The other day, Antje introduced some fine bear’s garlic recipes on her beautiful blog lifestyle in grün, and I fell in love with the bear’s garlic butter recipe. It was straight in the middle of winter (well, same thing still), and I was like: Where for heavens sake did she get it? I had something like April, eaven May on my inner mind map, but it’s true: bear’s garlic can be found from the middle of February on.
You might know this as well: Bloggers that you appreciate a lot write enthusiastically about a special ingredient, and if you get excited, too (which I usually do), you try to get it. I’ve been through a sentimental journey all winter long, heading for Fregola di Sarda (got it), Cima di Rapa (got the tags, not the Cima), Meyer Lemons (no tags, no lemons), longpepper (got it and won’t ever give away) and many other delights. I am indeed very successfull in detecting fresh truffles, not with my little basket in the woods, unfortunately, but with my bigger basket in food shops. But when it comes to other special interest things, I’m a looser, baby. Bear’s garlic is not really a special interest treat, but I was sure in the instant, that in Berlin it would turn out to be at this time of the year. There’s nothing you won’t get here, but you never know where and when. My list of shops that offer special things has therefore grown immensely since I started food blogging. But it can take quite some time to do the trip – and so it was with the bear’s garlic. I finally got it, nice ending of the story this time ;-).
The precognition and practise of the hunt for the herb must have been so exhausting that I was very sure Antjes recipe was about pesto. It was butter, indeed – but the pesto didn’t get out of my mind any more. So I did both, and it was both so delicious. I served the bear’s garlic pesto very spring-alike with some carrots spaghetti. I haven’t prepared vegetable spaghettis for a while (I did a mixed version here), but my new cook book Vegan for Fit by Attila Hildmann brought back the idea to me (I will introduce some sweets from this one later). Along with the butter, I prepared the fabulous pan-baked pita which Susanne introduced on her lovely Bavarian-Oriental-Asian blog Magentratzerl. I added some ground cubebe to it – an inspiration that I got from my namesake Claudia on her beautiful blog Dinner um acht. As for the butter, Uda had chosen another delightfull combination on her distinguished lunch blog mittagbeimutti combining bear’s garlic butter with potatoes and creamy eggs (all linked recipes in German language).
Thanks a lot to the four of you for the inspiration! And here’s my digital teamwork creations:
Here are my recipes
Bear’s Garlic Butter with Pan-Baked Ground Cubebe Pita
For the bear’s garlic butter, clean and cut finely 30 g of bear’s garlic. Take 50 g of soft butter and mix it well with the ramsons, 1 tsp. mustard (Antje took a grainy one which I didn’t have left), a little bit of organic lemon zest cut finely, 1/2 tsp of grinded longpepper (Antje took very beautiful rose pepper fruits which are on my list of foody must-haves ever since) and as many sea salt as you wish. You can eat the butter at once, but it’s even better the next day.
To make 4 small pitas, take 225 g full grain spelt flour (Susanne took 250 g normal flour). Mix it with 1/2 tsp dry yeast and 1/2 tps sea salt. I also added 1/2 tsp. of grinded ground cubebe. Add 150 g water and knead. Add 2 soup spoons of hazelnut oil short before the end (Susanne took olive oil). Let rest in a warm and cozy place for 1,5 hours (full grain needs some more time to get fluffy, but one hour will be enough if you take non-fullgrain). Shape 4 balls and let rest for ten further minutes. Roll out on few flour.
Heat a small pan at medium heat. I tried my iron pan first but it ended up with smoke signals, so I chose the non-stick fellow – except for the photos, as everything looks more beautiful in it ;-). Bake the pitas on both sides untill you get dark spots on the bread. Serve warm with the butter.
Bear’s Garlic Pesto with Carrot Spaghetti
To be honest: I did this one without exactly measuring the ingredients. I took a handfull of bear’s garlic leaves and put it in a shaker together with some walnut oil, some mild feta cheese, pepper, salt, and some unpeeled almonds and mixed well. I love pesto best when you can still see some small pieces of the ingredients here and there but it’s up to you how finely mixed you prefer you pesto.
Slice some carrots in spaghetti shape. I use a special slicer for this but you can also cut off fine slices with a peeler. Vegetable spaghetti have been very poular in recent times, and moste people tend to either eat them raw or blanch it. I prefer to gently heat them in a pan with few oil – just as long as it takes that they are not raw any more but still stay „al dente“, so to speak.
Done already! Add some salt and pepper, serve with the bear’s garlic pesto and feel how spring is approaching.
And what about today’s urban shots? Well, they are not really urban ;-). They represent our meteorological protest as Berlin Teufelsberg still looks very much the same as the Swiss Alps. Ok, there’s some thousand of meters of difference ;-). But we want to say it loud and say it clear: This is the only kind of snow and ice that we are willing to accept as beautiful from now on and untill, let’s say November:
As some bread is involved in today’s dish and as I like this bread so much (and did it so many times already without ever posting), I want to give this one to Zorra and her blog warming party which celebrates the relaunch of her beautiful blog kochtopf. She asked for some bread – well, this one comes along even with something to put on top ;-).
