For me, using vegetables that are in season is one of the delights of being a chef. Taking an ingredient which is in abundance and making something tasty is a task which still delights me 35 years after starting my cooking career.
For this reason, our two delicious recipes this week are all about seasonality: crab and potato salad and courgette tagliatelle.
When it comes to potatoes, I love the Comber Earlies season but given our attempt at a summer this year, they were hard to come by in the restaurant, so this crab salad uses Jersey Royals.
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Crab and Potato Salad
Ingredients
(Serves 4-6)
- 800g Comber Earlies or Jersey Royals
- ½ bunch mint, chopped in half
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 100g green beans
- 8 quail eggs
- 200g white crab meat
- 50ml red wine vinegar
- 100ml olive oil
- Salt
- Black pepper
Method
- Start by cleaning the potatoes, prick all over, place in a pot of boiling water with the mint for 15 minutes or until al dente, drain and leave in colander.
- Next, place the beans in a pot of boiling water and cook for 2 minutes, remove and place in iced water. Strain and chop in half.
- In this pot, add in the quails eggs and cook for 6 minutes, remove from pot, refresh in iced water, peel and half the eggs.
- For the dressing, whisk the red wine vinegar with the olive oil.
- To serve, place the potatoes on a large plate and top with the beans, sliced onion and eggs. Finish by drizzling over the red wine vinegar dressing and seasoning with salt and pepper.
Courgette Tagliatelle
Ingredients
(Serves 4)
- 300g tagliatelle
- 3 courgettes
- 10g butter
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
- 1 pinch chilli flakes
- ½ lemon, zest and juice
- 3 tbsp crème fraiche, you can use low fat
- 30g parmesan, grated
- Salt
- Black pepper
Method
- To start, cook the pasta until al dente, remove and keep a cup of the water for later.
- For the courgettes, trim and cut into roundels about 3cm in depth. Next, melt the butter in a frying pan and add in the courgettes, thyme, chilli and salt, cooking for three minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add in the juice and zest of the lemon, cooking for a further three minutes.
- Next, remove from the heat and stir in the crème fraiche and half the grated parmesan. Now add in the pasta and coat with the sauce and courgette. If the sauce is not loose enough, add in some of the pasta water and this will help to loosen.
- To plate, garnish with the rest of the parmesan.
