March brings the promise of longer days, green shoots and spring produce

Wild garlic is now starting to pop up in damp wooded areas. This free herb will be available until May but the new young plants are when they’re at their best. The broad, dark green leaves grow near bluebells but be careful as the latter is toxic. Give it a good rub and you’ll be left in no doubt when your hand is left with a strong scent of garlic. Because it’s only around for a long time it’s best to make the most of it while it’s here. You can submerge the stalks in cider vinegar to give you that essence of wild garlic all year round or whizz the leaves into a butter. Use what you can and freeze the rest in batches. I’ve included the recipe here thats used for grilled chicken thighs with leeks and parmentier potatoes. Parmentier are fried diced spuds that you toss in the butter at the end. You could serve the butter with a grilled steak, with roast white fish like cod or hake, over roast or grilled vegetables and to finish off some fried mushrooms. Don’t keep the butter in the freezer too long, divide it up into small batches and use at will.

One food that’s always available is the good old red lentil. It’s a main component of dried soup vegetables that we use in a broth and we use them for lentil soup but that’s really it. There’s so much more to them – they can be used to eke out stews and curries, whizzed into a “dahl” with spices or what I’ve done here is make them into a fritter. The lentils, spice, onion and garlic are cooked in water until they’ve absorbed all the liquid and have the texture of thick porridge. When they’re cool, flour and egg yolk is added then whipped egg white folded in. They’re fried into little fritters and topped with wild garlic sour cream, crispy bacon and scallions. This makes a great snack, starter or even an accompaniment to grilled meats or chicken. Red lentils are cheap, a good source of minerals and protein and are a great soaker upper of flavours.

Grilled chicken thighs with leeks and wild garlic butter and parmentier potatoes