Spring March |
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Early Rhubarb Actually a vegetable but prepared as a fruit, early rhubarb has long, pale, pink stems with small leaves that don't look enticing but have all the freshness and flavour needed to make delicious pies, fools, sorbet or ice cream. Forced or early rhubarb needs very brief cooking and, unless you have a palate for tartness, it always needs sweetening with sugar. |
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Radishes The radish has an ancient history and, in distant times, was grown as a staple. As it was cultivated, many varieties were established from the Mediterranean to the Orient giving us the red radish, the large white radish (also known as the daikon or mooli) and the black radish. The common red varieties are eaten and enjoyed as a salad vegetable. When choosing radishes, look for bright green leaves, which indicate freshness and promise a crisp texture and peppery flavour. Radishes are excellent when eaten raw or marinated in vinaigrette. |
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Parsley One of the few herbs to stand the chilly air of early spring, parsley comes in two main varieties: flatleaf and curly. Favoured by Mediterranean cooks, flatleaf parsley has a more robust flavour than the curly-leaf variety, making it ideal to sauté with other strong flavours, such as garlic and onion. Whichever you choose, use parsley abundantly to lift other savoury flavours and enhance dishes such as soups, casseroles, sauces and salads. |
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April |
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Rosemary Rosemary is an evergreen plant, so it can be enjoyed all year round. At this time of year, as the weather gets warmer, the plants start to bush out and produce scented blue flowers. The flowers look great and give a delicate flavour to sweet dishes, such as ice cream, mousse and fool, or can be scattered on food as a garnish for meat, fish or a salad. It's the intensely aromatic leaves of rosemary that give the strong flavour that marries so well with mutton, lamb, pork and poultry. Insert sprigs into roasting joints, pop a few in when roasting vegetables or fish or add a different dimension to chocolate sauce or fruit syrup. It's best to remove the sprigs after cooking but if you chop the leaves up very finely, you can add them to flavour stuffing and sauces. |
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Spinach First mentioned in AD647 in the Orient, spinach is a vegetable that features in cuisines all over the world. Full of vitamins and iron, its health-giving properties are well known, but it's generally loathed by young children - in spite of Popeye's attempts to promote its virtues. Young leaves are best as older leaves can be tough. Spinach has a distinctly earthy flavour; the leaves can be enjoyed on their own as a vegetable or a salad or they can be incorporated into a wide range of dishes. |
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Spring Lamb Lamb is traditionally associated with spring in many cultures. In Christian cultures, it's the traditional roast to serve on Easter Day. Lamb is available all year round but spring lamb has small, slender bones with pink, rosy coloured flesh that is meltingly tender and more subtle than darker-fleshed summer or autumn lamb. Choose joints and cuts carefully; go for lean pieces and avoid any with yellow or crumbly fat. |
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Strawberries The first seasonal strawberries appear in our markets and shops in April. The earliest come from Europe's warmer climates but in Britain we have to wait until the weather gets a little warmer to taste homegrown varieties. The fruit we know today has evolved from the wild or alpine strawberry, which can still be found in grassy woodlands all over Europe. You can experience their delicate flavour in wild strawberry jam, which is available from specialist shops. Cultivated strawberries come in many varieties and in all shapes and sizes. Look for fruit that is firm and unblemished and go for smaller fruits, because larger ones, although they may look like more of a treat, are often watery. Supermarkets will often stock only one or two varieties but if you venture out and find a pick-your-own farm you should get wider choice and more fruit for your money. |
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Cockles Traditionally sold with winkles and whelks, cockles have been a popular seaside snack for many years. They were also sold by vendors outside London pubs who, in the absence of scales, used a pint glass as a measure. They've been sold by the pint ever since. Cooked and shelled cockles can be bought in jars, preserved in brine or vinegar, or are sold loose. They can be used in seafood pie or tossed in a salad, eaten raw or steamed until their shells open, like mussels. Use them in soups, risotto, and paella or stew them in a tomato sauce for pasta. |
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Samphire Samphire is a sea vegetable that grows abundantly on shorelines, marshy shallows and on salty mudflats. It has a crisp texture, salty flavour and tastes of the sea. Traditionally, it's a vegetable that is served with fish and good fishmongers sell samphire at this time of year. It can be served fresh in salads or laced with melted butter as a vegetable. Wash thoroughly under running water and don't add salt to the cooking water - it's already salty enough.
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Sea trout Sea trout, or salmon trout, is a fish that combines the best features of the trout's delicate and tender texture and the salmon's fine flavour and pink flesh. Sea trout are so called because they swim to the sea to feed and fatten up before returning to the fresh water of the river to spawn. The result is a delicious fish that can be poached in wine with herbs, baked in foil, baked covered in yoghurt and cream, or pan-fried in butter with capers and served with new potatoes. |
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Duck Traditionally, ducks in Britain were bred in Aylesbury, but now most duck production takes place in Lincolnshire. Even though duck is farmed and available all year round, it's at Easter and Christmas that larger, fresh birds are available. It's true that duck has a hefty layer of fat but don't let that put you off. The fat ensures that the meat underneath is tender and flavoursome and most of it melts away during cooking, leaving a crisp brown skin. Whole roast duck is delicious served with a fruity sauce; traditionally these are based on orange or plum, but try a sauce made with blueberries or cherries instead. Duck breast portions make an elegant dinner party main course, seared skin-side down and served with seasonal stir-fried vegetables. Try duck confit made with the leg portions, where the fat melts away leaving succulent flesh that falls off the bone. If the calories don't worry you, then don't discard the melted fat. Store it in a jar in the fridge and use it to make the most delicious roast or sautéed potatoes.
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Asparagus The true British asparagus season is very short, lasting for about six weeks from late-April to mid-June. Asparagus is available from different parts of the world all year round but British asparagus is well worth waiting for its unbeatable flavour and freshness. Although asparagus was once only grown in certain areas of the UK, such as the Vale of Evesham, East Anglia, Kent and London, it is now grown in most of the UK. Luckily, you can enjoy British asparagus for about £2 per small bundle at the height of the season. |
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Cherries
May sees the first cherries appearing from different parts of the world but unfortunately they are at their most expensive at this time. It's worth buying a few just to whet the appetite until we get into June and July, when domestic cherries become available and the price comes down. Nothing could be better than a bowl of sweet cherries, but sweet and sour varieties are excellent in pies, preserves, compotes or sauces to accompany duckling. There are traditional cherry recipes all over the world; sour cherries are made into a hot or cold soup in parts of Eastern Europe, Germany is famous for kirsch (a distilled cherry spirit) and, of course, Black Forest gateau, while the French make clafoutis, a hearty and delicious batter pudding made with sweet cherries. |
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