New-season's garlic with wild garlic and goat's curd

Serves 4

Goat's curd with cooked new-season's garlic (LISA BARBER)

Wild garlic has a very short season – really only as long as the bluebells they sit side by side with in the woods. It has a lovely flavour but in my opinion it should be cooked – raw in salads, its taste can be overpowering. Roasted in the oven, new-season's garlic is sweet and gentle and can be eaten whole.

4 heads of new-season's garlic
350ml/12fl oz white wine – Riesling is best
150ml/5fl oz water
Sea salt
1 medium-sized bunch of thyme, leaves only
1 dried red chilli, crumbled
75ml/3fl oz mild-tasting olive oil
1 tbsp grated Parmesan
A generous bunch of wild garlic leaves, well rinsed
180g/6oz very fresh goat's curd

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas4. Remove only the first outer layer from the new-season's garlic and slice in half horizontally. Lay in a roasting tin and pour over the wine and water. Season with salt and scatter over the thyme leaves and dried chilli, then finish with the oil and Parmesan and seal the tin well with foil.

Place on the middle shelf of the oven and roast covered for 35 minutes, at which time remove the foil, turn up the heat to 200C/400F/Gas6 and roast for a further 15 minutes or until the garlic is meltingly soft and golden brown.

Remove from the oven and stir in the wild garlic leaves – they will wilt almost immediately. Dot over the goat's curd and allow it to melt just slightly before serving. It is very nice on top of grilled toast, but really it is up to your own taste as to whether you serve it in that way.