White Beans & Wild Garlic

|Wild garlic is one of those plants that you will often come across on a woodland walk. The flowers are very pretty with small white petals and the aroma is unmistakably of garlic. The flavour is subtle less pungent than garlic cloves alone and is delicious here with velvety cannellini beans.|wild garlic|200g cannellini beans1 onion cut in half2 bay leafs1 head of garlic cut in halfSea salt and black pepperExtra virgin olive oil1 bunch of wild garlic de-stalked and roughly chopped|If starting with dried beans soak the cennellini beans overnight in plenty of water. Drain and wash the beans and place in a large pan with enough water to cover by a good 3cm. Do not add salt. Place the onion halves bay leaves and the halved head of garlic in the pan. Bring to a rapid boil and skim off any floating scum. Reduce the heat and let everythings simmer till the beans are cooked through - this could be up to 1.5 hours.When the beans are cooked remove and discard the onion garlic and bay leaves and drain retaining a little of the remaining cooking liquid. Make sure you season the beans with salf and pepper while they are still warm. Reheat the beans in a little of their cooking liquid and good splash of olive oil throw in the roughly chopped wild garlic leaves and adjust the seasoning. After 2 minutes remove from the heat and serve.|30.00 minutes|4|Nigel Slater