Spring is definitely here! The Hawthorne hedges that line the lanes around our house are budding with May flowers, slender acid-green leaves are shooting from the willows in the garden and our fruit trees are full of soft, trembling blossoms.
Perhaps it’s because Easter was so early this year, but the season seems to have taken longer than usual to step into its full, glorious, stride, and I’ve been willing its emergence through every grey, water-logged day. It’s not that’s it’s been very cold, it’s just been dull and I’d begun to fear we would be stuck in a semi-winter for months to come.
But of course, the temperature has begun to rise, and even with a few more degrees of warmth, the natural world has begun to rush into life, and all of the secret workings beneath the soil have become apparent. The first radishes and salad leaves are sprouting in our vegetable patch, and at our local farmers’ market, clever people with poly-tunnels have begun selling their first fresh vegetables of the year.
The countryside is suddenly verdant with new possibilities, and for me it’s one of the most joyful times of year to be in the garden and kitchen. So in celebration of that, here’s a poem and a recipe, because, as Gerald Manley Hopkins writes, ‘Nothing is so beautiful as Spring’.
Spring by Gerald Manley Hopkins
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.
What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.
But back to the recipe…
Ingredients
For the Salad:
4oog handfuls of Jersey Royal potatoes (approximately 4 handfuls)
150g marsh samphire
A small bunch of French Breakfast radishes (approximately 12-16, depending on size)
Handful of parsley
Handful of sorrel
A good glug of olive oil
Squeeze of lemon juice and zest (from an unwaxed lemon)
Salt
For the Aioli:
3 egg yolks
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 clove of garlic
A pinch of Maldon salt
100ml of vegetable oil and 100ml of olive oil, combined
A few saffron strands
A pinch of dried chillies
Method
- Begin by making the aioli. Separate three egg yolks into a large bowl. You don’t need the whites, so either discard them or save them for another recipe.
- Crush the garlic clove into the yolks, add the dijon mustard and salt and whisk to combine.
- Slowly begin to pour the oil into the egg yolks, whisking continuously. If at any point the mayonnaise looks a little greasy, or as if it might split, add a little squeeze of lemon and keep whisking. Continue into all the oil is incorporated.
- Add the saffron strands and dried chillies and set the mayonnaise aside for the flavours to infuse.
- Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the potatoes until tender.
- In the meantime slice the radishes as thinly as possible and finely chop the parsley and sorrel.
- When the potatoes are done scoop them out of the boiling water and set aside. Add the samphire to the water and boil for just a couple of minutes, until it begins to soften.
- Dress the potatoes with olive oil, salt and just a squeeze of lemon. Add the samphire, radishes and herbs and toss to combine.
- Serve the salad warm with a sprinkling of lemon zest and a good dollop of the spiced mayonnaise.
