesty, it’s nice having him around (Tina is having the time of her life), but some aspects of this are beginning to wear me down especially once I realise how ridiculous it is that thousands of people are permitted to arrive in the UK without any health checks while we all continue to live like monks. We are all in this together, but some of us are only worried about keeping up a pretence. Personally, we made big strides in our recovery this week. We went running for the first time since falling ill with the virus at the end of March and it went as well as we could have hoped. Obviously, we weren’t able to do our pre-illness distance or speed, but we completed the workout without stopping (me, Duncan never does) and felt well during and afterwards. We plan to go again today and get back to our former cardiovascular health, little by little. Today’s recipe is a seasonal plate of ravioli using a gift of nature which we have plenty of on our very doorstep. This recipe is as wholesome as they get. I set out in the early afternoon to the local woods to pick some wild garlic and by midnight (shooting these things takes a loooooong time) I had a stack of wild garlic filled pockets of pasta garnished with some wild garlic pesto, ready to serve for dinner another time. It was a very satisfying cooking session indeed and I recommend making these your weekend project, especially that the wild garlic season is coming to an end soon. And if you are one of these people who does not like garlic (who are you!? 😉 ), I am here to get you out of your predicament – instead of wild garlic, use basil, mint, rocket or spinach. Or a combination of all four if you are feeling adventurous. Now, roll your sleeves up and channel your inner pasta master. Enjoy! For vegan AND gluten-free ravioli dough, see THIS RECIPE.
150 g / 5 oz firm (cotton) tofu 50 g / 1.7 oz wild garlic leaves 1 small garlic clove (optional)*** zest of 1 unwaxed lemon + 15 ml / 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp nutritional yeast ground nutmeg (I used about 1/8 tsp), adjust to taste heaped ¼ tsp sea salt, adjust to taste black pepper, adjust to taste 25 g / ¼ cup almond flour (or breadcrumbs)
FOR SERVING
quality olive oil, wild garlic pesto or simple creamy sauce chilli flakes (optional)
***Wild garlic leaves vary in strength depending on when they get picked. They are at their most aromatic (garlicky) before the plant flowers so if you are a garlic fiend (like I am) you may want to add an extra garlic clove for good measure 😉 .
