When life gives you lemons you make lemonade. But, what happens when life gives you a stick of rhubarb, a kohlrabi or a cabbage? What do you make then? To find out, the Garden Museum’s very own food educator, chef Ceri Jones, has written her debut cookbook It Starts With Veg: 100 Seasonal Suppers and Sides, published by Pavilion Books. Taking the humble vegetable as a starting point for each recipe, the book guides us through 40 different varieties and offers two-three seasonal supper recipes for each.
Ahead of the launch on Tuesday 4 June, when Ceri will be joined in conversation by fellow vegetable enthusiasts Flora Donovan, Research and Training Manager, Education Team at specialist fruit and vegetable wholesaler Natoora, and food writer and vegetable grower Kathy Slack, we’re delighted to share a seasonal recipe from the book:
Braised Baby Gem, Pancetta, and Peas
Cooked lettuce is best for days when the calendar says summer, but British weather is giving you damp autumn. A variation on a French-style recipe for braising lettuce with peas and sometimes bacon, which I once tried in a pub in, err, South East London. Just a little pancetta is used in this braise, most of the body comes from the lettuce, peas, and chickpeas. It’s a really good example of how meat can be used in small quantities to add depth of flavour but doesn’t distract from the vegetables. Serve with bread to mop up the juices, or with rib-sticking mashed potatoes for something more substantial.
You can try substituting the gem lettuce, for larger romaine, cos, or wedges of endive.
SERVES 2 AS A MAIN | TIME TO PREPARE – 20 MINUTES
100g/3.oz diced pancetta
2 little gem lettuce (approx. 100g/3.oz each), sliced into quarters through the core
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 x 400g/14oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
160g/5.oz frozen peas
200ml/7fl oz chicken stock
2 tbsp creme fraiche
1 tbsp finely chopped herbs (e.g. tarragon, mint, or parsley, or a combination)
salt and pepper
Warm a lidded, deep, wide frying pan over a medium-high heat (no oil required) and cook the pancetta cubes for around 5 minutes, until browned. Remove using a slotted spoon and leave the fat in the pan. Cook the gem lettuce wedges in the pancetta fat, cut-side down for around 90 seconds on each flat side, until just starting to char. Use tongs to lift out of the pan, and set aside.
Lower the heat, and the pancetta back into the pan, along with the spring onions and soften for a minute or so. Next add the chickpeas, frozen peas and chicken stock, then nestle the charred lettuce back in, cut side up. Bring to a bubble, cover the pan with a lid and simmer for around 10 minutes, or until a knife glides easily through the stalk of the thickest wedge of lettuce. Remove the lid, and if the stock needs reducing, cook uncovered for a few minutes more. Dollop in the creme fraiche, and gently shake the pan to dissolve it into the sauce. Add the chopped herbs and season to taste – it may already be salty enough because of the pancetta, but you can afford to be liberal with the pepper.
Watch Ceri cook the recipe:
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Pre-order the book
Book tickets for the launch: Tuesday 4 June
Recipe credit: It Starts with Veg: 100 Seasonal Suppers and Sides by Ceri Jones (Pavilion Books).
Photography: Samantha Couzens