The Knobbly Plate

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Archives for February 2026

Foraged Wild Chickweed Salad

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How to use it: its tender leaves can go in salads with lemon and olive oil dressing. Blend into homemade pesto, or use to liven up just about any dish really. The tiny white, edible flowers make a pretty salad garnish.

What to look for: it’s a tough, creeping annual common throughout the UK on waste ground and in gardens. It’s abundant throughout the year from spring to late autumn. Look for its small, white, star-like white flowers. Look for it from February.

A fresh early-season foraged salad of chickweed is a quiet celebration of late winter’s generosity. Gathered in early February, when the land is still holding its breath, chickweed thrives low to the ground, tender and vibrant against the muted earth. Its delicate stems trail like green threads, dotted with small, star-shaped leaves and tiny white flowers that seem almost improbable at this time of year. Plucked fresh, it carries the scent of clean soil and cool air, a reminder that spring is already stirring beneath the frost.

On the palate, chickweed is mild and refreshing, with a gentle sweetness and a soft, grassy crunch that feels nourishing rather than bold. Tossed simply—perhaps with a squeeze of lemon, a drizzle of good olive oil, and a pinch of sea salt—it needs very little embellishment. Its freshness is the point. Each bite tastes alive, hydrating, and light, as if the plant has captured the season’s first promise of warmth.

As a vegan dish, this salad feels especially honest: no substitutions, no imitations, just plants as they are. Rich in vitamins and minerals, chickweed has long been valued as both food and gentle medicine, making it as healthy as it is humble. Served at the start of an early foraging trip, it grounds you in the moment. You’re eating what the land is offering right now, at its quietest and most resilient.

This salad isn’t about abundance or excess. It’s about attentiveness—kneeling close to the ground, noticing what’s growing, and welcoming the year back one fresh, green mouthful at a time.

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Foraged Wild Chickweed Salad
Author: 
Recipe type: Foraged
Cuisine: British Woodland
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 1 Person
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup chickweed leaves
  • 
1 bunch spring onions or 1 small red onion finely sliced
  • 1 beet
  • 
pinch of sea salt
  • 3 tbsp organic coconut oil
  • 2 tbsp wine vinegar
  • ½ tsps mustard of choice
Instructions
  1. Rinse and drain chickweed.
  2. Thinly cut spring onions.
  3. Grate a raw beet.
  4. Place in bowl.
  5. Combine the coconut oil, wine vinegar and mustard well then toss through salad.
  6. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over salt and enjoy.

 

Loubia North African Spicy Fragrant Stew

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Loubia is a traditional dish of fragrant white beans slow-cooked in tomato + North African spices. SO SIMPLE, SO FRAGRANT, SO COMFORTING. It’s also naturally plant-based, and is perfect mopped up with crusty bread.

Moroccan loubia is the kind of dish that feels humble and luxurious at the same time. Built around tender white beans, it’s a slow-simmered stew that fills the kitchen with warmth before it ever reaches the table. Olive oil, gently heated, releases the aroma of garlic and onion, followed by a bloom of spices—paprika for sweetness, cumin for earthiness, and chili for a quiet, lingering heat. Tomato sauce ties everything together, giving the stew its deep brick-red color and a balance of acidity and richness.

As it cooks, the beans soak up the flavors, turning soft and creamy while still holding their shape. The broth thickens naturally, becoming velvety and spoon-clinging, perfect for scooping with torn pieces of crusty bread. Fresh herbs like parsley or cilantro brighten the dish at the end, cutting through the richness and adding a green, fragrant lift. A drizzle of olive oil just before serving brings everything into focus.

Loubia is deeply comforting, but never boring. The spice is warming rather than aggressive, fragrant instead of overpowering. It’s the kind of stew meant to be eaten slowly, shared communally, with a bowl placed at the center of the table. Entirely vegan by tradition or adaptation, it shows how North African cooking transforms simple pantry ingredients into something soulful and satisfying. Loubia isn’t flashy—it’s honest food, rooted in home kitchens and everyday meals, offering nourishment, heat, and a sense of quiet abundance with every bite.

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Loubia Moroccan White Bean Stew
Author: 
Recipe type: Vegan
Cuisine: North African
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4 persons
 
Ingredients
  • 750g White Beans with their bean stock
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 large onions, grated
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 6 tbsp tomato purée
  • 4 tsp smoked paprika
  • 4 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 4 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • ½ tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp ground cardamom
  • 400g passata
  • 300ml vegetable stock
  • 20g flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped
  • 20g fresh coriander, leaves picked and finely chopped
  • Bread, to serve (optional)
Instructions
  1. Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large stew pot or hob-safe tagine over a medium heat. Once hot, add the onions and sauté for 7 minutes to soften a little. Add the garlic and tomato purée, then cook for 5 minutes, until the purée turns a dark red colour, but is not burnt. Add half of each spice, then mix well and cook for a further 2 minutes.
  2. Add the passata, vegetable stock, the remaining spices and half each of the chopped parsley and coriander, then mix well and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pot or tagine with the lid and simmer for 20 minutes, until the flavours have thoroughly developed.
  3. Add the white beans, season to taste with salt and a pinch of sugar, then simmer, uncovered, for a further 8-10 minutes. Serve with bread to mop up the delicious juices.