Vegan Wild Garlic Spaetzle with Plant–Based Feta & Bacon

Finally, it’s time for wild garlic again! We had to do without the wonderful garlicky plant for almost a whole year, but now it's back and we’re hyped already and have a great new recipe for you. On the blog, you can already find classics like pasta with wild garlic pesto and spring pasta with wild garlic and lemon, but also more daring recipes like a savory wild garlic bundt cake. You can find them all here.

But where do we get wild garlic for our recipes? You can buy it in the supermarket, but let's be honest, it tastes better if you collect it yourself. And the search is not even that difficult: you usually find the plants in shady, moist and humus-rich deciduous forests. There is even a map, on which other wild garlic fans mark corresponding finding spots in Germany.

I had my first wild garlic collecting experience while on vacation in Denmark. My parents and I were on a bicycle tour when it began to smell suspiciously of garlic all at once. Immediately we came across a horde of wild garlic. Back at the cottage, we directly made a huge portion of pesto. My mother was so excited that as soon as we were back in Germany, she planted some wild garlic in our garden. That was ten years ago, and instead of turning into a small field as we had hoped, the wild garlic has stubbornly stayed put in one place and, to my mother's annoyance, has not multiplied at all. So after all, I had to go off to the supermarket – what a bummer!

Once we have wild garlic, we can start directly with the cooking. Since anyone can make spaetzle with wild garlic pesto, we try something else and add the pesto to the spaetzle batter. For this, we puree wild garlic, water and oil to a smooth paste, which we then mix with the dry ingredients. Instead of eggs, like you usually do for spaetzle, we use a little cornstarch. The dough should have about the consistency of pancake batter so it should be easily pressed through a spaetzle press.

Use the press to push the dough into the boiling water, and don’t be disappointed if you don't get the spaetzle perfectly right away. Practice makes perfect! If you don't have a spaetzle press on hand, you can also use a board and a dough card. There are numerous instructions online.

The spaetzle are then sautéed in a pan with plenty of vegan butter and shallots and served with plant-based feta, vegan bacon, and fried onions.