with the softened gelatine leaves until smooth. Press through a fine sieve and fold in the parsley oil and crème fraîche. Transfer to an airtight container and leave in the fridge for 3 hours to set.
To make the sauce, bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the ramsons for 2 minutes. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl of iced water to stop it cooking. Drain and squeeze out the excess water. In a medium, heavy-based saucepan, heat the oil over a medium heat and sweat the sliced shallots for 3–5 minutes, or until translucent. Add the milk and cream and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer until reduced by two-thirds. Pour into a blender, add the blanched ramson leaves and blitz until smooth, then strain through a fine sieve into a bowl, cover and chill.
Just before serving, peel and slice the radish lengthways on a mandoline to create thin rectangles and season with salt just before serving.
Spoon the mousse into the centre of each bowl, shape the radish slices into curls and place alongside. Spoon the salmon roe on top of the mousse and finish with the green sauce and tagetes leaves and flowers.
ACCORD RADISH, CURED ARCTIC CHAR AND LEMON THYME
This is a real showstopper. The fish and prawn infusions need to be prepped two hours ahead, so you can prepare this in stages. This dish uses just the shells of the prawns, so either peel them off and freeze the prawns for another day, or use shells from another recipe. Arctic char is an underused fish similar in texture to salmon and trout but paler in colour; here it gets a lift from the lemon thyme gel, which adds spicy notes of clove, mint and camphor. We use pastry cutters to create a perfect flat mound of fish in the middle of the plate, but if you prefer a rougher look, pile it up and gently flatten it to support the radish discs.
SERVES 4, AS A STARTER
Arctic char
25g coriander seeds
25g fennel seeds
500g rock salt
250g caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
250g fresh Arctic char fillets
Prawn oil
heads and shells from 250g fresh prawns (freeze the peeled prawns to use another day)
150ml sunflower oil
Lemon thyme gel
20g lemon thyme sprigs
1 level tsp agar agar
a pinch of salt
140g low-fat natural yoghurt
Radish
2 long radishes, such as Accord (about 250g)
salt, for seasoning
lemon thyme leaves and flowers, to serve
3.5cm and 6–7cm pastry cutters (optional)
In a dry, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat, toast the coriander and fennel seeds for 4–5 minutes. When toasted, grind to a powder in a blender or pestle and mortar. In a bowl combine the ground seeds with the salt, sugar and lemon zest and mix well. Dust the Arctic char fillets evenly on both sides with the salt mixture. Put on a large plate and leave to cure in the fridge for 1½ hours.
While the fish is curing, preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas Mark 6 and roast the prawn shells for 12–15 minutes, or until they turn a deep red colour. Blitz the roasted shells with the oil in a blender. Add the oil to a medium, heavy-based saucepan and warm through over a very low heat. Be careful not to get the oil too hot. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 2 hours.
Meanwhile, make the lemon thyme gel. Pour 200ml water into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, add the lemon thyme, cover and leave to infuse for 30 minutes. Strain the infused water into a small, heavy-based saucepan and discard the lemon thyme. Add the agar agar and salt and cook for 1 minute. Take off the heat and strain through a fine sieve into a heatproof bowl, then put in the fridge to set until firm, about 5–10 minutes. Once set, blitz until smooth with the yoghurt in a blender.
When you are ready to assemble the dish, rinse the cured Arctic char fillets under cold running water and pat them dry with kitchen paper, then cut the Arctic char into 1cm dice. Strain the cooled infused oil through a fine sieve and season with a little salt. Slice the radish thinly on a mandoline – if you want a uniform finish, cut each slice into equal-sized rounds using a 3cm pastry cutter. Lightly season the slices with salt.
Divide the cured fish evenly among plates. For a smart look, press each portion of diced char into a 6–7cm pastry cutter to shape, or just mound the fish in the centre of the plate and gently flatten the top. Cover the fish with a circle of radish slices or discs. Drizzle the prawn oil and the gel around the plate and finish with a few lemon thyme leaves and flowers.
(Myrrhis odorata)
From April right until October, the roadsides and fields around Cartmel are abundant with mounds of sweet cicely’s fern-like leaves and tiny white flowers (much beloved of bees, and so important, as they are the first nectar plants in spring), growing in any bare patch of soil they can find. It’s a prolific herb in Cumbria, where it is known as sweet brackens, which is how it appears on our menu. It has an incredibly long season, which is great for us as it has multiple uses in the kitchen, and this versatility is why this herb features so frequently in many of our dishes and why I also make sure that we preserve as much of it as we can for our larder. I’m a huge fan of the anise flavour, and this herb has it in spades – you can often smell a clump of sweet cicely before you see it.
Although sweet cicely grows on the roadside near the restaurant, I prefer to get a dawn start and forage for it on Bigland Hill, about 20 minutes away from Cartmel. I love going here before I start work; it is a high point in the landscape and on a clear summer morning the views are spectacular – and as an added bonus there’s no phone signal, so I can pick in peace!
We use every part of the plant: the light-green lacy leaves, the delicate white flowers, the long, pointed seeds, and even the roots ¬ which make a great wine. Every bit is infused with the aroma of sweet aniseed when crushed. The leaves have more flavour when young and before the plant puts its energies into its flowers, or you can wait for the seed pods in late summer, which have a sweet flavour and nutty texture. Once picked, the scent and flavours fade quickly, so they need to be used fresh, or if they are being preserved for another day, do it immediately. Be careful when picking this herb in the wild, though, as it looks similar to poison hemlock.
Sweet cicely complements a real array of ingredients. It is a natural sweetener, so the leaves and green seeds will reduce the tartness of rhubarb and gooseberries and add an anise note when used raw in fruit salads (it is especially good with peaches, apricots and strawberries), it also lends a spicy tang to cakes and makes beautiful ice cream. In savoury dishes it marries particularly well with fish and seafood, chicken and root vegetables, and it really lifts a green or cucumber salad. I like to use the fresh, barely opened flowers scattered over salads or as a garnish. Although sweet cicely already has a really long season, we like to extend it further by pickling the buds, using the leaves to make oils, salts and sugars, and dry the leaves for use over the winter. Its flavour does dissipate on cooking, though, so you need to add it to a hot dish at the end to get the best from it – it’s fantastic in soups, stews and sauces.
Sweet cicely is a real gift from nature; there is no end to the uses for this beautiful, hard-working herb, so do keep an eye out for it, or grow a clump yourself.