Intensely tart and tangy, slightly lemony, can be used as a vegetable or a fruit, harvest young shoots up to 30cm, discard the leaves; can be served like asparagus or rhubarb, as vegetable, with pasta, raw in salads, in chutneys to desserts, side dish, soups, pickled, steamed, marmalades and jams, fruit compote using 1 part knotweed to 10 parts fruit. Cooked knotweed is very soft but can be used as a lemon substitute. Peel the longer shoots and fill with sweet or savory stuffing and bake with a sauce. High in vitamin A & C and contains antioxidants, high in oxalic acids.
Knotty Pork Loin with Wild Herb Risotto
Ingredients • Knotty Pork Loin
- 1kg pork loin,
- Salt, Pepper
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- 250ml wine
- 250ml stock
Instructions • Knotty Pork Loin
- Insert a slim blade, no larger than 2.5cm through the center cavity of the pork loin lengthwise and repeat from other side creating a pocket to hold the stuffing, use your fingers or skewer to gently stretch the meat.
- Season the meat
- In a roasting pan add wine, stock and meat baste at interval for 1 hr
- Reserve liquid
Knotweed Stuffing
Ingredients • Knotweed Stuffing
- 125ml red onion, minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 125ml chopped knotweed
- 125ml chopped cooking apples, peeled and cored
- 125ml tomatillos, chopped
- 125ml wine
- 30ml brown sugar
- 1ml ground cloves
- 1ml allspice
Instructions • Knotweed Stuffing
- Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan
- Simmer for an hour, until fruit and onions are binding
- Remove from heat, cool down to room temperature
- Preheat the oven to 275F
- In a piping bag with a large tip fill with stuffing
- Insert tip into pork loin incision and squeeze in half the stuffing
- Repeat from other side until the stuffing fills the pork loin
- Gently roll pork loin to evenly distribute the stuffing
- Fold over each end of the pork loin and fasten with skewers
- Roast for about 1 hr
- Remove from oven
- Let meat rest for 15 minutes
- Slice in 5cm thick slices
Herb Risotto
Ingredients • Herb Risotto
- 2L stock – add the reserved liquids to make up
- 75ml butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 375ml Arborio rice
- 125ml white wine
- Salt
- 375ml fresh basil, chopped
- 250ml fresh young plantain leaves, chopped
- 250ml purslane leaves, chopped
- 125ml lovage, chopped
- 125ml garlic chives, chopped
- 180ml hard cheese grated– like Parmigiano-Reggiano
Instructions • Herb Risotto
- Bring the stock to a simmer in a medium pot on low heat
- In a larger pot melt 25ml of butter on medium heat
- Add onion, stir until soft but not brown
- Add the rice, reduce heat to medium-low and keep stirring
- Add wine
- Season with salt, keep stirring until all the liquid is absorbed
- Add 250ml of stock at a time, stirring until liquid is absorbed
- Continue the same process –may take up to 30 minutes to complete
- Add remaining butter in a sauté pan
- Add the herbs and remaining ingredients
- Blend into the risotto
- Season to taste with salt and pepper
- Serve
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