Asparagus and Wild Garlic Soup.

 A delicious spring soup mixing bought and foraged ingredients.

In a pan with a little oil and a good knob of butter soften half an onion, a small chopped carrot and a stick of celery.

Season and add water bring nearly to the boil and turn heat down to a simmer.

Take the tips off the asparagus and reserve. 

Cut the woody end off the stalks and discard, shave any tough outer skin from the base of the stalks with a peeler, chop and add to the pan along with a good hand full of chopped wild garlic leaves.

When all the veg is cooked blitz in a blender and pass through a sieve back into the pan, pushing all the pulp through with the back of a wooden spoon - this will get rid of any woody bits left in the asparagus.

Add the asparagus tips back to the soup and warm through until the tips are cooked and serve.

Pickled Mussels with Radish and Apple.

Bring a thumb of water containing a sprig or two of thyme and a couple of bay leaves to a rolling boil in a large pan.

Drop in the cleaned and de bearded mussels and place the lid on.

After a minute give the pan a shake and cook for a further 30 seconds or so or until the mussels have opened.

Drain over a bowl to reserve the juices and leave to cool.

When cool remove the mussels from the shells and add to a bowl with a handful of toasted coriander seeds some of the cooled cooking liquor, a good dash of sherry vinegar, dill and ground pepper and leave in the fridge to steep.

For the dressing  place a blob of dijon mustard into a bowl add a little pickling liquor and mix - slowly add extra virgin olive oil, whisking all the time to emulsify - season  and add a few sprigs of dill.

Take some french breakfast radishes and half, slice some apples and roll in lemon juice to stop them discolouring.

Assemble on a plate with fresh radish leaves, the mussels - dress and serve.

Mussels Rockerfeller.

Blanch a few hand fulls of spinach in salted water for a minute or so drain and stop the cooking process by rinsing with cold water and leave to cool.

In a large saucepan, big enough to hold all your mussels, melt a knob of butter and gently fry a finely chopped shallot and stick of celery. 

When softened increase the heat and add the mussels- when the pan starts to sizzle add half a glass of white wine and a small shot of pastis, (traditionally its dry sherry and pastis, but white wine is fine - if you do not have pastis add a few more tarragon leaves to the sauce later in the recipe to add the extra aniseed flavour), cook for a minute and give the pan a shake, after another 30 seconds or so, when the mussels are fully open, remove from the heat and drain over a bowl, reserving the cooking liquor.

Squeeze all the liquid out of the spinach and place in a blender with the cooking liquor, finely chopped parsley leaves, a few sprigs of tarragon (leaves only) and few drops of tabasco and blitz.

The mussels should now be cool enough to handle so remove the empty half shells and return to a pan - pour in the sauce and gently reheat and serve.

Roast Butternut Squash, Choritzo and Sage.

 

Peel and de-seed the squash then cut it into large chunks, place in a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, season and scatter over a few ripped sage leaves, a chopped de-seeded chilli and roast in a medium hot oven until 3/4 cooked.

In a frying pan heat a little good quality oil and fry off some slices of cooking choritzo - when the choritzo is releasing its oils and starting to colour add some of the roasted squash and continue to fry, turning occasionally to colour -  a minute or so before serving add some finely chopped sage leaves.

Serve with some good crusty bread for the juices.

Butternut Squash, Sage and Chilli Soup.

Half and de-seed the squash (retaining some of the seeds).

Score the flesh most of the way through in a criss-cross pattern, this will allow the oil and flavours to penetrate when roasting.

Drizzle with a good oil and season with salt and pepper. 

Place a knob of butter, a small chili cut in half and some ripped sage leaves in the cavity (go easy on both as sage is very strong in flavour and you want the finished soup to have a warmth rather than the heat of a curry, drizzle with a little more oil  (you may want to cover with a little foil to prevent burning).

Place on a roasting tray and roast for 35-40 mins in a hot oven until the flesh is soft.

Remove from the heat and discard the sage and chili and leave to cool enough to handle.

Scoop the flesh out and place in a blender with a good veg stock and blitz. you want the finished soup to be thick enough so the garnishes sit on top.

Return to a sauce pan and warm through.

While the soup is reheating fry a few sage leaves in olive oil until crisp on both sides

In another pan fry the cleaned and dried squash seeds in a little oil, sprinkle with paprica or a mix of spices.

Place the seeds and fried sage leaves on top of the soup in a bowl and scatter on a some of the spiced seeds.

Turbut, King Prawns and Caramelised Fennel.

Firstly you must create a fish stock as the base of the sauce.

Head and shell the King Prawns , reserve them for the stock, and then de-vein the prawns.

Cut the turbot into good size portions and reserve any trimmings.

Trim the bulb of fennel and slice into half inch thick slices - reserve the trimmings.

In a little oil lightly fry a hand full of fennel seeds and half a dozen peppercorns, then add finely chopped bulb fennel trimmings, celery, onion (no skin) and the white part of a leek - up the heat slightly add the prawn heads and shells and fry off until coloured then add a glugg of white wine and reduce the stock by half.

Now add the fish trimmings (and any fish bits / heads etc your fishmonger could provide) along with a splash of water, bring to a boil and skim any scum off the top.

Remove from the hob and add crushed parsley stalks, ripped tarragon, a bay leaf and a squeeze of lemon juice, cover and leave to infuse for half an hour.

Drain the stock and discard all the fish bits and veg.

Put the reserved stock into a saucepan and bring to the boil and reduce.

Melt some butter on the hob in an oven proof pan - place in the fennel slices and fry until slightly coloured  - turn and place the pan in a pre-heated oven on medium heat.

In a pan heat some oil with a little butter - when hot add the turbut and cook skin side down until three quarters cooked - place on a warmed plate cover with foil and place in a warm oven.

In the pan the turbut was cooked in deglaze with a small dash of white wine add another small knob of butter and some of the reduced stock and reduce to a sauce.

While the sauce is reducing add a couple of peeled prawns and cook on both sides.

Remove the fish and fennel from the oven - the fish should now be cooked through but not dry.

Place the fennel on the warmed plate with the fish, top with the prawns and spoon over the sauce.

Carrot, Orange, Chestnut and Chervil Salad.

 

A very simple and flavoursome salad with loads of taste and texture - if you catch the early chestnut season it should still be mild enough to have plenty of chervil left in the garden.

Firstly half the chestnuts and place in a roasting tin in an oven preheated to 220 degrees and roast for 10-20mins depending on their size.

Remove from the oven and peel - the shells and bitter inner skin should now come away from the chestnuts easily and the chestnuts should still have a bit of firmness and crunch to them.

Peel a few carrots and cut into thin matchsticks. 

Using a really sharp knife, cut the top and bottom off an orange, place on a chopping board and go round the orange cutting off the skin and pith. 

Then over a bowl to reserve as much juice as possible cut the segments out of the orange - place them in a bowl with the carrot matchsticks.

Make a dressing by placing a small amount of dijon mustard in a bowl, mix in some of the orange juice and a dash of sherry vinegar then slowly add a good quality oil while stirring into an emulsion, season.

To assemble the dish break up the chestnuts and add to the carrot and orange, mix in ripped up chervil leaves.

Transfer to a plate and dress.