Rose Prince’s seasonal recipes

Couple fresh cheese with the season’s crisp greens and fragrant herbs to enrich the best spring recipes, says Rose Prince. Photography by Yuki Sugiura. Food styling by Valerie Berry

In Italy, springtime milk, and the fresh cheese made with it, is talked of as a blossom. the fior di latte, or flower of the milk, has a distinct impact on the flavour of cheeses such as cow’s-milk mozzarella, but is also used to make a very pure ice cream containing no eggs and little sugar. When dairy cows graze the first new pasture of the year, the chemical composition in their milk changes.

after a winter diet of hay or silage, the new grass boosts the level of beta carotene in the milk, and the milk becomes much rich er. this is not notice able in much of what we buy because of the processing, but if you do have a source of milk that is neither homogenised nor skimmed, it is very apparent. For cheese makers who produce hard cheeses such as cheddar, spring milk is actually unhelpful, but for fresh cheeses it is sublime.

at the same time, I love the context of new milk and those first pushy little green stalks fighting their way through hard ground. the wild garlic and tiny nettles that have become the aromatic announcement of a change in seasons in Britain. they are the first exciting flavours of the year, in soups, in pasta, risottos and sauces, and it is no coincidence that they enjoy a symbiosis with fresh cheeses. putting together a plate of burr at a–the buttery, very creamy version of a mozzarella-t y pe cheese – with wild-garlic pesto, lentils and those wan, pinkish, pale-green endives, captures the moment.

a warming helping of ricotta gnocchi, this time with another British leaf that comes back enthusiastically from

Preheat the oven to 220C/gas mark 7.

Boil a kettle. Set the pork, rind-side up, over an upturned colander in the sink and pour the boiling water over the skin. The surface will dry – paradoxically – and the scoring in the rind open up.

Rub the surface of the skin with oil, salt and quite a generous amount of pepper. Set on a rack in a roasting pan and roast on a high shelf for 15 minutes. Turn the oven down to 150C/gas mark 2 and roast for another 1¾-2 hours, until the meat is very tender. The surface should be crackled and deep gold in colour. Remove from the oven and allow to rest in a warm place for up to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, scatter the chopped chives over a plate. Use two dessert spoons to scoop up a lozenge of fromage blanc (if yours is too loose to shape, mix in enough goat’s cheese to make it firm enough) and roll it around in the chives. It does not need to be very neat.

Also, while the meat cooks, ‘blanche’ the spring green ribbons in boiling salted water for one minute, then drain in a colander. Refresh with cold water to set the colour. Set aside, leaving the greens in the colander.

Heat a deep large frying pan or wok. Add the oil and fry the garlic, greens and rosemary together until the greens soften.

Carve the pork into four pieces. Divide the greens among the plates and then place the pork on top of them. Add a fresh cheese ball to each plate, and serve.

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Brush the cut sides of the halved garlic head with olive oil and place on a roasting dish. Bake for about 20 minutes until the garlic halves are golden. Remove from the oven and scoop the flesh from one half. Leave the other to take to the table for extra.

Combine the roasted garlic with the chopped wild garlic leaves and all the other salsa ingredients. Season to taste.

Put the lentils in a pan with the garlic and thyme, and cover well with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes until tender but not falling apart or mushy. Remove from the heat and transfer to a shallow serving dish to stop the cooking process. Dress with the oil.

Arrange the cheese in the centre of the dish, and the half roasted garlic, with all the leaves around it. Spoon over the salsa. Put bread on the table, or Sardinian crisp bread, and serve. Combine all the gnocchi ingredients apart from the semolina flour, mashing with a fork until you have a soft dough. Shape into lozenges using a pair of dessert spoons. Roll each in a little semolina flour. Place on a plate, ready to cook. These can be made up to 24 hours in advance.

Preheat the oven to 180C/ gas mark 4. Put the hazelnuts in a baking tin and toast for 8-10 minutes until golden and fragrant. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, then put in a plastic bag. Holding the bag, tap the contents with a rolling pin to crush into rough pieces. Set aside.

Next, make the parmesan wafers. Turn down the oven to 170C/gas mark 3½. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Put the grated parmesan and plain flour into a bowl and mix. Then place heaped dessert spoonfuls of this mixture in 3cm-wide circles on the baking sheet, about 4cm apart.

Bake until the edges are golden and the centres are bubbling but still pale. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before lifting with a palette knife and placing on a rack.

Just before cooking the gnocchi, melt the butter in a pan. Have ready four warm serving plates.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and add salt. Drop in the gnocchi. Allow to simmer until they float. Lift out with a slotted spoon, then on to a dish.

Place in the oven to keep them warm. When all the gnocchi are done, divide among the serving plates, pour over the melted butter, scatter over some hazelnuts and watercress then serve with the parmesan wafers on the side.

March – watercress – tastes so right in the same way. With toasted hazelnuts, whose flavour balances naturally with the muscular, peppery notes in the cress, this is a substantial and nourishing supper dish.

We mustn’t forget the beauty of good fresh milk and the way in which it lends itself to old-fashioned puddings. A proper creamed rice with a crackle of caramel floating on the surface is a true celebration of the genre – like a crème brûlée but with added texture.

We need to think a little about milk and its qualities. A lot of negativity surrounds ‘dairy’, with concerns about intolerance. But as with all ingredients, milk comes in many varieties, both highly commercially produced and also artisan. I prefer to buy non- homogenised milk, the one with the creamy top, because it is the least processed and closer to a whole food. I would love to try making my own springtime cream cheese from it, and call it blossom of milk. Time, perhaps, to investigate. roseprince-cookerycourses.co.uk