Every cloud has a silver lining. And every interminable winter has a sunny green ending that, when it comes, seems all the more uplifting, inspiring and welcome for the wait. As the brutal season of late 2012/early 2013 is finally consigned to history, how wonderful it is to see stuff growing again – particularly edible stuff.
Let's grab it now. Fill your boots with the best fresh, local produce you can find. If you're not gathering your own garden crops, go to your farm shop, find the nearest farmers' market, book yourself on to a box scheme, scout out garden gate stalls – all are rich hunting grounds for today's ingredients. Wherever it comes from, the new growth is so often the best – the sweetest, crunchiest and sappiest.
There are three ingredients in particular I want to highlight this week: waxy, buttery little new potatoes; elegant, delicately pungent asparagus; and crisp, sweet lettuces. In the past, I've devoted whole columns to each of these beauties, and I could easily do so again, but I thought it would be fun to rack up a raft of dishes in which they co-mingle, their charms bouncing off each other and a few other spring treats such as golden-yolked eggs and fresh herbs, in aculinary game of spring pinball.
The new potato season usually begins late in April with jersey royals from the Channel Islands. These harbingers of all the good things to come are well worth enjoying, but don't buy them to the exclusion of other baby spud delights. Cornish earlies are also around now and, as we head into June, look out for varieties grown locally to you, suchas lady christl, orla, charlotte and maris peer.
New potatoes don't keep well, so buy little and often, and use them quickly. Choose new pots that have a hard ping to them – any give at all and they are losing their charm. Remove any earth by running them under a cold tap and rubbing with your thumb. Alternatively, scrape the skins with a small, sharp knife. But avoid hard scrubbing, which can damage the surface. New potatoes need minimal cooking – if just-dug and smaller than golf ball-size, Ioften give them only five to seven minutes in a pan of boiling water. Shop-bought ones may take alittle longer, but 10-12 minutes is likely to be the maximum needed.
The UK asparagus season ends around mid-June, so grab some of the good stuff while you can. The fresher it is, the better, of course, which is why farm shops and roadside stalls are generally the best source. Some PYOs now do asparagus, which is abrilliant idea (see british-asparagus.co.uk). Ilike the farm shop habit of selling asparagus bundles with their cut ends in a tray of water. It helps to keep them fresh for 24 hours or soafter cutting.
To prepare asparagus, wash it thoroughly, giving the tips a really good swish in a bowl of cold water. Then snap off the woody ends of the stalks with your hands – the stem breaks naturally at the point where tenderness ends. Cook in a large pan of boiling, lightly salted water for as little time as possible. Start testing at three minutes, which will be enough for just-picked, slim spears, drain and you're good to go.
As for lettuce – surely one of the most under-appreciated of all ourhomegrown veg – this is an ingredient that keeps giving and giving. Available almost all year round, it's nevertheless in spring and summer that it's at its crunchy-leaved best. The key to loving lettuce is to get more from it than just a few green leaves on the side. Spike your lettuce salads with fresh herbs (chives, for example) and chopped hard-boiled eggs. Remember lettuce can be cooked, too: sautéed, roasted, barbecued even.
Now let's toss this lively spring trio together and see how they land.
Roast new potatoes and asparagus with baked eggs
New potatoes and asparagus both respond so well to roasting, I often throw them in the oven together. Add some eggs and you've got asatisfying supper dish – I like to think of it as frittata-without-palaver. Serves four.
600-700g new potatoes, cleaned and cut into small chunks
5-6 whole garlic cloves, bashed
3 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
About 400g asparagus
4 eggs
Chives, to serve
Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Put the potatoes into aroasting dish with the garlic. Trickle over the oil, add plenty of salt and pepper, toss and roast for 30minutes, until tender.
Meanwhile, snap the woody ends off the asparagus and cut the spears into 3-4cm lengths. When the potatoes are tender, add the spears, toss and roast for 15 minutes more, until the asparagus is tender.
Now create four little spaces among the veg for the eggs – you want to contain them as much as you can, so arrange the potato and asparagus pieces into reasonably snug bulwarks. Working quickly, so everything stays hot, break an egg into each space, then return the dish to the oven for about four minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks still runny.
Sprinkle some salt and pepper over the eggs, scatter some snipped chives over the whole dish and serve straight away (the eggs will continue to cook). If you don't have, or don't fancy, chives, grated parmesan is another very nice finishing touch.
Braised new potatoes and lettuce
This is based on the delicious petit* pois à la française, only it's more petites pommes de terre. A little later in the season, you could throw in ahandful of baby peas near the end of cooking. Serves four as a side dish.
25g butter
A trickle of olive or rapeseed oil
1 onion, peeled, quartered and sliced
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
350g new potatoes, cleaned and cut into 2-3cm pieces
About 400ml hot chicken stock
½ large head of romaine or 2 little gem lettuces, shredded
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion, let it sweat for about 10 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for two minutes more. Add the potatoes and about 250ml of stock, bring to a simmer and cook, half-covered, for around 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the spuds are tender. Add a little more stock if you need to, but the idea is to end up with reasonably well-reduced juices, so don't go mad.
Add the shredded lettuce and alittle more stock, stir, cover and cook for four to five minutes, until the lettuce is wilted. Season to tasteand serve.
Char-grilled lettuce and asparagus with goat's cheese
Char-grilling is usually associated with meat, but it works wonders with vegetables, too, caramelising their natural sugars and leaving them tender and deliciously bittersweet. Ilike to use a firm goat's cheese here, such as Woolsery English Goat, but any firm, not-too-pungent cheese would work well, or go for good old parmesan. Serves four.
About 400g asparagus
4 little gem lettuces
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plusextra to serve
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Around 75g firm, not-too-strong goat's cheese
Bring a pan of salted water to a boil. Snap the woody ends off the asparagus and drop the spears into the boiling water. Blanch for aminute or two (depending on thickness), until al dente, then drain.
Meanwhile, cut the lettuces in halfdown the middle, leaving them joined at the root end. Put in alarge bowl with the drained asparagus, add two tablespoons of olive oil, season generously and toss to coat, working the oil and seasoning into the lettuces a little with your hands.
Heat a ridged griddle pan or heavy-based frying pan until very hot. Add the lettuce halves cut-side down, cook for two minutes until golden brown and wilted on the base, then turn over and cook for aminute or two more. Transfer to alarge, warmed serving platter.
Now add the asparagus to the pan and cook for about four minutes, turning occasionally, until tender and patched with brown. Arrange onthe platter with the lettuce.
Thinly slice the cheese (or, if it's particularly crumbly, crumble it) and arrange over the griddled veg. Trickle with alittle more oil and serve at once. Add some bread and this makes a great starter, but it's also adelicious side dish.
