It might still be chilly but the catering London nights are getting lighter!

Make no mistake spring is in the air

Spring is an exciting time for lovers of fresh food and I can’t wait for the first boxes of British spring vegetables to hit our Chelsea local market.

One of the most amazing ingredients at spring time are Jersey Royal new potatoes. Jersey potatoes are grown exclusively on the island of the same name and they are absolutely delicious.

They start to arrive in our grocers at the end of March and continue through May into the summer.

These can be enjoyed in many different ways. They are perfect in salads mixed with oli oli or even a simple olive oil dressing and fresh herbs. I even love them boiled in their skins, seasoned and mixed with a not-so-good-for-you quantity of butter.

Another prestige spring vegetable is the delightful Asparagus. The catering supplies a London variety which is green and is picked towards the end of spring time. The official harvesting season actually begins on St George’s Day on April and lasts for just over a month so you’d better be quick.

Like new potatoes, asparagus is so delicious it needs little more than salted butter to be devoured greedily among friends and family.

My favourite dish is cream of asparagus soup. All you need is onion, asparagus, vegetable stock, finished off with fresh British cream and you’re in soup heaven.

The final spring delight I’d like to tempt you with today is good old rhubarb.

Rhubarb was working class fruit a couple decades ago, grown in the industrial north of England and enjoyed raw with the stalks dipped in sugar. Nowadays it has become trendy but I still love rhubarb crumble and custard.

To make this traditional English pudding all you need to do is soften the rhubarb with sugar and water in the oven then put to one side.

Mix flour, sugar and butter together like a pastry for the crumble. Once done, ‘crumble’ it over the rhubarb and put it in a medium hot oven until golden and bubbling nicely, or about 40 minutes.

I have just touched the tip of the catering companies London iceberg here with spring ingredients. The list is endless so I recommend you look at all the best of British options.