As our first spring and summer foods appear - those foods of the season which the Italians simply call primavera - we have the chance to enjoy the fresh and sweet flavours which have been absent from our winter diets. But whereas the first foods of the Italian spring - aubergine, courgette, peppers - don't come into their season here until our full summer arrives, May heralds for us the gentle, yet sweetly satisfying, tastes of spring lamb, spring cabbage, purple sprouting broccoli, delicate lettuces and peppery rocket. This is the time, then, to scour the shelves for locally produced organic spring vegetables and enjoy an Irish primavera, accentuating the natural sweetness of these foods simply with garlic, fruity olive oil, the zing of pepper flakes, lemon, and the new season fresh herbs.
Spring Cabbage
The first of the primavera vegetables - even its name announces the change in the calendar.
Spring cabbage suits stir frying, as its texture is similar to many Chinese greens. It is delicate, but needs a little more cooking than those greens which need only to be wilted over heat - but be careful not to overcook it.
Spring Cabbage with Mint, Lemon and Garlic
1 head spring cabbage, shredded
olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
good pinch of red pepper flakes
quarter teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
zest of quarter of a lemon
3 sprigs of mint leaves, shredded
In a wok (use a saute pan if you don't have a wok), heat the olive oil until quite hot, but don't let it reach smoking temperature. Stir fry the garlic and pepper flakes until they release their aroma, being careful not to brown the garlic. Add the cabbage to this flavoured base and stir fry until it begins to wilt and release its juices. Add salt, turn down the heat and simmer until the cabbage is just cooked. Finally add the lemon juice, zest and mint leaves. Serve immediately
Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Young broccoli takes well to the flavours of oil and garlic, and here is a simple braising technique that sharpens and concentrates the flavours of the broccoli beautifully. White sprouting broccoli suits the recipe just as well.
Purple Sprouting Broccoli braised with Garlic
450g (1 lb) purple sprouting broccoli 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/3 of a cup of water
salt and pepper
lemon wedges
Choose a saute pan with a lid. Heat the olive oil until quite hot, add the garlic and pepper flakes, stirring constantly to flavour the oil, being careful not to brown the garlic. Add the broccoli and toss until it begins to wilt. Turn down the heat, add the water, the salt and pepper and cover. Cook for a further 6-8 minutes. Serve with its cooking juices and wedges of lemon.
Cooking Sea Trout/Salmon Trout
`Fish cognoscenti love this fish", write William Black and Sophie Grigson in their book Fish, and when you come across a good sea trout (also called salmon trout - the fish is remarkably similar to salmon) you will understand why.
Having a whole fish, recently, rather than just fillets of fish, gave me a chance to try out a fairly failsafe technique, where the fish is baked in a foil envelope.
What you do is to lay out a double layer of foil on the table, chop some carrots, onion and fennel leaves and scatter them on the foil. Wash and dry and season the fish and stuff some chopped fennel leaves into its stomach pouch. Place the fish on the chopped vegetables, scatter some more on the top, then lay on thin slices of peeled lemon. Pour over some olive oil and some vermouth, then fold the foil parcel as tightly as you can.
Start it in a hot oven (475F/240C/gas 9) for the first 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 375F/190C/gas 5. The fish should take about 40 minutes for a good sized sea trout. When it is done, transfer it to a large plate, open the package and skin the fish, then lift off the fillet from the back bone. Another technique which suits fillets of sea trout well is to heat your oven to maximum, then heat a heavy frying pan until it is very hot. Pour some olive oil into the pan, season the fish with salt and pepper, then place the fillet flesh side down in the pan. Cook for about 90 seconds on maximum heat, then transfer it straight to the oven. The fillet will be ready in about another two minutes.
The fleshiness of sea trout means the fish can stand a fairly punchy sauce, such as the following.
Rocket
Rocket is peppery when raw and a fabulous addition to spring salads. When cooked or macerated in oil, however, it takes on a different character, more gentle and accommodating to other flavours. This is a sauce made from rocket and olive oil, and we have named it Rocket Fuel. It's hugely adaptable and can be used for spooning over roasted sea trout (see above), for drizzling on spuds, tossing with pasta, as a base for a spring salad (just add some balsamic vinegar) or, with the addition of a few extra ingredients, as a dip.
Rocket Fuel
100g (3 1/2oz) rocket
4 cloves garlic
3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
salt and pepper
175ml (6 fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
Process the rocket, garlic and tomato until smooth. Season very generously with the salt and pepper, and then drizzle in the olive oil with the motor running until you get a smooth sauce. Leave to sit before using to let the flavours infuse.
Rocket Fuel Dip
Place a bowl of this on the table with some of olive bread (recipe below) and watch it disappear. The curry powder used gives a truly savoury background flavour. Don't be tempted to add any more than the stated quantity.
100ml (3 1/2fl oz) "rocket fuel" (see above)
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
olive oil
Mix the curry powder and the fennel seeds into the rocket fuel, then add the extra olive oil until you have a dipping sauce consistency. This was made to have olive bread dunked into it.
Olive Bread
These spring flavours need bread to accompany them, and here is an easy-cook and adaptable loaf to partner these light spring tastes.
This recipe is adapted from an idea by Wolfgang Puck. It works best with Dove's Farm Organic Strong white flour - heavier "bakers" flour is more difficult to work with.
This recipe calls for Nicoise olives although we have also used Californian olives which had been stuffed with habanero peppers. Other alternatives are 1 tablespoon of pesto or 1 tablespoon of good olive oil. You could also use a heaped tablespoon of double concentrate tomato paste plus a couple of teaspoons of fennel seeds to make a tomato-fennel bread. Do note that the timings are important.
5 cups plus 2 teaspoons bread flour
2 cups cold water
1 package fast action dried yeast
4oz Nicoise olives, pitted and sliced
2 teaspoons salt
Insert the dough hook into an electric mixer and on 1 or low speed, combine 5 cups of flour and the water for 4 minutes. Sprinkle the yeast over the dough, turn the speed to 2, and mix 4 minutes longer. The dough will be clustered around the dough hook and will pull cleanly away from the bowl.
Toss the olives with the 2 teaspoons flour, add to the dough with the salt and mix 2 minutes longer. Remove the bowl from the mixer, cover with a clean tea towel, and let rest for 15 minutes.
Turn the dough out on a heavily floured surface, lightly knead into a ball, and let rest, covered, for 45 minutes.
Punch out the air, cut the dough in half, and fold into two loaves or shape into two long baguettes. Sprinkle with flour, cover with a towel and let rest for another 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas 5, and place an empty baking tray underneath the shelf where you intend to bake the bread.
When you are ready to bake, using a sharp knife, make diagonal slashes across the bread and then place on an oiled tray and put in the oven (if you have a good bakestone technique, then you can do this as well).
Splash some water onto the hot baking tray to create steam - this gives the bread a better crust. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Cool bread on a rack.