Leanne Townsend

Magnolias are starting to bloom! I’m still waiting up in North East Scotland, but here’s a throwback to my magnolia canapés made on a trip to visit family in Portugal! Stuffed magnolia petals make the perfect canapé or starter for your wild-themed picnic or dinner party 🌸 just make a tasty filling using cream cheese, chopped wild alliums (I used few-flowered leek here) and some chopped nuts, fill the petals and serve 💕 #wildfood #wildfoodlove #forager #foraging #edibleflowers #eatweeds #seasonaleating #wildcrafting

A little reel of a cep forage - meet Boletus edulis and some of their friends in the forest 💚 this forage was entirely in spruce plantation. Second year I’ve found the foxy bolete there so really need to record my find this time! 🦊 #wildfood #wildfoodlove #mushroomhunting #mushrooms #wildmushrooms #mushroomhunter #mushlove #fungi #fungilove #fungiofinstagram #fungifanatic #forage #forager #cep #porcini #porcino

Too cold yesterday for summer food, it’s properly soup weather up north! So after a successful forage, cream of wild mushroom soup it was - mostly chanterelle but also foxy bolete and blushers. Garden herbs and sourdough croutons to finish. Might attempt a recipe reel for this one later this week if you fancy it. My most super simple wild mushroom soup recipe yet (but every bit as luxurious, maybe even more so than with all the bells and whistles!). #wildfood #wildfoodlove #forager #mushroomhunting #fungilove #fungi #mushroomsoup #eattheseasons #souprecipe

Elderflower vinegar. This is one of the quickest preserves of all time. Take some elderflowers and pack into a kilner jar, top up with cider or white wine vinegar and push the flowers down with a wooden spoon. A couple of weeks or so should be enough for the infusion - then just strain and store. Use in salad dressings, for pickles and as a souring agent in cocktails. #wildfood #wildfoodlove #forager #foraged #elderflower #pickle #pickles #vinegar #eattheseasons #hedgerow #edibleflowers

Sam helped me forage for chanterelles the other day, and asked for mushrooms on toast with them. Pretty nice after a few years there of the two kids being so over mushroom foraging (I guess every walk would always turn into a mammoth forage that took ages longer than I’d said it would). Anyhow, I made him my ultimate mushrooms on toast when he got home from school - loads of butter, garlic, chanterelles and thyme. Sea salt and a garnish of chives and thyme flowers, over toasted sourdough with plenty of butter. I gave him most of the mushroom haul as I thought he deserved it 🧡 hopefully he’ll come out with me a bit more often this year as he’s got a good eye for it! #foraging #mushroomforaging #wildmushrooms #mushroomhunting #wildfood #wildfoodlove #eattheseasons #fungilove #mushroomsont

Elderflowers and strawberries - absolutely divine flavour combination. Real taste of the summer. But sometimes we don’t have time for elaborate baking and making time-intensive desserts - sometimes we just need (well - want) a quick fix. This was what I came up with and it actually works really well. Pick the thickest Greek yogurt you can find as the cordial thins out the yogurt a bit. Gotta have some Scottish shortbread on the side! This went down a storm so will probably be on regular rotation til the end of the Scottish strawberry season now 🍓🍓 *note to self - ”flavour favourites” is a bit too much of a tongue twister #wildfood #summerfood #wildfoodlove #eatwild #summerfood #strawberries #summerdessert #eattheseasons

First chanterelles, just in time for the first baby courgettes! Made some hand shaped gnocchi Sardi - semolina flour and no potato. Swipe to see how easy the method is. Stirred through the griddled courgettes and mushrooms and some delicious pistachio pesto that I picked up in Tuscany, along with some slow roasted cherry tomatoes. Lovely summer plate of food 🧡 #wildfood #wildmushrooms #fungilove #mushroomhunting #eattheseasons #growyourown #growyourownfood #homegrown #allotment #homemadepasta #gnocchi

