Simple Beginnings: Beading. Aiden Byrne

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СКАЧАТЬ that I include on my menu are:

      Nasturtium: hot and peppery

      Watercress: peppery

      Buckler sorrel: sharp/citrus/apple

      Red chard: sweet/mild beetroot

      Yellow chard: strong/earthy beetroot

      Chicory italica rosso: bitter/dandelion

      Mizuna: delicate mild/cabbage/hint of mustard

      Russian kale: sweet/cabbage/earthy

      Red mustard: mild cabbage/then increasing mustard flavour/heat

      Bronze fennel: sweet/increasing/intense aniseed

      Green fennel: sweet/mild delicate aniseed

      Broad bean and runner bean flowers: delicate/tastes exactly like the baby pods/tiny hint of sweet pollen

      If you have the inclination, time and space there is also another way you can get closer to the joys of eating fresh vegetables all through the year and that is by growing it yourself. For the truly committed there are allotments but you can produce quite a lot in a small garden or even on a balcony using growbags and containers. As a busy chef I am not the one to tell you how to do it. But I know that it’s a worthwhile exercise and worth exploring if you can. To witness the changes in the garden throughout the year must make you think about food in a different way. If you have nurtured something from seedling to maturity you will really appreciate its value.

      You can really do anything with vegetables, but remember the biggest sin of all is overcooking. Vegetables picked young and fresh from the garden need barely any cooking or no cooking at all. Old stale vegetables, or those that are cooked too long, not only loose the high proportion of vitamins and minerals that are in vegetables, but become dull and tasteless as well.

      Every month of the year there is something new arriving at my kitchen door to get me motivated and excited. The dishes that go on the menu in the restaurant are constantly changing as we celebrate the seasons and incorporate vegetables that are at their most tender and flavoursome. Britain is capable of providing outstanding vegetables and if you keep your ear close to the ground and badger your suppliers for seasonal produce you will reap the rewards.

      Richard Vine is the master of micro salads in England. I’ve been fortunate enough to have known him for almost ten years. I’ve wanted to pay homage to Richard for a long time by creating a dish based around his gorgeous nasturtiums. The watercress-like pepperiness of the nasturtium leaves is an excellent counterpoint to the pickled cockles and capers. The pickled cockles are best prepared at least a day in advance.

      Richard Vine’s Nasturtium Salad with Pickled Cockles, Red Mullet and Capers

      SERVES 4

      75 ml white wine vinegar

      10 white peppercorns

      100 ml white wine

      3 large sprigs of thyme

      6 bay leaves

      1 onion, roughly chopped

      4 garlic cloves, sliced

      1 kg fresh cockles, rinsed in cold water for 2–3 hours to remove any sand

      150 g potato, peeled and finely sliced

      pinch saffron strands

      2 egg yolks

      200 ml vegetable oil, plus extra for frying

      juice of 1 lemon

      30 medium-sized nasturtium leaves

      24 multicoloured nasturtium flowers

      75 g ready-made tempura batter mix (available from Asian food stores)

      4 small red mullet fillets, scaled and pin-boned

      olive oil, for tossing

      1 large banana shallot, sliced into rings

      2 teaspoons superfine capers

      salt and pepper

      MAKE THE PICKLING liquor. Put the white wine vinegar and white peppercorns in a saucepan with half the white wine, half the thyme sprigs and half the bay leaves in a saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes. Leave to cool and season with a little salt.

      MIX THE ONION with the remaining wine, thyme and bay leaves and half the garlic. Heat your largest casserole-style pan for 5–6 minutes and add the drained cockles and the onion and wine mixture. Cover and cook for 3–4 minutes.

      POUR THE COCKLES onto a tray and allow them to cool slightly (reserving the cooking liquor). Pick the cockles out of their shell and put them straight into the pickling liquor. Leave them in the liquor for as long as possible, up to 24 hours.

      MAKE THE SAFFRON cream. Strain the liquid in which cockles were cooked through muslin or a very fine sieve place into a saucepan with the remaining garlic and the sliced potato and the saffron. Cook until the liquid is almost gone. While it still warm add the egg yolks and, using a whisk attachment on a hand blender gradually add the oil, as if you were making mayonnaise. Season with salt and lemon juice and set aside.

      MAKE UP THE BATTER according to the directions on the packet. Coat a quarter of the nasturtium flowers, leaves and cockles in the batter and fry in hot oil until crisp. Season with salt and lemon juice as soon as they come out of the fryer.

      SEASON THE FISH fillets and cook in a nonstick frying pan, skin side down, for about 1½ minutes until the skin is crisp. Turn the fish over and cook for a further 30 seconds. Season with lemon juice and cut each fillet into 3 pieces.

      TO SERVE, put some saffron cream on each plate. Toss the remaining cockles in a little olive oil and scatter them over each plate. Add the deep-fried cockles, flowers and leaves, and then sprinkle over the remaining leaves and flowers. Add the capers and shallot rings and finally scatter over the fish fillets.

      The trick with this recipe is to make the watercress stay as green as possible. Watercress is at its best in the summer months, and the English season runs from March to September. Like rocket, goats’ cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, watercress has suffered lately from having become rather trendy, but I still think it’s one of the most satisfying and vibrant leaves there is.

      Watercress Soup with Poached Cod and Hen’s Egg

      SERVES 4

      1 litre whole milk

      1 garlic clove, halved

      4 large sprigs of thyme

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