I think spring is finally coming, I can hear lawn mowers purring in nearby gardens, including mine. Late spurt of winter means green shoots are only showing up now – except for a few plants I clearly managed to kill by very thoroughly razing them to the ground (I called it pruning) back in autumn. Following googled instructions. That must have been the gardening variety of fake news.
No sign of those cheerful spring foods yet like strawberries and asparagus – my two completely best seasonal treats – but in case you’re living in a more fortunate neck of woods or don’t mind imported fruit and veg, here’s my raw asparagus salad. It should be the very first asparagus dish of the season. For the rest of us, here’s the raw broccoli salad. It ain’t asparagus, but it’s mighty tasty.
What has already turned up for sure is wild garlic, bear garlic or ramsons. Call it what you will, it’s fantastic in salads and great in casseroles. Go looking for it around marshy river banks or do like me and plant it in the garden. Either way you can try my leeks with wild garlic or use it in place of the spinach in the recipe for sautéed new potatoes – when the latter arrive.
Lamb is now hogget, but new season lamb should be here soon. Grilled new lamb neck fillet is a thing of beauty, especially served with those garlicky leeks. I’m also looking forward to cooking new lamb shanks with stir fried cabbage: I’m not a huge fan of shanks when it’s later season lamb so now will be my chance.
I think I’ll cook slow roasted salmon with dill sauce at some point this week, it’s the healthiest and nicest method of cooking salmon. And if you fancy a crisp fry-up to zing that healthiness, grate some veg and serve potato, beet or celeriac rösti with the fish.
A pasta and veggie dish for this week might be a penne, leeks and mushrooms bake. And for pudding – why, it’s surely time for a rhubarb fool! All this and more on Cuisine Fiend recipe pages - don't miss another recipe and subscribe to the newsletter.