Bagna cauda, a simple Italian "fondue", is a great way to celebrate the season, with bright spring crudites or drizzled over a vibrant pea and broad bean salad. The fresh pea soup says spring in a warmer tone, recognising it's not quite beach weather yet.
This bright spring soup is full of fresh flavours but has an underlying richness and a super-silky texture from the sauteed potato and chicken stock.
1 litre quality chicken stock
500g sugar snap peas
80g butter
Extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 fresh bay leaf
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small brown onion, finely diced
2 leeks, finely sliced
2 large waxy potatoes, peeled and sliced very finely
Salt flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
200g fresh peas (podded weight)
½ bunch flat-leaf parsley, picked and chopped
400g English spinach leaves
2 handfuls sorrel (optional)
Sour cream, to serve
Fresh horseradish (or jarred, unsweetened), to serve
1. Bring the stock to the boil with a litre of water. Add the sugar snap peas (whole) and cook for four minutes. Once cooked, remove the peas and puree them with enough liquid to loosen. Strain through a coarse sieve (to remove fibres) and put back into the stock.
2. In a large pot, melt the butter with a splash of oil. Add the fennel seeds, bay leaf, garlic, onion and leeks and cook for 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Add the potatoes, season and cook for a further 15 minutes or until the potato slices are cooked and breaking up.
3. Add the stock mix and bring to a simmer. Add the fresh peas and cook for five minutes. Add the parsley, spinach and sorrel (if using) and cook for four to five minutes.
4. Blitz till smooth with a stick blender. Check and adjust the seasoning and serve with sour cream and freshly grated horseradish.
Drink Vermentino
Serves 6-8
Bagna cauda is a classic dipping sauce from Piedmont in Italy's north-west. It is traditionally kept warm in a terracotta pot over a flame and used as a dip for fresh vegetables. I also like to serve it over torn fresh mozzarella, or over grilled fish, with shaved globe artichokes and plenty of fresh lemon.
80g quality anchovies, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely grated
120ml extra virgin olive oil
80g unsalted butter, at room temperature
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt flakes
1. Add the anchovies, garlic and a little of the oil to a small pot and gently warm through. Once the anchovies have dissolved into a paste, add the remaining oil and let it just come to a bubble. Off the heat, add the butter and stir through to melt and combine. Add plenty of pepper and some salt - even though the anchovies are salty, this sauce needs a good, salty punch.
Tip You can use this as a sauce for vegetable dishes or salads, or the traditional way, with fresh crudites, such as dutch carrots, soft lettuces, whole radishes, celery heart, fennel, lightly blanched beans or sugar snap peas, spring or salad onions.
Makes about 200 millilitres
While not essential, the nasturtium leaves add a delicious accent to this spring salad with their distinctive peppery notes. You can order them through your green grocer or just raid the garden. Nasturtiums are easy to grow and are a worthy addition to anyone's edible garden - but be careful what you spray on them if you're going to eat them.
1 kg broad beans (to yield 150g double-podded beans, plus a handful to garnish)
3 handfuls fresh peas
200g sugar snap peas
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
Salt flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
150g frozen peas, refreshed in boiling water
½ bunch mint, picked and roughly chopped
5 small radishes
100g soft goat's cheese
2 handfuls nasturtium leaves
lemon, to serve
1. Blanch the broad beans for three minutes in simmering water. Lift out and immediately refresh in a bowl of iced water. Follow by blanching the peas then the sugar snap peas, refreshing in iced water each time - this stops the cooking and helps to keep them bright green.
2. Split the sugar snap peas. Double-pod the broad beans, leaving a handful or so of the smaller ones whole to garnish.
3. In a mortar, add the garlic, some salt and pepper and a splash of oil and grind to a paste. Add the podded broad beans, the refreshed frozen peas and mint and pound to a rough paste - you can add a little oil if necessary, but it should be quite stiff. Check and adjust the seasoning.
4. Put the remaining handful of broad beans, fresh peas, whole radishes and split sugar snap peas in a bowl, season, drizzle with oil and toss through.
5. Spread the bean paste across a large platter and arrange the pea and broad bean mix on top. Finish with the goat's cheese, nasturtium leaves and a squeeze of lemon. Spoon over some bagna cauda and serve - I like to serve extra bagna cauda on the side.
Drink Arneis
Serves 4-6
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