Seasonal food in March is pretty strange – there isn’t a lot of it, for a start. Much of March is traditionally known as the ‘hungry gap’, where stored foods are running out, most overwintering veggies are past their best, and the first Spring crops won’t be ready for a few more weeks.
Things are improving in the UK as growers extend growing seasons with polytunnels, coldframes and greenhouses, and try out new varieties of plants. Keep an eye out for any of the fresh homegrown foods you can get hold of, including:
Fruit: early/forced rhubarb, apples and pears from store.
Vegetables: asian greens, cabbage (green), chicory, endive, kale, leeks, nettle tops, parsley, parsnips, purple sprouting broccoli, sea kale, sorrel, spring greens, spring onions, swedes, wild garlic, winter varieties of lettuce.
Fish and shellfish: bass, brown crab, clams, cockles, pollack, young mackerel, mussels, rock oysters, sardines, scallops, sea trout, wild salmon.
Meat, poultry and game: not the top season for any meats in particular.
Cheeses: Cotherstone, Stilton. Comté, Roquefort.
I think I’ll be cooking up some bashed neeps (swedes) and wilted curly kale to serve with burgers or sausages, some noodle soup with Asian greens and shellfish, and some sprouting broccoli baked with eggs and garlic.
What are you going to cook? Do you have any favourite recipes?
