Rosie Birkett - The Joyful Home Cook

I also hope that by including recipes for making your own fresh cheese and butters, I’ll show you that it’s worth investing in fewer, better quality dairy products. Although milk, cream and butter are things we have come to take for granted, they vary greatly in terms of flavour and quality according to how they’ve been produced. Again, plump for organic if you can, and keep an eye out for smaller-scale producers – these guys tend to pour their heart and soul into their animals and their products, and it all comes through in the flavour.

Cook’s Notes

To sterilise your jars, wash them (and their lids) in hot, soapy water or in a dishwasher then rinse and completely dry in a low oven for 10–15 minutes (dry lids with a clean tea towel if they aren’t heatproof)

All eggs are medium organic, unless otherwise stated

All milk is whole, unless otherwise stated

All butter is salted, unless otherwise stated

All olive oil is extra-virgin, unless otherwise

All salt is sea salt flakes (I like Maldon), unless otherwise stated

All recipes have been tested in a fan oven

Brunch, Lunch and Bites

We begin this chapter in spring, and there couldn’t be a better way to welcome those first warmer, lighter days than with celebratory dishes of new season asparagus, Jersey Royal potatoes and wild garlic. These ingredients pop up throughout the book, and lend themselves well to the brunchy dishes, bright salads and smaller lunch plates here.

Food is what gets me out of bed, and I’m a toast girl most days, opting for a slice of homemade toasted sourdough, spread thickly with butter, sometimes topped with a fried egg and kimchi. This, then, is the place to introduce you to my simple sourdough (see here) – a rustic, naturally leavened loaf to base many happy meals around, and a starting off point, I hope, for many experiments. You can use it for the Wild Mushrooms on Toast (see here). You’ll also find snacks and dips in this chapter because – while I’m all for buying in crisps – it’s good to have a couple of homemade goodies up your hosting sleeve, too. Cue crispy spring croquettes, filled with a verdant béchamel that marries one of my favourite herbs – lovage – with peas (see here). These nuggets of spring, served with a garden salad, are a strong start to any meal.

New season asparagus

with spiced butter and brown shrimp

Serves 4 as a starter, or 2 as a lunch

Right at the start of asparagus season, at the end of April, there is very little that can improve on the flavour and tenderness of these perfect first spears, but asparagus and butter are always a good idea, so why not throw in some irresistible little brown shrimp too? This is a sort of potted shrimp situation with pools of mace-spiked butter, poured over freshly poached asparagus. The result is something so memorable and magnificent I didn’t feel sheepish serving it to a very brilliant chef for lunch. He loved it. It’s perfect as a celebratory spring lunch, but could work well as a show-stopping sharing starter, too. If you can, make this dish when the early asparagus comes through at the end of April (though later in the season it will still be ridiculously good).

60g unsalted butter

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp ground mace

¼ tsp pink peppercorns, lightly crushed in a pestle and mortar

500g asparagus spears, trimmed

200g peeled brown shrimp

2 leaves of wild garlic, or a handful finely shredded chervil or chives

juice of 1 lemon

a few wild garlic or chive flowers (optional)

chunks of crusty white bread, to serve

1 Warm a large platter or plate in the oven.

2 Gently melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat, then stir in the salt, spices and peppercorns. Stir to combine, then remove from the heat while you cook the asparagus.

3 Bring a few centimetres of salted water to the boil in a saucepan wide enough to hold the asparagus without crowding it. Add the asparagus and poach for 2–3 minutes, until a knife blade inserted into the thickest part of a spear can be pulled out with no resistance. While it’s poaching, return the spiced butter pan to the heat and add the shrimp, wild garlic or herbs and lemon juice, basting the shrimps in the butter. Taste for seasoning. Drain the asparagus and pile onto the warm platter, then pour over the shrimps and butter. Garnish with the flowers, if using, and serve with chunks of crusty bread to dip in the butter.

TIP: If you don’t eat shellfish, leave out the shrimp and top with crushed roasted hazelnuts or the Savoury Granola (see here).

Three-cornered leek and scrambled eggs on toast

Serves 2

Three-cornered leeks often get mistaken for wild garlic, thanks to their allium scent, green stems and pretty white flowers, but they are easy to tell apart. Where wild garlic has fat, flat green leaves and open, star-shaped flowers in clusters, these wild leeks have hollow, three-cornered stalks and droopy, edible bell-shaped flowers, similar to bluebells, except they are white with green stripes running down them. They are in season in the UK from spring until early summer, and have a gentle, mellow green onion-chive flavour which is lovely layered into green salads, added to wilted greens or stir fries. If you can’t find wild leeks use baby leeks, chives or spring onions instead.

4 eggs

25g salted butter, diced, plus extra for spreading

50g three-cornered leek, baby leek or spring onion, washed and roughly chopped

2 slices of sourdough (shop-bought or (see here))

pink peppercorns or dried chilli flakes, to taste

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

three-cornered leek or chive flowers, to serve (optional)

1 Crack the eggs into a bowl or jug. Whisk lightly with a fork, just to break up the yolks, then stir in three-quarters of the diced butter.

2 Heat a small non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the remaining butter to the pan, followed by the three-cornered leek. Season with salt and cook for a minute or two, stirring, until it has wilted into the melted butter. Toast the bread and warm two plates.

3 Add the egg mixture to the pan with the leeks and cook, stirring, until all the butter has melted and the eggs are coagulated but still silky and creamy. Butter the toast and top with the scrambled eggs, season with salt and some freshly ground pink or black peppercorns or chilli flakes and garnish with some of the three-cornered leek flowers, if you can find some.

Kimchi and sweetcorn fritters

with chilli maple syrup

Serves 2 (makes 4–6 fritters)

Sweetcorn fritters have been a staple since childhood. My mum used to make them to go with her ‘chicken Maryland’ – basically spiced fried chicken. My sister and I used to fight over the fritters, so I’ve given them a recipe in their own right, which makes a great brunch dish and also happens to be gluten free. I’ve added the fire and spice in the form of kimchi, which gives them a lovely sour crunch and an addictive, chilli-spiked maple syrup. Add fried eggs, avocado and streaky bacon to this to make it a brunch for four, otherwise serve two fritters per person with some avocado on the side.

2 eggs

3 tbsp water

½ tbsp soy sauce