March on, fellow foodies

Blog devotees may remember my rather melodramatic post from a few weeks ago, as I was mired in a pit of despair over the lack of new seasonal foods to eat. Well, my goal is to emerge from that pit this month as best as possible. And in the spirit of Easter, as they say, “always look on the bright side of life.” Brian would be proud.

So, moving from Brian to Tom, what’s new, pussycat? Well, a couple of herbs, for a start – parsley and mint. Now, I absolutely love both of those, and shall be thinking of some excellent ideas. The others aren’t exactly new so much as, well… old, but take heart, my plan is to spice them up with some strong flavours.

On another note, this is my 200th post! Thanks to everyone who reads this labour of love of mine.

Parsley
This Mediterranean herb can evidently hold up against the chill of March, though at the moment all of the parsley in the supermarkets seems to come from either Morocco or Israel. So keep an eye out for some grown a little closer to home.

The best thing about parsley is that it adds so much flavour without the calories. And it's a breath freshener! Just check your teeth for green bits.Here are some recipes that include parsley:

Tabbouleh - my favourite dish ever.

Gremolata - a dry sauce of lemon, garlic and parsley. It's gorgeous added to anything, as a garnish or as a primary ingredient.

Parsley and eggs is a great combo. Try Ainsley's parsley and garlic frittata: it's very healthy. I'd use skim milk - and you know, I don't think it necessarily needs that much oil. Swap wholegrain for white bread

Chop in the food processor and add to any root vegetable (boiled or mashed) for a fresh taste.

Chop in the food processor (again) and add in droves to soups or sauces.

Mint
Mint may make you think of ice cream and chocolate after-dinner sweets, but it actually takes on such a savoury quality when added to other more savoury ingredients. That's why it's such a classic with meats like lamb. And it's one of the ingredients in my favourite, tabbouleh. But here are some other simple ways to use mint.

Minted peas - just grab some peas from the freezer and steam. Stir through the finely-chopped mint just before serving. Or whiz them with a blender for a yummy minted pea soup. Add some chopped ham to bulk it up.

Minted potatoes - or carrots - are a great way to add that spring zing to your plate.

For a warm drink, infuse ginger, lemon and mint with hot water, and add just a touch of honey at the end. It's a real superdrink, inspired by my friend Sarah's advice when I was suffering from a cold.

Yogurt and mint is a fabulous combination, used for a sauce with lamb, or one of my favourites - falafel. Try this cucumber and mint raita - but eat it with lots of crudites, not poppadums! It's a great pre-dinner dip.

Purple sprouting broccoli
I am loving the purple-sprouting at the moment (as you can see by this month's banner on the site). It's British, it's in season, it's not expensive - I bought it as part of a buy one, get one free offer at Sainsbury's only yesterday. Stock up while you can.

I love purple sprouting broccoli as is, just steamed, but there are plenty of other ways to use it:

With chicken and wholewheat fusilli pasta and an anchovy-chilli-olive oil sauce, inspired by an Italian recipe, Orecchiete ai broccoli, that I found in my latest favourite cookbook, Twelve, by Tessa Kiros. It's a bible of Tuscan food, divided by the months of the year. The only problem is that I get a little jealous knowing that asparagus season starts in March for Italians! But I digress...

Beautiful in a stir-fry with any number of spices and herbs - garlic, chilli, cumin, and so on. Match the herb you use to the rest of your dish.

Use it in a veggie soup with other great British late-winter vegetables, like chantenay carrots and leeks. Top it off with some lovely creme fraiche - and maybe some gremolata - see above in the parsley section.

Sardines
I'm not just talking about those out of the tin (though they're not that bad, come on). I'm talking about the lovely, fresh, silvery ones beckoning to you from the fishmonger's window. Sardines stand up to really strong flavours. Go on, you'll like them...

Grill them after marinating them in lemon, garlic and chilli. Reserve a bit of those flavours in olive oil and drizzle (responsibly) over top. Serve with some dill potatoes - warm or cold.

Delia has a great linguine recipe using tinned sardines (of course), capers and chilli. She is right though; they are a great storecupboard ingredient.

Grill them with cumin and lemon, one of my favourite ways to cook mackerel, originally inspired by the wonderful Nigel Slater.

In a great lunchtime salad - use tinned sardines (boneless and skinless, and drained of olive oil) with baby spinach, julienned carrots, sliced cucumber and reduced fat feta, with lemon juice. I take this to work all the time.

Leeks
We'll miss 'em when they're gone, I'm sure. They truly are the soldier of winter. Thank you, little leeks. You have served us well. Keep it simple in the next month or so:

Steam chopped leeks with other veggies - those beautiful chantenay carrots and purple sprouting gems of broccoli. Serve with roast chicken - perhaps this mouth-watering recipe that I read just last week that uses cream cheese. Use light cream cheese and nix the butter, mind - you don't need it.

Dill is a great way to inject spring into the leeks - try this braised leek recipe, which serves six, so may need reducing.

Leek and potato is a classic combination that I think, to be honest, is a little boring sometimes. Skip the soup, and instead saute leeks and sliced, peeled red potatoes and serve up with some fresh French goats cheese (only about 45 calories per serving). Yummy.


Well, I hope that's enough to get us started in March. Next month will be exciting, I promise: strawberries (hooray!!!!!!), spring lamb (that bit too late for Easter, unfortunately... cook a chicken instead), rosemary and spinach are just a few of the delights on the way.