Asparagus with Tarragon, Chive and Mustard Dressing.

Warm some good quality oil in a sauce pan and add a squeeze of lemon.
Add finely chopped chives,  tarragon and a teaspoon of good mustard.
Keep warn while you cook the asparagus and spoon over the top before serving.

Chilli Sauce.

This is my recipe for classic kebab shop chilli sauce.
Its very easy to make and tastes authentic.
You can use any colour or type of chilli's you like, but I find adding a green one add a slight sourness to the sauce rather like gazpacho.
If you want a milder sauce leave out the seeds and take away the white parts of the chilli's as this is where the heat is.
Place half a roughly chopped small onion, three de-seeded chopped tomatoes, two red chilli's seeds removed, one green chilli, a splash of lemon juice, a squeeze of tomato puree and a glug of sherry vinegar in a blender
Blitz all the ingredients and push through a sieve into a saucepan.
Gently heat and cook off any excess moisture, or add a squeeze more tomato puree to get the desired consistency.
Allow too cool and use.

You can also thin down the sauce with oil and lemon, add some chopped  garlic and use as a marinade for lamb or chicken.

Wild Garlic Oil.

You can use this method to make any flavoured oil using any combination of herb / flavouring and oil. Use it in salad dressings, for marinades, as a dipping oil or spread on good quality bread after it has been griddled for garlic bread.
Roughly chop two large handfuls of wild garlic leaves and place in a saucepan.
Cover with rapeseed oil and gently heat.
Remove from the heat and leave to infuse as the oil cools. You can repeat this process a few time to increase the flavour of oil if desired.
When the oil is cool place in a blender and blitz.
Strain through a fine sieve or muslin.

Spring French Peas with Chicken Breast.

This is a take on the tradition french peas adding spring onion and wild garlic to replace the finely grated garlic and pearl onions.
It would also be great with a pigeon breast rather than chicken.
First heat an oven proof pan with a good knob of butter and cook your chicken breast skin side down until it starts to brown. Lower the heat and cook on for a few mins then transfer to a preheated oven.
In a little  butter cook some finely chopped smoked bacon until it starts to crisp.
add a couple of finely sliced spring onions, soften.
Add a couple of cups full of frozen peas and a little boiling water or stock (chicken or veg) simmer until the peas are half cooked.
Add finely sliced little gem lettuce and cook for a few mins.
A few mins before serving add the finely shredded wild garlic and mint leaves, cook for a few mins and serve.
If you use traditional garlic grate half a clove very finely into the peas about a minute before the end of cooking.

Baked Radishes, Wild Herb Salsa Verde and Truffled Brie.

I ordered a similar dish to this recently in my local pub and despite thinking it was a good idea was slightly disappointed as the radishes were cold and soft, so thought i would do my own version.
Cooking the radishes softens them and also takes the heat away so you can use quite fiery ones if you like the heat - i prefer them to be served warm and only par cooked so they still have crunch in the center and a bit of heat left.
Any good cheese will do - it doesn't have to be a soft one, a quality cheddar such as Lincolnshire Poacher would also work.
First make the salsa verde, you can use garden herbs, wild herbs or a mix. I used thyme, mint, parsley and foraged wild garlic, nettle tops and a few hawthorn buds as they were in season. You could also use hedge garlic (garlic mustard), bitter cress, winter cress, watercress, chickweed, wood sorrel, lambs lettuce, sorrel etc.
Roughly chop the herbs and place in a blender with a good dollop of mustard, I used Dijon, but any quality one is fine. Biltz, then add a some cider vinegar and biltz again. Taste and adjust the flavours if you need to.
Next is the radishes. Remove the radish leaves and roots - reserve the leaves. Heat some butter in an oven proof pan. Add the radishes and coat with melted butter. Place in an oven pre heated to 180 degrees for five mins (this differs slightly depending on the size and variety of radishes).
Serve on a slice of good quality toasted bread with  the radish leaves (or a combination of other leaves) dressed with wild garlic oil (see previous recipe) chunks of cheese and a few teaspoons of the salsa verde.

Salt Baked Beetroot with Rosemary, Feta, Apple, Horseradish and Hazelnuts.

For this Recipe you need to make a rough pastry, that will not be eaten, to roast the beets in.
The amount of pastry you will need depends on the size of the beets.
First blitz about six rosemary sprigs and around 150g of course sea salt in a food processor then add 300g of plain flour, two egg whites and around 200ml water.
Blitz again to bring together into a rough dough.
Kneed the mixture on a clean surface for around five mins to form a smooth ball, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for about an hour.
Pre heat the oven to 160C. Roll the dough out to the thickness of a pound coin.
Top and tail the beetroots, but dont peel, place on the pastry and cut round the beats draw up the pastry to encase the beets and seal the top by pinching together.
Place on a baking tray for 30-50mins depending on the size of the beets - when a sharp knife goes into the beet with out much effort they are ready. Its best to slightly under cook as they will carry on cooking after they are removed from the oven and its also nice to serve them warm and soft on the outside with the middle slightly firmer.
While the beets are cooking dry toast some hazelnuts in a pan. finely slice a cored apple and roll in lemon juice.
After removing the beats from the oven allow them to cool a while before removing from the pastry and peeling.
Slice in half and plate on top of a dollop of horseradish cream (if using fresh horse radish don't use the cream and grate a fine dusting over at the end.
Place the sliced apple and cubes of feta cheese around the beet and scatter with the toasted nuts.

Padron Peppers.

This is a really nice tapas dish to eat with drinks and very quick to prepare. These pepper have been on the menus in bars and restaurants for some time now and started appearing in markets and on supermarket shelves about three years ago.
They have a very slight heat and the addition of salt while cooking really compliments there sour flavour.
Heat some good oil in a frying pan to a high heat then add the peppers whole. Add the larger ones first and turn occasionally.
Sprinkle with good quality ground salt while cooking. you want the skin on the pepper to slightly blister without softening the flesh all the way through.
When cooked turn out onto kitchen paper to drain the excess oil plate up and sprinkle with a little more salt.