Food with a View 
Dear Claudia, can’t decide where to begin with writing down my enthusiasm about this posting. I never tire to look at your pics – especially today. Thanks soooo much for ennobling my bear’s butter with publishing on your blog and – above all – accompanied by your pan-baked pita. It’s something I intend for a long time. Now I’ll give it a try. And last but not least: I like your kind of ransom-pesto very very much. Thanks a lot!!!! You know what? I’m considering about an english version of my blog. Because of the missing spring there’s no time which I could spend doing my garden 😦 So I could spend this spared time with translating my recipes. But I know, english blogging really costs time – especially for me as an english-speaking amateur… Have a nice day – without snow! Can’t believe but here it’s snowing again.
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Thank you so much for your enthusiastic comment, Antje! And a warm thank you again that you have set me on the bear’s path. I would surely not have kept my eyes open at this time of the year if it had not been for your post.
Yes, give English language blogging a try! It’s also a very useful teaching in kitchen vocabulary ;-). I also love the fact about it that you can communicate more easily with bloggers from other countries. But you are right, the double time factor should not be under-estimated.
All the best for your garden! In Berlin, there’s again some snow flakes in the air…
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Wonderful photos – can I get some lessons? 🙂
Normally, we have lots of bears garlic in the forst behind our house. Unfortunetely, this “spring”, it’s far too cold. So I have to be patient before I can fetch some of these spicy leaves…
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Thank you so much, Susanne! As your blog is such a wonderful digital workshop for me regarding Oriental and Asian cuisine, some hints in food photography in return will be my pleasure :-).
Lucky you with wild bear’s garlic so close (at least once the snow will have disappeared)!
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It is a pleasure to me having you introduced to “Kubeben Pfeffer”. What I see looks so incredibly “springfull”. Lovely. Soon there will be tons of bear’s garlic all around munich’s isar. Can’t wait.
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Thank you very much again for the inspiration! The flavor fits the pita so very well.
How lucky you and also Susanne are with your bear’s garlic places near by. I would love to have such a secretly hidden place in the woods as well…
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I will definitely try the bread 🙂 and your pictures… I remember I said I won’t compliment on your pics anymore (because they are always fantastic) but today I have to make an exception 😉 Your bear’s garlic (didn’t know about that term…) pics are gorgeous! All of them. I don’t know which one I do like best. And I agree with Susanne – about the lessons! 🙂
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Yes, you are such a refined baker, you should try this bread and will surely have great results!
Thank you so very much, Eva, for the photo compliment. I still feel like a beginner in food photography and I am therefore so happy about encouragement. As for some photographic knowledge input: same as with Susanne. Love to give back something for the cooking and baking teaching I get from your blogs :-).
Bear’s garlic, wild garlic, ransoms – there are so many names in English for this herb, and as I did not know which one is the most common, I used them all ;-).
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What a gorgeous post! I really enjoy the photographs and recipes. I have made courgette ‘pasta’, but not with carrots- will have to try. And the pan baked pita? Yum!
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Thank you so much! I had some gourgette pasta last summer as well and liked it a lot, also parsnip.
The pita is a burner – and it’s done so easily. I’m so happy that Susanne had shared the recipe on her blog.
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These photos are so beautiful, I’m absolutely impressed 🙂 Everything looks so delicious! Luckily the wild garlic is already sprouting in the wood behind my house, so I will pick some during the weekend.
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Thank you very much, Julia! You are the third commenter now with some wild garlic so close by, how great is that! As I miss a nearby forest, I already imagine myself taking a walk in the Tiergarten with a little basket once the snow will have disappeared and competing with the resident rabbits for some bear’s garlic ;-).
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What a beautiful blog. I love the style of the photography. I am glad to have found this blog and will be back soon.
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Thank you for stopping by and for the nice compliment – and wow, I love your blog as well! Very warm greetings from Berlin to the mountains of Colorado.
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Looking at your photos Spring has definitely sprung 🙂 Bear`s garlic or wild garlic for me is a synonym for Spring. Unfortunatly I havent got a forest behind my flat, but I got some last week from the market. Oh joy. It also tastes great in bread dumplings instead of parsley. Sunny greetings from Aachen
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Thank you, Emma! Your bread dumplings idea sounds delicious – I never made dumplings, but if I will, I will try with bear’s garlic!
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Sieht ja wirklich fast aus wie das Matterhorn. 😉 Nach dem Bergsteigen schmecken die Pitas und die Bärlauchbutter sicher noch um einiges besser. 😉 Vielen Dank fürs Mitmachen. See you at the party!
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Ich möchte Dir ebenfalls danken, dass Du immer so tolle Events ausrichtest! Es hat mir viel Spaß gemacht, etwas zu Deinem Blogwarming Event beizutragen – ich komme dann in Bergsteiger-Kluft zur Party.
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I’ve never cooked with spelt. I’m going to have to try it soon! Thanks for entering this month’s DMBLGiT contest!
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I love spelt due to its taste and salubriousness. Hope you will like it if you give it a try.
Thanks for hosting DMBLGiT!
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Je schwieriger man an Bärlauch rankommt umso besser schmeckt er – ist meine Erfahrung. Typisch Mensch, oder?
Und alles, wirklich alles schmeckt nachdem man den Tag draußen an der frischen Luft verbracht hat, nochmals so gut.
Ich schließe mich Eva an: sehr schöne Fotos!
viele liebe Grüße aus F, Micha
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Liebe Micha, vielen Dank für Deinen netten Kommentar. Und was die schwer zu erlangenden Trophäen betrifft, hast Du sicherlich recht, die munden besonders gut. Liebe Grüße zurück!
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