Or should I say Weed of the Week? This invasive weed needs to be tamed, and one solution to tame anything is make it something people want, so I thought let’s eat it! If everyone eats it then there will be less of it to be invasive.
Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) - Herb of the Week
Garlic mustard is a biennial flowering plant in the Mustard family, Brassicaceae.
It is native to Europe, western and central Asia, and northwestern Africa, from Morocco, Iberia and the British
Isles, north to northern Scandinavia, and
east to northern India and western China.
In the first year of growth,
plants form clumps of round shaped, slightly wrinkled leaves, that when crushed
smell like garlic. The next year plants flower in spring, producing cross
shaped white flowers in dense clusters. As the flowering stems bloom they
elongate into a spike-like shape.
When blooming is complete, plants produce
upright fruits that release seeds in mid-summer. Plants are often found growing
along the margins of hedges.
Depending upon conditions, garlic mustard flowers either self-fertilize
or are cross-pollinated by a variety of insects. Self-fertilized seeds are genetically
identical to the parent plant, enhancing its ability to colonize an area where
that genotype is suited to thrive. (That is botany speak for it spreads
like crazy and becomes invasive!)
How to eat it:
•
Young tender leaves can be torn up a bit and added to salads.
•
Sautee garlic in olive oil or sesame oil or bacon grease; add chopped garlic
mustard and other greens if available (garlic chives, spinach, arugula, lambsquarters,
mustard greens, what-have-you); a little salt or soy sauce; add a bit of water
or stock and cook gently. A dash of vinegar, balsamic or otherwise, may be in
order. Taste and decide. This could be spread on toast, added to casseroles,
eggs, quiche, stir-fry, etc.
•
Garlic mustard pesto: crush garlic, slice up garlic mustard and also garlic
chives if available, puree both in food processor with olive oil and walnuts
(or pine nuts); add Parmesan cheese. Start the water for pasta!
•
Cream sauce: heat 1/4 cup oil and add 1/4 cup flour and cook; add hot milk.
Separately cook finely chopped garlic mustard in a little sesame oil; and
tamari or soy sauce. Add some of the sauce; puree in food processor and add
back to the sauce. Add cheese as desired. Good on stuffed grape leaves for one.
•
With leftover garlic mustard sauce, add a little yogurt, balsamic vinegar, and
tamari and serve as a sauce for steamed asparagus.
Recipe
Garlic
Mustard Sauce for Roast Beef
First
the roast beef: Make little inch slashes on the roast.
Sauce:
Using a food processor make a slurry with crushed garlic mustard and
Worcestershire sauce. Take a teaspoon and press small amounts of the slurry
into the slashes you cut in the roast.
Then slather the rest of the slurry all over the roast. Add some water
to the bottom of the roast pan. Cover with aluminum for part of the cooking
time so the outside doesn't burn. Bake at 325 degrees F until it reaches the desired
internal temperature according to your meat thermometer.
Cream
sauce with the garlic mustard for the roast
Chop finely garlic
mustard and garlic chives. Sauté in olive oil; add chicken stock or other liquid
and cook gently. Place in a food
processor and purée. Heat 1/4 cup oil
and add 1/4 cup flour and cook; add hot milk. Add some of the puree from food processor and stir. Then place remaining purée into the pan along
with drippings from the roast beef pan. This is so flavorful - cheese is unnecessary.
We have more recipes for using Garlic Mustard so check back this season for more ideas for eating this invasive weed.
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