Fat hen Tanzanian “mchicha”. Fat hen (Chenopodium album) is a fantastic wild green in the amaranth family which grows wild across much of the UK, and in my case in my polytunnel! We encourage it as it’s a great nutritious spinach substitute. I recently used it to make this recipe - Tanzanian mchicha to serve with maize ugali (more traditionally made with white maize but this is what we had in) and stewed kidney beans. For the mchicha sweat some chopped onions and garlic in oil til softened, add chopped tomato and curry powder - ideally Tanzanian curry powder but I had some I got in Kenya which is close enough I guess… Then add peanut butter and coconut milk to create a creamy sauce. Add sea salt and stir in the chopped fat hen - cook until soft (only a few minutes). I just did this all by eye/feel so no measurements or proper recipe this time. Thanks for the inspiration @hermann #wildfood #wildfoodlove #eatweeds #forager #foraging #mchicha #ugali #africanfood #tanzanianfood

Wildflower Victoria sponge Made for a recent workshop, this is a classic Victoria sponge made so much better with edible wildflowers. Cake batter mixed with Rosa rugosa (Japanese rose) petals, buttercream infused with elderflower cordial, and all topped off with a decoration of honeysuckle petals plus a naughty sprinkle of some crumbled magnolia sugar lumps. Went down a storm with my workshop participants and managed to bring a wee bit home for the family for pud 💕 #wildfood #wildfoodlove #edibleflowers #summerdessert #cakegram #cakedecorating #eatwild #forager #foraging #harvest #cakelover

First of a few moments I’ll be sharing from the trip of a lifetime with my besties in Croatia. We went to Brac on Milna and I was blown away by how beautiful the island is. We went on a wine tasting with @winetastingbrac which included tasting various home made liqueurs, their own wines, cheeses, nibbles including pickled rock samphire (yum) and a dessert wine. All served with a friendly smile and we also got to meet the resident cat and tortoises. Highly recommend a wine tasting as a great holiday experience with friends. Will be sharing more from our trip soon ☺️ #winetasting #brac #croatia #visitcroatia #winelover #travelgram

Edible summer flowers! It feels like an age since I’ve gone a good old fashioned basket post - these posts were once the main fodder of my Instagram content, and I’m sure that’s what some of you guys that follow along are here for! I’ll try to do more 🧺 In the basket is beautiful honeysuckle and probably my favourite of the edible flowers - Rosa rugosa. I don’t have access to a load of cultivated rose varieties but I can say that this is 100% my favourite foragable rose! Dog roses and other wild roses I encounter have a much more subtle flavour and I’m all for big flavours in my food and drink! Use honeysuckle to make syrup to put on drizzle cakes and in summer drinks and cocktails. Very pretty as a garnish. It also makes a lovely tea that has been traditionally used in Chinese medicine for inflammation and stomach issues. It shouldn’t be taken in very large doses however. Rosa rugosa (the Japanese rose) has endless uses. Petals stirred through summer desserts (Eaton mess is a winner) and cake batters, in a syrup for delectable desserts and cocktails, infused into gin, dried and used as a garnish or a spice, made into harissa (add the rosehips for a fruity twist), flavoured salt, tea, sorbet or ice cream, fermented into wild sodas and “champagnes”, infused into vinegar. Absolutely love this flower 💕 As always, forage mindfully and leave some for the bees 🐝 #wildfood #wildfoodlove #forager #foraging #hedgerow #edibleflowers #eattheseasons #summerfood

We’re in the season of abundance (in the wild and in the veggie garden) and it’s time for summer food, like these salads I made a week or so ago before I went away. Potato salad made with beautiful @jerseyroyals , mayo and good olive oil, chives and wild garlic stems finely sliced, garnished with chive flowers. Carlin pea and roast butternut squash salad with sliced red chillis, finely chopped fermented garlic mustard, pickled wild garlic flowers, a dressing of pumpkin seed oil and magnolia vinegar, and garnished with cornflower petals. Polytunnel salad with two kinds of mizuna, red veined sorrel, cos lettuce, courgette flowers, nasturtium leaves and the first radishes. Carlin peas (and @jerseyroyals ) #gifted by @hodmedods - they’re amazing British grown pulses which are just brilliant in anything you’d use chickpeas in. And the jersey royal potatoes, such a treat. #summerfood #wildfood #homegrown #foraged #growyourown #saladdays #summersalad