MAKE YOUR OWN STOCK
photographs YUKI SUGIURA
Instead of discarding the chicken bones, you can make homemade stock by tipping the bones into a large pan along with whatever veg and herbs you have to hand (chopped carrots, onion and celery with rosemary, thyme and bay leaves work well) and 2 litres of water. Season and simmer for two-three hours until reduced by half. Strain into an airtight container and chill for up to three days or freeze for up to three months.
VEG Q&A
March sits snugly between winter and spring and is usually a sign of milder weather with all the new and exciting produce that brings.
Emma Crawforth is a qualified horticulturist, trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and is the gardening editor for BBC Gardeners’ World. This month, she gives advice on spinach.
Green, rich vegetables are at their best this time of year, including spinach, purple sprouting broccoli and crunchy spring onions.
When is spinach ready?
With a mild onion flavour and crunch, spring onions are equally delicious raw and cooked. The white part of the onion has the strongest punch, but never be tempted to discard the green part – the flavour is more subtle, but still worth using. Clean spring onions well before cooking with them, though, as they have a habit of harbouring dirt and grit inside their hollow stems. I like to griddle whole spring onions and pile them onto toast with lemon zest, ricotta and herbs. They’re also delicious served on a bed of Spanish romesco sauce. In my pie recipe on page 100, they’re part of the topping – pairing so well with the creamy poached chicken and pancetta filling.
Mature spinach takes around 11 weeks from spring or summer sowing, but baby leaves can be cut after two weeks. Careful harvesting as a cut-and-come crop will give you plenty of leaves over several weeks while the plants grow.
Purple sprouting broccoli is an iconic vegetable with its purple tops and dark, long leaves, and richer in flavour than the standard variety. It’s far more robust, too. It can be simply griddled, drizzled in olive oil and topped with sea salt and a squeeze of lemon juice, but I’ve cooked mine into a soup that’s rounded off with salty blue cheese (p102). If you’re not a fan of the pungent cheese, you can simply omit or use lemon zest instead.
What time of year does it grow?