Kitchen Memories

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

4 slices of pancetta or good-quality smoked streaky bacon, cut into mm pieces

a few sprigs of fresh rosemary or thyme, washed and dried

500ml good-quality dry white wine

salt and black pepper

Use a heavy-based pan with a lid that is large enough to hold the rabbit and the juices. Season the rabbit well on all sides with salt and pepper.

Put the pan on the heat and add half the butter and a drizzle of olive oil. When the butter starts to sizzle, add the rabbit pieces and brown the meat on all sides, then remove them to a plate. You may not have room in the pan to brown all the rabbit in one go, in which case do a few pieces at a time.

Add the remaining butter to the pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the carrots and celery. Let them sweat gently for 8–10 minutes until they become slightly soft on the outside. Add the garlic and pancetta and continue to cook over a medium heat until the pancetta is just about to start turning golden in colour, then add the rosemary or thyme sprigs. Put the rabbit pieces back in the pan with any juices that have been released and add the wine, which should come about two-thirds of the way up the pan. (The rabbit need not be totally submerged.) Let the wine come to a boil, then put the lid on and turn the heat down to a gentle simmer (or you could put it in the oven at 200ºC (180ºC fan) Gas 6). Cook for about hour, occasionally turning the rabbit pieces over to keep them moist. Serve with broad beans and mint (see here (#ulink_7198817d-4603-575c-89b1-a7c89a995e0c)).

EARLY MARCH

This is a strange time of year for ingredients. It can be cold, windy and frosty with days that have buds on stems outlined by blue skies. Leafy vegetables that grow above ground and need frost to taste their best have been delicious; cavolo nero and the chicory family have kept a balance with all the autumn root vegetables. It is time for change, to lighten up even though the produce remains quite limited. The game season finished at the end of February and the spring lamb has yet to come in.

The forced shoots of rhubarb and sea kale are an early sign of spring and are eaten almost as a delicacy. For me, sea kale marks a transition from the winter months into early spring. By eating the early sprouting shoots it seems as if you are literally eating a mouthful of a season to come.

Thinking about what to cook in March is really about how to change the way I approach the ingredients I have been cooking with all winter. There are new arrivals in the form of early carrots and small baby turnips, which have a vibrancy to them that is incredibly refreshing after months of earthy flavours. Beetroots in the shops, or stored since the autumn, look tired and are soft to the touch, with slackened skin that needs removing before they are boiled or roasted. They look ugly too, their skins like overcoats that have spent too long in the trenches covering the wrong type of sweetness. Whereas in summer beetroots can be pulled from the ground, their skins, taut and full of flavour, are kept on and they are delicious roasted or boiled whole when they are still relatively small and young.

At this time of year I want to make light of the ingredients available; griddling a chicken breast or poaching a chicken with a few carrots, leeks and celery seems less hearty and comforting than making a stew of it, which is more suited to cold nights. Early soft-leaved herbs such as marjoram, mint and parsley add an enlivening quality that reminds me of spring and new growth.

FLATTENED CHICKEN WITH HERBS AND LEMON

Beating the chicken breasts between two pieces of greaseproof paper until they are about cm thick and have spread out makes them tender and quick to cook on a grill or griddle. It feels good not to be baking or roasting or stewing after the winter months.

I often cut up a whole chicken if I am not going to use the whole bird in one meal, and then marinate it in lemon and olive oil and whatever herb is around. In March it is usually an evergreen herb such as rosemary, thyme or bay. This is a delicious way of cooking the breasts, but you can also use the boned-out thighs.

In March I serve the chicken with purple sprouting broccoli, as it has just come into season and is at its best. Later on you could have it with some broad beans and peas, or in the summer with a simple tomato salad. At the Sticky Wicket, in Antigua, they griddle flattened chicken to make a delicious hot sandwich with tomato, salad leaves, sour cream and the local chilli sauce.

It is important to eat the chicken as soon as possible after it has come off the grill, when the flesh is still juicy and full of flavour.

FOR 4

4 boned chicken breasts, skin on with the wing bone still attached (chicken supremes) or 4 boned chicken thighs

juice of 1 lemon

a few sprigs of fresh thyme or rosemary, leaves picked from their stems, washed, dried and finely chopped (about 1 tbsp)

2 tbsp olive oil

2–3 medium-sized sweet potatoes, peeled, washed and sliced lengthways into quarters

3 garlic cloves, peeled and crudely smashed

3 or 4 stems of fresh thyme, leaves picked from their stems, washed and dried

1 dried red chilli, crushed

200g purple sprouting broccoli

100g sour cream

2 fresh red chillies, cut in half lengthways, deseeded, stalk removed, then finely chopped

a few sprigs of fresh marjoram, leaves picked from their stems, washed and dried

sea salt and black pepper

Place each piece of chicken between two sheets of greaseproof paper and gently beat the meat until it has spread out to about cm thick. Put the chicken on a plate and squeeze half the lemon juice over. Scatter the tablespoon of thyme or rosemary leaves over the chicken, season with pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and leave to marinate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC (180ºC fan) Gas 6. Put the sweet potato quarters into a bowl with the garlic, thyme leaves, a pinch of the dried chilli and enough olive oil to just coat the potatoes, then season with salt and pepper and toss together. Place in a baking dish and cook in the oven for 35–40 minutes, turning the sweet potatoes every now and again. They are ready when they offer no resistance to a knife tip and the outside is golden and slightly caramelised.

Put a pan of salted water on to boil for the broccoli. Prepare the broccoli by cutting off the thick stem at an angle, leaving 3–4cm still attached to the buds, then slice through the stem and buds lengthways. Leave any smaller, thinner stems intact, just remove the ends. The idea is that they should all cook at the same time and so should be of roughly the same thickness.

Salt the boiling water, then plunge the broccoli in and cook for 2–3 minutes until the stem is just tender when pierced with a knife. Drain in a colander, then return to the pan and pour a little olive oil over. Season with salt and pepper and keep it warm while you cook the chicken.

Heat the grill or griddle pan until smoking hot. Season the chicken with salt, place on the hot griddle or grill and leave to cook undisturbed for minutes or so, then turn and cook for a further 4–5 minutes until the flesh has cooked through. Remove from the heat, place on a board and leave to rest for a few minutes.

Slice the chicken at an angle into strips and serve with the sweet potato, broccoli and a spoonful of sour cream. We love chilli in our family, so I lightly scatter the chopped fresh chilli over the top with a few marjoram leaves and a squeeze of lemon. This makes all the difference.

BROAD BEAN SALAD

Young broad beans with their bright green pods are the first bean of spring. I know I will be cooking with them right through the summer, the beans swelling in size and fading in colour as the sun gets higher, the texture changing as the bean matures, becoming starchy and nuttier in flavour. But in late March, when they first appear (usually imported from Italy) with their tight young skins, small, young and fresh, they are sweet and crisp and provide relief after a winter of dried pulses.

FOR 4

750g fresh young broad beans in their pods, podded

1 tbsp olive oil

100g pancetta, cut into small cubes

1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced into slivers

2 dried red chillies, crushed

a few leaves of fresh mint, washed, dried and roughly chopped

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

juice of ½ lemon

2 small round soft-leaf lettuce, leaves separated, washed and dried