weekend
SEASONAL
READY FOR SPRING Be inspired by the bounty of exciting produce with recipes from Esther Clark photographs YUKI SUGIURA
G
reen, rich vegetables are at their best in April, including spinach, purple sprouting broccoli and crunchy spring onions. With a mild onion flavour and crunch, spring onions are equally delicious raw and cooked. The white part of the onion has the strongest punch, but never be tempted to discard the green part – the flavour is more subtle, but still worth using. Clean spring onions well before cooking with them, though, as they have a habit of harbouring dirt and grit inside their hollow stems. I like to griddle whole spring onions and pile them onto toast with lemon zest, ricotta and herbs. They’re also delicious served on a bed of Spanish romesco sauce. In my pie recipe, they’re part of the topping – pairing so well with the creamy poached chicken filling. Purple sprouting broccoli is an iconic vegetable with its purple tops and dark, long leaves, and richer in flavour than the standard variety. It’s far more robust, too. It
48 BBC Good Food Middle East April 2022
can be simply griddled, drizzled in olive oil and topped with sea salt and a squeeze of lemon juice, but I’ve cooked mine into a soup that’s rounded off with salty blue cheese. If you’re not a fan of the pungent cheese, you can simply omit or use lemon zest instead. Finally, seeing bunches of deep green spinach is a sure sign that spring is here. Look out for larger leaves for greater depth of flavour. Spinach is packed with goodness and a fantastic addition to your morning smoothie or juice blend. Wilt it into a tomato-based curry or stuff it into cannelloni tubes with ricotta, if you like. I really love it paired with eggs, as the two naturally work so well together. I’ve worked spinach through a rich tomato sauce inspired by a classic Italian pomodoro sauce and dotted it with creamy ricotta, and cooked eggs in amongst all that, keeping the yolks glossy and runny (see recipe, opposite). It’s so comforting served with lots of crusty bread for mopping up all the sauce.
