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3 Garden-to-Table Recipes from The Great Dixter Cookbook
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3 Garden-to-Table Recipes from The Great Dixter Cookbook

Judging from the weather in New York City last weekend, spring has officially sprung. And with it comes a glut of spring produce: beautiful leeks, asparagus, carrots and more are also springing as we speak. Perfect timing for The Great Dixter Cookbook: Recipes from an English Garden by Aaron Bertelsen, Phaidon 2017. Bertelson is the vegetable gardener at Great Dixter, the former residence of Christopher Lloyd (perhaps England’s most famous horticulturalist and author of home gardening bible The Well-Tempered Garden). Bertelson’s book—packed with planting tips and produce-forward recipes—is the perfect guide for amateur gardeners, farmers market regulars or anyone who wants to explore seasonality in their cooking.  Whether you’re bringing in your spring harvest, or just ogling that organic rhubarb at the co-op, here are some spring recipes and gardening tips straight from the British countryside. —Hannah Walhout

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1 of 4 © Andrew Montgomery

Mint and Pea Soup

“For me, soup is not just a winter dish,” says Bertelsen. “I love to eat it all year round, and I particularly enjoy cold soup during the summer.” As the weather begins to turn warm, make this herbal chilled soup with your haul of fresh spring peas.

Tips for the gardener: “Peas are just as good frozen as fresh, as long as you pick them while they’re young and freeze them quickly. They are good dried, too, and used later on in the year for soups and stews.” Don’t forget, “you can pinch out the pea shoots and add them to salads. These really do taste like essence of pea, and they look beautiful.”

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2 of 4 © Andrew Montgomery

Roast Leg of Lamb with Broad Beans

Bertelsen admits, “Working out what goes best with roast lamb is one of those pleasurable dilemmas I love to ponder while working in the garden.” Here, he pairs it with seasonal broad (fava) beans in a buttery mint sauce.

Tips for the gardener: With broad beans, “you will know when the time is right to harvest them by opening up a pod and looking inside. Once the beans are the size of your thumbnail, they are ready to eat.” Also, notes Bertelsen: “Don’t throw the broad bean tops away, as they are a real delicacy.”

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3 of 4 © Andrew Montgomery

Rhubarb Tart

As a gardener, Bertelsen says that early spring rhubarb is “such a treat, coming as it does at a time of year when there is precious little else around and we are starting to crave fresh flavours.” This simple tart—packed with juicy, caramelized rhubarb—is practically begging for a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Tips for the gardener: “As long as your rhubarb is well cared for and watered, you can carry on eating the stems into high summer, otherwise you might find that they have become rather tough.” To enjoy rhubarb even longer, “you can extend the rhubarb season by forcing it at the beginning in late winter so that the stems appear a few weeks earlier than they otherwise would.”

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4 of 4 Courtesy of Phaidon

Find more seasonal recipes and gardening tips in the book! 

The Great Dixter Cookbook: Recipes from an English Garden by Aaron Bertelsen, Phaidon, 2017. $39.95, phaidon.com. 

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