Cockles Cockles are small, edible bivalves. Traditionally sold with winkles and whelks, cockles have been a popular British seaside snack for many years. They were also sold by vendors outside London pubs who, in the absence of scales, used a pint glass as a measure. They've been sold by the pint ever since. Live cockles in their shells are available from some fishmongers. Cooked and shelled cockles can be bought in jars, preserved in brine or vinegar. They can be used in seafood pie or tossed in a salad, eaten raw or steamed until their shells open, like mussels. Use them in soups, risotto, paella or stew them in a tomato sauce for pasta.
Crab Crabs produce both white and brown meat. The sweet white meat comes from the claws, while the rich brown meat comes from the body, including the liver, which is considered a delicacy. Fans of crab say that this crustacean has sweeter tasting white meat than lobster has. Male crabs tend to have larger claws and more white meat. However, the females can come with coral - a flavoursome red roe. You can buy a crab live and boil it yourself, or alternatively ask your fishmonger to kill it for you, or buy it ready cooked. Crabmeat is great in pastas, salads, soups or soufflés. It goes well with cream, butter, lemon and chilli. Cooked crabmeat can be bought in cans too, which is useful for adding to pasta or making quick crabcakes, but the flavour is not as good as the fresh version.
Lettuce Lettuce was first cultivated as a medicine. Wild lettuce contains an active element with a mild sleep-inducing effect. Lettuce is now widely used in Asian and Western cookery. Cooked lettuce has long been popular in Asian kitchens - it is often stir-fried or blanched in China. It also makes a handy serving container for spicy minced meat salads in Thai or Korean cooking. Cooked lettuce is becoming trendier in Europe - it all started with petit pois à la Française, the traditional dish of cooked peas and finely sliced lettuce. These days, chefs are adding it to risotto or grilling stuffed lettuce halves with cheese.
Morel mushrooms This distinctive mushroom has a pitted honeycomb-like fruit body and is hollow inside. It can only be found in the wild and is highly prized. Morels can be bought dried and in cans, as well as fresh. Raw morels are mildly toxic so must be cooked before eating - they can be stewed, added to omelettes or eggs en cocotte, or chopped up and used in sauces to serve with steak. Or simply fry them in butter or olive oil and serve on toast. Do take the time to clean them carefully to remove any grit or soil.
Rosemary Rosemary is an evergreen plant, so it can be enjoyed all year round. At this time of year, as the weather gets warmer, the plants start to bush out and produce scented blue flowers. The flowers look great and give a delicate flavour to sweet dishes, such as ice cream, mousse and fool, or can be scattered on food as a garnish for meat, fish or salads. It's the intensely aromatic leaves of rosemary that give the strong flavour that marries so well with mutton, lamb, pork and poultry. Insert sprigs into roasting joints, pop a few into the roasting tin when roasting vegetables or fish, or add a different dimension to chocolate sauce or fruit syrup. It's best to remove the sprigs after cooking but if you chop the leaves up very finely, you can add them to flavour stuffing and sauces.
Spinach Spinach is featured in cuisines all over the world. Full of vitamins and iron, its health-giving properties are well known, but it's generally loathed by young children - in spite of Popeye's attempts to promote its virtues. Young leaves are best because older leaves can be tough. Spinach has a distinctly earthy flavour; the leaves can be enjoyed as a side vegetable or as salad, or they can be incorporated into a wide range of dishes including soups, pies, omelettes, soufflés or quiches.
Spring lamb Lamb is associated with spring in many cultures. In Christian cultures, it's the roast to serve on Easter Sunday. Lamb is available all year round but spring lamb has small, slender bones with pink, rosy coloured flesh that is meltingly tender and more subtle than darker-fleshed summer or autumn lamb. Choose joints and cuts carefully; go for lean pieces and avoid any with yellow or crumbly fat.
Wild garlic In the UK, wild garlic (Allium ursinum) has many peculiar identities - 'bear's garlic', 'devil's garlic', 'gypsy's onions' and 'stinking Jenny' are just some of them. It's no surprise that this seasonal ingredient is called so many names - it gives off an incredibly pungent smell in the wild. Unlike common cultivated garlic, it's the leaves that are eaten rather than the bulbs. The taste is more delicate too, similar to the flavour of chives. The leaves can be eaten raw or lightly cooked. Be sure to wash them well - some recipes also call for blanching the leaves for a few minutes in boiling water. Wild garlic can be stirred into risottos or omelettes, added to soups or used in sauces to accompany meat and fish.
Also in season asparagus I bananas I broccoli I cauliflower I cod I crab I Jersey Royal new potatoes I John Dory I kiwi fruit I purple sprouting broccoli I radishes I rhubarb I rocket I salmon I sea bass I sea trout I sorrel I spring onions I watercress I wood pigeon
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