Recipe of the Week - Potato, Anchovy & Rosemary Focaccia with Wild Garlic Aioli

Once again, the wild garlic season is here, along with daffodils in the hedges and lambs in the fields. It's a promise of longer days and warmer weather around the corner. It is plentiful in Dorset and can grow in many moist places, look in the woodlands or along the edge of a stream. It's great in loads of different dishes, but very simply, you can use it in place of fresh garlic by adding it at the end of the cooking instead of in the beginning. Use sparingly when the plant gets older and leaves are large, as the flavour can get very strong. Blanching the leaves in boiling water for 10 seconds and then refreshing in iced water can make a milder dressing.

For a straightforward pasta sauce, put wild garlic leaves, olive oil, some toasted nuts and grated hard cheese (Parmesan or pecorino) into a food processor and blend until smooth. You have a great-tasting pesto. Toss it through some cooked pasta with a ladle or two of the pasta cooking water.

Focaccia is our perennial favourite at Brassica, and we bake it fresh every day, available to our customers in the restaurant and to take away in our both our shops; Brassica Mercantile in Beaminster and Brassica Forno in Bridport.  It works very well without the potato topping using the anchovy and garlic oil.  Or, if you prefer something plainer, make a few random holes with your fingertips just before cooking and sprinkle with sea salt flakes, herbs and plenty of olive oil (reduce cooking time by approximately 10 minutes).

Focaccia dough
500g WildFarmed Flour Strong 65*
7g fresh yeast
350ml warm water
7g fine sea salt
40ml olive oil

Topping
350g Désirée potatoes
6 anchovy fillets (Ortiz preferably)
2 cloves garlic
Black pepper
50ml extra virgin olive oil
Rosemary leaves

• In a large mixing bowl crumble yeast into warm water and let stand for a few minutes then whisk together, add half of the flour and whisk again then cover and leave in a warm place until bubbling ( 45 minutes approximately) whilst you are waiting for this, scrub potatoes and rinse in water then place in fridge for a few hours to chill  
• Then put this into the bowl of your mixer ( kitchenaid or kenwood )with a dough hook, add the rest of the ingredients and mix for 10 minutes on slow speed
• Cover bowl and leave in a warm place until doubled in size, place back on the machine and knock back by mixing for 30 seconds
• Brush your largest baking tray ( 30 x 40 cm ) with oil. Tip dough onto a well floured surface and press out using your fingertips into a large rectangle, fold over the back of your hand/arm to lift and lay into backing tray, press out to fill tin. Cover and leave again for 45 mins
• Heat oven to 240c, drain potatoes and pat dry with clean tea towel
• Chop anchovies and garlic and add to olive oil.
• Dab about 1/3 of this mixture across the foccacia dough then scatter half of the potatoes, season well with plenty of black pepper and salt, add another 1/3 of the garlic anchovy mix and then the remaining potatoes. Finish with the rosemary leaves, salt and pepper and the remaining anchovy/garlic mix.
• Put into the oven and bake for 15 minutes, check after 15 minutes and if the top is browning too quickly then turn the oven down to 200 ( you want the potatoes to be a bit blistered) and cook for another 15 minutes remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before eating!
• Whilst the bread is cooking you can make the aioli.

Aioli

10-15 wild garlic leaves (washed well)
½ lemon
1 tspn Dijon mustard
2 organic egg yolks
Salt
75ml extra virgin olive oil
150ml sunflower oil 

• Put garlic leaves, zest and juice of the lemon, mustard, salt and egg yolk into a small food processor, switch and blend until smooth, then slowly add the oils until it is thick and glossy.
• Switch off machine and check seasoning.
• Serve with the focaccia still warm or can be made in advance and stored in the fridge overnight.

Wildfarmed grows wheat the right way making regenerative flour that tastes better, is better for you and for the planet. Wildfarmed wheat is produced without the use of pesticides, herbicides and grown alongside companion and cover crops, restoring biodiversity, soil and ecosystem health.