Frittata doesn't get better than this !

I was giving this dish a trial this morning as I am demonstrating for Riverford again this weekend at the Sussex Food & Farming show, Weald and Downland open-air Museum, Singleton, West Sussex. I wanted to combine a few of the seasonal flavours that are available this week and create a dish that can be cooked, start to finish, in 30 minutes as this is how long I have on stage. I can't quite describe how fantastically delicious this fittata is. Cook it now ! Before the wild garlic is no more and the purple sprouting has vanished for another year. I think these are my favourite spring vegetables. Purple sprouting , the first showing of fresh green after the roots of winter , tender, sweet and bursting with vitamins, as fresh and crisp as a spring morning. Wild garlic is a dichotomy of intense yet subtle over and undertones, sometimes garlic, sometimes spring onion and hints of leek. Both are only with us for a short season and this dish uses them both to their best.

Purple sprouting broccoli, wild garlic & taleggio frittata

Serves: 4

• Taleggio cheese, sliced
 
• 1 large handful purple sprouting broccoli stems

• 1 handful wild garlic leaves, shredded or a couple of crushed regular cloves

• 6 eggs, beaten

• 1 medium onion, sliced

• 1 small leek, sliced

• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• Salt and pepper 

Blanch the broccoli stems in boiling salted water for a few minutes, plunge into cold water and drain. Soften the onions , leek and garlic , if using, in a little olive oil in an ovenproof frying pan on a gentle heat for about 5 minutes until soft. Arrange half the broccoli in the pan, Season the beaten eggs with salt and pepper and mix in the parsley and wild garlic if using and pour this evenly over the broccoli/onion/ and leek mixture. Layer on the rest of the broccoli and push down into the egg before laying the cheese slices on top.

Cook over a low-ish heat until you can see the frittata cooking at the edges. Then pop it under a medium hot grill to finish. Keep an eye on it as the top cooks fast. Serve warm with a crisp green or tomato salad.

Riverford at Number11

Last night I had my cooking hat on again over in Folkestone Kent for Riverford Organics, the veg box delivery people. We were hosted by Number11 the very cute little restaurant just off the harbour front in Folkestone and were made very welcome by Douglas and his staff. The idea of the night was to demonstrate and chat about a few seasonal dishes that are easy to achieve using the ingredients from this week’s organic veg box. Quite a few people seem to get stuck with their boxes and run out of ideas. What we wanted to do was show off some simple delicious recipes that would inspire, encourage and hopefully get customers to try something just a little bit different.

On the menu we had wild garlic risotto, purple sprouting broccoli with hollandaise, fennel and orange salad and to finish off rhubarb, orange & ginger pavlova. All delicious and individually very easy dishes to cook, I just had to produce enough of each for the 38 people present.

I started off with the risotto, which as you know takes a deal of attention and a fair bit of stirring and in turn about 20 minutes of chat to accompany the procedure. You never think of that when you plan these things. Always focusing on the logistics of cooking the dish in front of a live audience but not really considering the amount of chat involved. Thanks to a lively and spontaneous crowd though the banter warmed up alongside the risotto and we soon had a good open discussion going on. This continued through the next few courses and by the end of what turned out to be nearly three hours of cooking and talking I retired somewhat dry in the throat to the confines of the kitchen to do the washing up.

Thanks again to all involved Caroline at Riverford Home Delivery Ashford and all the crew at Number11 Folkestone.
Event photos by Chrissy Asteraki-Speer

Wild Garlic Risotto

Serves: 4

• 250g Arborio rice 
• 750ml Vegetable stock 
• 3tbsp olive oil 
• 1 white onion finely chopped 
• 1 garlic clove crushed 
• 1 handful of wild garlic leaves 
• 1 lemon juiced 
• 1 glass of white dry wine 
• 30g butter 
• Salt & pepper

Heat the oil in a heavy based pan and gently fry the onion for a few minutes. Add the crushed garlic clove stir in for a minute or two and then pour in some more olive oil and add the rice. Cook the rice for a few minutes until the rice absorbs some of the oil and starts to puff a little. If you are using wine this is the time to add it to the pan and heat until absorbed into the rice. Now start adding the stock, just cover the rice and stir whilst it is absorbed and then repeat. Keep cooking until the rice is nearly done but still a bit ‘husky’ and now add the garlic leaves and the lemon juice, season with salt & pepper and keep cooking adding more stock as required until the rice is al dente. Remove from the heat, stir in the butter cover and let it sit for five minutes, then serve on warmed plates.

Fennel & orange salad

Serves 6

• 2 Fennel Bulbs 
• 3 Oranges 
• 1 Garlic clove 
• Lemon Juice (1 lemon) 
• 3 tbsp Olive oil 
• 1 handful of Black olives (stoned) 
• Flat leaf parsley 
• Salt & Pepper 

Finely shred the Fennel, using a mandolin if you have one and place in a bowl, squeeze over a little lemon juice to keep it from colouring. Cut the skin and pith from the oranges and slice out the segments into another bowl and squeeze the juice from the remaining part of the orange and save. Mix the orange segments, olives and parsley into the fennel, sprinkle liberally with the dressing adjust the seasoning if needed.

To make the dressing: Whisk the olive oil, crushed garlic, remaining lemon juice and some seasoning into the orange juice. 

Purple sprouting broccoli & hollandaise recipe click here

Rhubarb orange & ginger pavlova

Serves: 6

• 4 egg whites 
• 275g caster sugar 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1 tsp cornflour 
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar 
• 250ml double cream 
• Zest of an orange 
• 6 sticks of rhubarb 
• 2 pieces of preserved stem ginger 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks and then slowly whisk in 225g of the caster sugar. When all the sugar is incorporated whisk for another 2 minutes until you have a stiff shiny mixture. Now add the cornflour and continue whisking, the vinegar and vanilla extract, whisk for a short while more until all the ingredients are well mixed together.

Place a sheet of greaseproof paper on a baking sheet and run the sheet and paper under a cold-water tap to thoroughly soak it. Drain off the excess water. Now spoon the meringue onto the sheet of greaseproof making a pile about 6cm high and 25cm in diameter. Place in the oven and immediately turn down to 100 degrees (80 for fan) and cook the pavlova for an hour and a half. Remove from the oven and leave to cool and peel off the greaseproof paper. If you can make this a couple of hours before you need it or even the day before then all the better. The more the meringue dries out the crisper it becomes on the outside but still remains gooey in the middle.

Chop the rhubarb into 5cm lengths and cook in a sauté pan with 50g sugar and the finely grated or julienne orange zest, check for sweetness and add more sugar if needed but don’t over sweeten as rhubarb is best remaining a little tart. Cook for about ten minutes or until the rhubarb is just tender to a knife. Allow to cool

Now whisk up your cream until stiff, spread over the meringue base generously and spoon over the rhubarb and allow some of the juices to drizzle over the edge. Chop the ginger into small little chucks and scatter liberally over the top. Some toasted almond flakes make a nice finish too.