Spring is well and truly here in the northern hemisphere, which means that we suddenly have a whole lot more fresh, locally grown food to choose from. Here in the UK we are coming into asparagus season, which is very exciting. English asparagus has a worldwide reputation for its succulent texture and strong, fresh flavour. Its harvest season is very short but it’s worth gorging yourself on it for a couple of months and then not bothering with the imports at all, which may be inferior and will certainly be less fresh.

Right now it’s all about spring greens - as well as asparagus, there’s spring onion, peas and beans, and we’re still getting purple sprouting broccoli. I love the look of this spring ragout on 101 Cookbooks. It uses fava beans, which is what we call broad beans in the UK and Australia. Last year I got a lot of broad beans in <a href=”http://www.abelandcole.co.uk” target=”_new”>my organic vegetable box</a> so I’m looking forward to that.

The seasonal ingredients in April’s In the Bag event on A Slice of Cherry Pie were watercress, feta cheese and Jersey royal potatoes. There is a small but excellent round-up of creations on the site - my personal favourite is the watercress soup with feta, potato and thyme bread from The Pie Times.

I didn’t enter this month - I was away for half the month and have been really busy with work since my return. Instead I took inspiration from the event and used similar ingredients for a simple packed lunch. I didn’t find any Jersey Royal potatoes but I steamed some lovely new potatoes and served them cold with a thick fillet of spicy smoked salmon, a handful of watercress, a couple of spoons of natural cottage cheese, and salt and pepper. It was heavenly! It spent a couple of hours in my lunch before I ate it, which actually enhanced the flavours because it meant the juices had time to run into each other and marinate. I would definitely make it again - it would also work with smoked trout or mackerel and perhaps with different greens such as rocket or baby spinach.