James Sommerin Kitchen Confidential

May has got to be one of the best times of year for a chef

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May has got to be one of the best times of year for a chef – there’s so much good stuff springing to life in the fields, on the farms. The first thing that comes to mind for me, being a Welshman, is Welsh lamb. I like to go a bit all out with our lamb dish, to really make the most of the meat. We’ll take several different cuts, including the loin and breasts, which we slow- roast, and sweetbreads, which are pan-fried. We’ll serve this with roasted cauliflower purée and chunks of roasted cauliflower, as well as wild garlic and an aromatic cumin sauce, made with Madeira and lamb stock.

It goes without saying that asparagus is right up there too. We’re lucky enough to have some of the best on our doorstep, in the Wye Valley. I like to cook it in rosemary butter along with goat’s cheese ravioli atop spring onions that have been caramelised on a ceramic barbecue. Having that barbecue flavour in the onions is a nice reminder that summer is just around the corner.

We also get some great seafood down here in Penarth, such as brown crab. I like to make it simply – poached and served together with a tarragon mayonnaise, some crispy capers and marinated, deep-fried and roasted broccoli. Sea trout, or ‘sewin’ as we call it here, is also great. We do a hay- smoked sea trout, which we serve with smoked eel dashi and salt-baked carrots, celeriac and beetroot.

While on the subject of the sea, I have to mention one of my favourite seasonal greens, and something else that we have in abundance here: samphire. It would really be a crime to do anything but simply boil or steam it, and I like to accompany mine with deep-fried oysters, barigoule and a scattering of sea aster.

To finish up with something sweet, elderflower and rhubarb are both around at the same time, and go wonderfully well together. Poached rhubarb with real honeycomb, fresh yoghurt and a yoghurt sorbet served with elderflower granita is sweet, tart and refreshing. A great seasonal dish (jamessommerinrestaurant.co.uk)

Who i'm using

Jonathan Adams at Ashton’s in Cardiff has a fantastically fresh selection of seafood (ashtonfishmongers.co.uk). For lamb and beef, Douglas Willis in Cwmbran is hard to beat (douglaswillis.co.uk). If you’re after good game, the Welsh Venison Centre in the Brecon Beacons National Park is the place to go (beaconsfarmshop.co.uk).

Quote

‘Having that barbecue flavour in the onions is a nice reminder that summer is just around the corner’

Recipe

James Sommerin Photo

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