1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 slices of preserved lemon, deseeded and finely chopped (shop-bought or (see here)), or grated zest of ½ unwaxed lemon
250g mixed greens (chard, spinach, watercress, kale) and soft herbs (lovage, parsley, dill, basil, tarragon)
1 tbsp lemon juice
75g Fresh Curd Cheese (see here), ricotta or cream cheese
100g feta, camembert or mozzarella, diced or roughly chopped
1 tsp Fermented Green Chillies (see here) or shop-bought pickled green chillies (optional)
nutmeg, for grating
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp za’atar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the pastry
180g light spelt (or plain) flour, and 20g wholegrain rye flour (or 200g spelt or plain flour)
100g ricotta or full-fat natural yoghurt
1 tsp fine sea salt
½ tsp ground cumin
20ml olive oil
1–3 tbsp iced water
1 First, make the pastry. Place the flour(s), ricotta, salt and cumin in the bowl of a food processor and blitz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the olive oil and the iced water, a tablespoon at a time, sprinkling it all across the crumb and blitzing between additions until the dough clumps together (you may not need all the water). Tip the dough out into a bowl and mould it into a ball. Wrap it in greaseproof paper (rather than cling film, which makes it sweat) and leave it to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
2 Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and slide in the onion, garlic and preserved lemon or lemon zest with a pinch of salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, until softened and fragrant but not colouring, then add the greens. Season with salt, pepper and a little lemon juice, put the lid on and let them wilt down for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer the greens to a sieve to drain, pressing down on the greens to get rid of any excess moisture. Roughly chop them, then tip into a bowl, add the cheeses and fermented chillies (if using) and toss to combine, grating over a little fresh nutmeg and salt and pepper. Leave to cool.
3 Remove the pastry from the fridge, unwrap it and divide it into four equal balls, pressing the balls into discs. Dust the surface with flour and roll each ball out to a circle about 20cm in diameter and just a little thinner than a pound coin.
4 Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6 and line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
5 Fill each circle of pastry with the cooled greens and cheese mix, leaving a 2cm border around the edge of the filling, drizzle over a little more olive oil and fold the pastry around the filling to seal. It’s up to you how you do this. You can either fold one half of pastry over the filling, seal to the other half and crimp like a pasty, or you can fold the edges up into the middle like an envelope or a little bag. Once formed, place on the lined baking sheet and chill for about 10 minutes, until firm.
6 Remove the pies from the fridge and brush them with the beaten egg. Scatter over the za’atar and bake in the oven for 35–40 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden.
Asparagus, pea and lovage croquettes
on a garden salad
Serves 4
Broken open, these crunchy, golden croquettes reveal all the joys of spring. Oozing with a vivid green filling of peas, asparagus and fragrant, slightly spicy lovage, they are at once indulgent and virtuous, and serious fun. Here I serve them with a dollop of sour cream but they are also lovely with the homemade mayo (see here).
For the asparagus
420ml salted water
200g asparagus spears, trimmed
juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
For the croquettes
150g frozen peas
25g lovage leaves and stems (or flat-leaf parsley), roughly chopped
40g butter
1 tsp crushed pink peppercorns
150g plain flour
1 tbsp white wine
50g Comté or Gruyère cheese, grated
30g feta, finely crumbled
grated zest of the lemon above
150g panko breadcrumbs
4 eggs
150ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
For the garden salad
2 handfuls of mixed seasonal leaves (I love sorrel, spinach and nasturtium)
handful of lovage (or flat-leaf parsley), leaves picked
handful of pea shoots
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
juice of 2 lemons or 1 tbsp elderflower vinegar (see here)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
150g sour cream
handful of edible flowers (chive, wild garlic or nasturtium work well) (optional)
1 First, cook the asparagus. Bring the water to the boil in a saucepan. Add the asparagus and cook for 3–5 minutes, or until tender. Remove with a slotted spoon and leave to cool slightly. Reserve the water in the pan. Cut away 2cm of the bottom of each spear, very thinly slice and set aside in a bowl – this will go into the croquettes. Place the remaining tips in a separate small bowl and toss with a little of the lemon juice and olive oil for the salad.
2 For the croquettes, bring the asparagus water back up to the boil and add the peas. Cook for 1 minute, then add the lovage. Cook for 30 seconds. Take out 50g of the peas with a slotted spoon, leaving the rest in the pan of cooking water. Put the reserved peas in the bowl with the sliced asparagus set aside for the croquettes. Pour the
