JAMIE COOKS SPRING
Monday, Channel 4, 8pm
IT may not seem like it when you look out of the window or step outside, but it’s spring, a time of warmer, sunnier weather and longer evenings.
For chef and restaurateur Jamie Oliver it is one of his favourite times of the year, and so it’s fitting that he has decided to kick off his new series celebrating ingredients as they come into season in the UK, in spring.
Jamie Cooks... is an extended series split into four parts – Jamie Cooks Spring, Jamie Cooks Summer, Jamie Cooks Autumn and Jamie Cooks Winter.
For every season, he will showcase inspiring recipes using sustainable ingredients that are in season – whether you’re out shopping or growing your own.
The chef, who turns 49 next month, explains: “I can’t wait to show people how wonderful the world of seasonal cooking is – how ingredients can taste, feel, look and cook better in their prime time.
“The show is packed with delicious ways to enjoy local, British produce in our kitchens all year round.
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t have your own garden patch or windowsill space, you can tap into what is in the supermarkets and farmers’ markets at that moment and get closer to fresher, more sustainable ingredients.”
In Monday’s first edition, Jamie picks some rhubarb from the garden and celebrates its tart tanginess by making a lip–smacking sauce for marinated pork belly, panfried until crispy in his hot and sour rhubarb crispy pork noodles.
He then picks some new season spinach for a silky and luxurious spinach and goat’s cheese risotto, before celebrating a veg that has seen us through the winter – the leek – as he cooks up a scruffy spring tart.
Jamie also shows us how to divide shop-bought basil into lots of individual plants to last us through the year.
And he celebrates the vibrantly coloured stalks and leaves of chard in a crowdpleasing cheesy spring cannelloni.