May - Fresh and fabulous!
Just about sums up this month's wonderful produce, reminding us that spring is here and summer is just around the corner.
For cooks it's an exciting time of the year, with sweet young peas arriving on the scene, followed by crisp crunchy broad beans, Jersey Royals and the 'here today and then gone in a flash' fresh delicate asparagus.
Do make the most of the short British asparagus season, which starts on the 1st of May and usually runs for a brief but glorious eight weeks.
Try to buy it from farmers' markets, or buy it straight from the farm where it is grown – nothing could be fresher!
And using the season's young vegetables means the less you mess around with them, the more you can appreciate their fine flavour.
So let's start off this month with a veritable vegetable feast.
ASPARAGUS AND PEPPER MILLE FEUILLES
This is a delightful, colourful, dish to make, using ready-made puff pastry means it doesn't take long to assemble and cook.
Serves 4-6.
Ingredients: 110g ready-made puff pastry. 110g fresh asparagus. 50g mushrooms, sliced. 2 teaspoons oil. 175g mixed peppers, sliced in a little oil. 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese. 1 tablespoon chopped parsley. Cheese sauce: 25g low fat spread. 2 level tablespoons plain flour. 200ml semi-skimmed milk. 50g matured reduced-fat Cheddar cheese, grated. Freshly ground black pepper.
Method: Divide pastry into three and roll out each piece to a rectangle 25x10cm (10"x4"). Place on a foil-covered tray and prick all over with a fork and bake in preheated oven 230C, 450F, Gas Mark 8 for about 10 minutes. Then set aside and make sauce. Combine spread, flour and milk in a pan and heat until spread has melted. Bring to the boil, whisking all the time, remove from heat and add cheese and season to taste. Blanch asparagus for 2-3 minutes, drain well and cut into small pieces. Cook sliced mushrooms in a little oil and stir into the peppers with the asparagus and heat through. Spread a thin layer of cheese sauce over one sheet of pastry and add half the vegetables evenly. Top with a little more cheese sauce and place another layer of pastry on top; repeat layers and top with the final sheet of pastry. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and freshly chopped chives. This recipe came from my cookbook 'Another Step Into My Kitchen'
BUTTERED PEAS
Use only young tender peas for this dish – the smaller the sweeter!
Ingredients: Peas; butter; mint; pepper and salt to taste. Sugar.
Method: Melt a good piece of butter in a saucepan, put in the peas, according to the number of people you are cooking for, add a sprig or two of mint, cover and cook slowly over a gentle heat for about an hour, shaking occasionally. When half cooked, add a sprinkling of salt and pepper and a very little sugar. Remove the mint and serve very hot.
BUTTERED JERSEY ROYALS
As I've written so many times, Jersey Royals can stand as a dish on their own, whether served for lunch, supper, or with a main evening meal.
This recipe is one of my favourite and easiest of dishes to prepare.
Serves 4.
Ingredients: 450g Jersey Royals. Mint sprigs, optional. Butter to serve.
Method: Wash the potatoes in cold water to remove any soil, giving them a gentle scrub, but do leave the fine skins on. Cut any large potatoes in half. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add a good pinch of salt. Put potatoes in pan and add mint sprigs, if you like them, simmer potatoes for 10-15 minutes until just tender. Drain well and serve warm with butter – you can add a few chopped herbs of your choice to your butter.
IN THE PINK!
Last month I wrote about the season's first rhubarb starting to appear in our shops and markets.
These jewel pink stalks are still with us, but soon their brief season will start to make way for the sharp, greener outdoor fruit, ideal for making hot puddings which some cold days in May justify making.
RHUBARB AND STRAWBERRY CRUMBLE
Serves: 4-6.
Ingredients: 500g rhubarb, (trimmed weight) cut into chunks. 250g strawberries, hulled and halved. 50g granulated sugar. 110g plain flour. Pinch of salt. 75g caster sugar. 75g butter. 75g ground almonds. 25g rolled oats.
Method: Pre-heat oven to 180C, 350F, Gas Mark 4. Mix rhubarb, strawberries and granulated sugar and place in a 2 pint baking dish. Sift flour and salt into mixing bowl and add caster sugar. Rub in the butter. When it resembles breadcrumbs, stir in the ground almonds and rolled oats and spread over the fruit. Cook for 40-45 minutes, until golden with juicy bubbles on topping. This crumble can also be eaten cold with a thick yoghurt or a creamy vanilla ice cream.
Fresh and in season this month:
Asparagus - King of the summer vegetables, and in full swing throughout May.
Broad beans - The first ones start to appear in the shops by the end of this month.
Cabbage - Young spring cabbages are sharp tasting and firm. Shred for quick stir fries.
Carrots - Tiny early carrots are bursting with flavour and need very little cooking.
Greens - Spring greens will be vibrantly green this month and full of flavour.
Lettuce - British varieties will include Little Gem, round or cabbage lettuce.
New potatoes - Plenty to enjoy now, with different varieties coming in from Cornwall and East Anglia.
Peas - Tiny bright new peas, perfect alongside new potatoes, fresh salmon and hollandaise sauce.
Rocket - One of the tangiest of salad vegetables, great added to any mix of leaves.
Spring Onions - Gradually getting more flavoursome, eat whole or add sliced into a stir fry.
Turnips - Baby turnips should be steamed and then rolled in butter – delicious!
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Weather for Sudbury
Wednesday 08 February 2012
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