At home with Rosie Birkett
Our columnist shares her kitchen and home projects – this month, harvesting fresh herbs and enjoying Jersey Royals
With British summertime comes a host of pleasures that make spending a little extra time in the kitchen a true delight, as it precedes even more time spent outside in the warmer weather.
It’s the part of the year when moving out of the city to be by the sea with a garden feels like the best decision we ever made. (It doesn’t always feel like that – there are times in the darker months when we miss being in a big, buzzing city, being able to dive out of the rain into a café, restaurant or bar and eat food from all over the world.)
Now, when we finish work, we can walk to the beach for a swim, then have a few beers. At weekends, we throw together impromptu picnics – cafe-bought pastries when we’re in a hurry, or crab mayonnaise sandwiches wrapped in foil to eat on coastal walks.
It’s the perfect time to embrace native produce, from the sweetest strawberries to the tartest gooseberries, plus the first runner and broad beans – eaten young, straight from the pod – and the last of the asparagus. Jersey Royal potatoes are in there, too.
The pronounced, special flavour of these early earthy pearls has much to do with where they’re grown – on slopes strewn with local seaweed that nourishes the soil.
The pie recipe, opposite, combines them with gently poached smoked haddock, spinach and wild garlic – if you can find it – for a celebratory early summer lunch that’s best eaten outside with friends.
This year that will be all the more sweet as we will be introducing many of them to our new little daughter, who was born a few months ago.
Follow Rosie on Instagram @homeandgardenbythesea and @rosiefoodie.
Jersey Royal, spinach and smoked haddock pie
1 HOUR 15 MINUTES + COOLING | SERVES 4-6 | EASY
undyed smoked haddock 450g
mint 1 sprig
Jersey Royal or Cornish new potatoes 200g
spinach 200g
wild garlic leaves a handful (optional)
salted butter a knob
eggs 4
puff pastry sheets 2x 320g
crème fraîche 4 tbsp
nutmeg for grating
lemon 1, zested, plus 1 tbsp of juice
dill or flat-leaf parsley a handful of leaves, chopped
1 Bring a pan of water to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, lower in the haddock and poach gently for 4-5 minutes or until the flesh flakes apart easily. Remove to a plate with a slotted spoon and peel off the skin. With the pan of water still over a medium heat, drop the mint and a pinch of salt into the pan (don’t add too much, as the water will be salty from the fish) and return to the boil. Cook the potatoes for 10-12 minutes or until tender.
2 Remove from the heat and cool the potatoes in the water. Fry the spinach and wild garlic, if using, in the butter until wilted, then cool. Squeeze out any excess water. Set aside to cool. Cut the potatoes into 1cm slices.
3 Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/ gas 6 with a baking tray inside to heat up. Tip the eggs into a sieve over a bowl and let any thin egg white run through. Put the strained yolks and thicker whites in a separate bowl.
4 Line a 20cm pie dish with one sheet of the pastry, then trim and brush the surface with the thinner egg whites. Arrange the potatoes over the pastry in an even layer, then top with the crème fraîche. Grate over some nutmeg and spoon the spinach and wild garlic mixture on top.
5 Scatter over the lemon zest and top with the flaked fish. Drizzle with the lemon juice, scatter over the herbs and make four gaps in the mixture for the eggs. Pour the eggs into the gaps and brush the edges of the pastry with the thinner whites. Cut the second pastry sheet into a lid and lay it over the top, pressing the edges together and crimping to seal. Cut a cross in the top of the pie to let out the steam, and brush with the remaining thin egg whites.
6 Bake for 35 minutes, turning the pie around halfway through, until puffed and golden. Rest for 10-15 minutes, then serve warm with buttered asparagus or buttered broad beans.
PER SERVING (6) 604 kcals | fat 37.7G saturates 18.5G | carbs 39.2G | sugars 2.2G fibre 4.1G | protein 24.8G | salt 1.7G
This month’s projects
Firing up the pizza oven
One day I’d love a proper outdoor kitchen set-up but, while I save up the funds, we’ll be firing up our portable pizza oven and making some easy pizza bases. They can be made in batches (they freeze really well) for some future pizza nights in the garden.
Herb harvest
I’ll be picking my homegrown herbs – ideal for use in the pie, opposite – and sowing more parsley, dill, chives and chervil seeds to keep them plentiful. Lovage, too: it comes back stronger each year. Try a little of it on your tomato salad – it’s a beautiful combination.
effortless!
Few things are better than British strawberries for an easy, delicious and perfectly seasonal dessert. Buy a couple of punnets, hull and quarter them, then toss with a little splash of rosé, elderflower cordial or light red wine (gamay or cabernet franc) and caster or icing sugar. Let them macerate, drawing out their own juices for an hour or so, then serve with softly whipped cream and broken meringues.