Cork city has a farmer’s market every Saturday, on Cornmarket, opposite the TK Maxx. It’s an extension of a much older market. When you walk from the city end towards the river you pass stalls selling mobile phone covers, seriously cheap tracksuits and framed pictures of Roy Keane, Bobby Sands, Michael Collins and the Pope (John Paul, not Ratzo), and then you come to a stall selling artisan bread baked by a genuine German who moved to West Cork in the 70s, several organic vegetable growers from nearby places like Doneraile and Macroom, fresh fish at 5 euro per bag and free range eggs.

In London there are hundreds of markets selling four bars of soap for a pound, cheap socks, fruit and veg by the box, mobile phone accessories and other cut-price bric-a-brac, and there are scores of fancy farmer’s markets selling rare apple varieties, humanely reared meat, fifteen different olive oils and home-made honey, but I’ve not seen the two as seamlessly joined as they are in Cork. It’s really quite endearing. Another thing that makes it different from other farmer’s markets I’ve lived near is that it’s actually excellent value. Broadway market in London was a site for conspicuous consumption, where you pay a 500% premium for tomatoes with stripes. Here I can get an old supermarket carrier bag full of spinach, kale or chard for 2.50.

And yesterday, for the same price, I picked up a big bag of wild garlic. I’ve never used this before, but thanks to my old friend internet (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recipe), I made up a batch of pesto. And it was awesome! It has a wonderful mild yet hot garlic flavour, and we just used it on the side of a grilled piece of salmon for lunch. Delicious. And I’m planning to use it again today on grilled mushrooms on toast. It’s just the kind of easy lunch I need, as I’m still a little tender from the Eurovision party last night…

Wild Garlic Pesto

100g wild garlic (leaves, flowers, stems and all, roughly chopped)

50g walnut pieces

50g onion or spring onion, finely chopped

150ml rapeseed oil

50g finely grated parmesan

1/2 tsp sugar

Salt and pepper, to taste

Put the wild garlic, oil, walnuts and onion in a blender, and whizz it to rough paste (add a little water if the mixture needs loosening). Empty the contents into a bowl, add the sugar, fold in the parmesan, and season to taste. And that’s it.

This was great with salmon – another thing I’d like to do is spread it over the top of the fish fillets and roast it in a hot (200C) oven for 10-12 minutes and serve it up with some new potatoes and greens. Mmmm.