Interview
Sunday Edit: Chef Marie Hertz’s spring greens
A walk in the anemone-filled forest, a breakfast table that slowly turns into a lunch table, a ray of spring sunshine and a mug of warm tea, time to read your book, good wine, Easter eggs, lunches with family and friends or a quiet moment just for you.
Delicate and creamy recipes for Easter
We hope you will fill Easter with everything that makes you happy and will give you renewed energy. At Rudolph Care, we plan to use some of the extra time to prepare delicious spring food that brings family and friends together. We spoke with chef and seasonal vegetable connoisseur, Marie Hertz, to get her recipes for two delicious dishes made with the season’s first greens.
Marie hertz
Spring is synonymous with glorious wild garlic that grows everywhere. In Copenhagen, you can find it in Søndremarken, Østre Anlæg and Amagerfælled. Wild garlic is the hero of the two recipes. Making both gnocchi and chive oil requires a little extra time and technique but gives rise to cozy and rewarding moments in the kitchen.
Cauliflower with feta cream, wild garlic oil and spring herbs
2-4 servings
1 cauliflower
300 ml. Greek yogurt, 10%
200 g. feta cheese
Salt and pepper
A small handful of chopped, toasted almonds
Spring herbs e.g. bronze fennel, parsley and mint – or whatever you may have in your garden or herb pots.
Lettuce and red pepper to garnish
Wild garlic oil
2 handfuls of wild garlic
300 ml. neutral oil such as olive oil
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Crumble the feta in a bowl and stir in the yogurt. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Rinse and pat dry the wild garlic. Add to a blender together with oil and blend at high speed. After 2-3 minutes the oil will warm from the friction. Blend for an additional 15-20 seconds. Pass through a fine sieve and store in the fridge so that it retains its beautiful green color while you fry the cauliflower. When kept in the fridge, wild garlic oil will last a long time.
Cut the cauliflower into large slices and fry in olive oil until golden. Add half a lemon to the pan. Do not turn the cauliflower: it should be slightly raw on one side. Arrange on a plate, topping the browned side of the cauliflower with the feta cream. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and toasted almonds, lettuce and pepper and drizzle with wild garlic oil. Garnish with the lemon and serve with bread.
Gnocchi with kale and wild garlic pesto
2-4 servings
Gnocchi
1 kg. floury potatoes, boiled and peeled
200 g. finely ground white flour – e.g. Tipo 00
1 egg
Salt for boiling
Flour for dusting
Pesto
3-4 kale leaves
A good handful of wild garlic
3 tbsp. grated parmesan
5 tbsp. good olive oil
The juice from half a lemon
Salt and pepper
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Mash or rice the potatoes in a bowl or pan. Turn out onto the kitchen counter, add the flour and make a well in the middle. Add the egg and whisk with your fingers, slowly combining the ingredients into a smooth dough. Place the dough in a bowl and sprinkle the top with flour. Place in the fridge while you make the pesto.
Pesto
Remove the stems and blanch the kale leaves in lightly salted boiling water. Add the wild garlic for approx. 15 seconds before refreshing both in ice water.
Drain and add to a blender with the rest of the ingredients. Blitz at low speed into a coarse pesto. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Take the gnocchi dough out of the fridge and divide into three balls. On a floured surface, roll each into logs. Cut each log into small pieces, approx. 1 cm x 2 cm, and roll along a fork before placing on a lightly floured plate. When all the gnocchi are made, cook in two batches in plenty of lightly salted water. The water must not boil. After approx. 1 minute, when the gnocchi rise to the surface of the water, they are cooked. Using a slotted spoon, lift them out of the water onto a tea towel to remove excess water. Place in a bowl and gently stir in the pesto. Season to taste and drizzle with a little olive oil. Serve on a platter while piping hot and enjoy as a starter. You can substitute kale with collards, cabbage, chard, parsley, spinach or nettle shoots.