From plot to plate: chefs' kitchen garden secrets

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/18/chefs-kitchen-garden-secrets-vegetable-recipes

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The River Cafe, London

The grower Simon Hewitt The chef Ruth RogersSome of our best known chefs, including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Jamie Oliver, Sam Clark, Stevie Parle and April Bloomfield worked at the River Cafe. The garden is crucial, and this is as much about its fresh produce and seasonality as it is about creating an aesthetically pleasing environment. Ruth Rogers and the late Rose Gray created it soon after starting the restaurant in 1987. Most of the staff work in the garden in their spare time, from chefs to the team in the office.

Simon and Ruth's kitchen garden secrets

Hazel tipis: Train indeterminate tomatoes up hazel tipis, growing four plants against each tipi. Simon allows the first side shoot of each plant to grow, tying it against the main shoot. This way he gets eight productive shoots from four plants.Sun and shade: Shade can often inhibit flowering in some plants, but it does not stop them trying to develop leaves. So plant fruiting crops in the sun and place salad leaves in the shadier parts of your plot.Sowing deadline: Winter crops such as cavolo nero should be started in early summer. Sowing any later than midsummer is pointless as plants do not have time to reach a worthwhile size before the chills of autumn curtail their growth. Big cavolo nero plants in autumn will provide plenty of big healthy leaves for ribollita in winter.Three crops from the same plant: Sow autumn broad beans in late summer, so you can then harvest the tips of already sturdy plants for a warm, mid-autumn day's salad. The chefs at the River Cafe also serve the growing tips of broad beans in early summer, followed by the beans.

The River Cafe Sorrel frittata recipe

This frittata is a welcome addition to antipasti or on its own, and the sorrel in the recipe gives this dish a vibrant lemony flavour and is very fresh.

Serves 2

sorrel leaves a large handful, tough stalks removedorganic free-range eggs 4 largeolive oil 4 tbsp, plus some to drizzlebutter 20gmascarpone cheese 150gparmesan cheese 50g, freshly grated

Preheat the oven to 230C/gas mark 8. Roughly chop the sorrel. Break the eggs into a bowl and lightly beat.

Season the eggs with salt and pepper, then add half the sorrel. Heat the olive oil and butter in a medium-sized, ovenproof frying pan, tilting the pan to coat the surface. Add the egg mixture and, almost immediately, half the mascarpone, pushing the it into the thickening egg mixture with a wooden spoon.

When the frittata is almost set, add the remaining sorrel leaves and mascarpone. Scatter with 1 tablespoon parmesan and drizzle with a little olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and place in the oven for 1-2 minutes.

Remove from the oven when the frittata is crisp on the edges and slightly runny in the centre. Loosen the frittata from the pan with a spatula and serve on a warm plate. Scatter over the remaining parmesan.

Albion, London, and Hampshire

Jonathan Chidsey started as a trainee with Sir Terence Conran in 1980. Jonathan speaks to the chef at Albion in Shoreditch at the start of each week to let him know what is ready in Conran's Barton Court kitchen garden in Hampshire.

Jonathan and Sir Terence's kitchen garden secrets

Vertical courgettes: If you are short of space in your garden sow climbing courgettes. The Black Forest variety will reach 1.75m. Vertically grown courgettes are much easier to pick than those on bushy plants, so you will not end up overlooking some of the fruits.Double duty: A good example of companion planting is placing nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus) next to your brassicas. Not only does this look colourful but the nasturtiums also attract cabbage white butterflies, and hopefully they will lay their eggs on the flowers and not on your precious cabbages.Confine roots: Grow chillies, sweet peppers and aubergines in 25cm/10in pots rather than in open ground, as a restricted root space will encourage plants to produce a heavier and healthier crop.Baby leeks: A nice summer alternative to spring onions. Sow as normal but do not thin out.

Albion ratatouille recipe

A classic summer vegetable stew that has many variations. Should the vegetables be cooked separately and be mixed only at the final stage? Should you use red or green peppers? Do you cook ratatouille on the top of the stove or in the oven? This ratatouille is best left for 24 hours before eating, to give it a nice firm texture.

Serves 4olive oil 200mlcourgettes 6, slicedonions 3, slicedred peppers 2, cored, deseeded and slicedaubergines 2, quartered and thickly slicedgarlic cloves 4, finely slicedtomatoes 8, skinned, deseeded and quarteredthyme large sprigbay leaf

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Heat half the oil in a large frying pan and sauté the courgettes gently. When softened and turning golden, transfer them to an ovenproof casserole, leaving as much oil as possible in the frying pan.

Cook the onions gently in the frying pan, until wilted, then add to the courgettes in the casserole. Sauté the red peppers in the frying pan until softened, and add them to the casserole. Add more oil to the frying pan if required and cook the aubergines until they are just turning golden. Transfer them to the casserole.

Gently sauté the garlic until it just turns transparent, then add the tomatoes to the frying pan. Season with salt and pepper, and cook until the tomatoes are very soft. Together with the thyme and bay leaf, tip the garlic and tomatoes into the casserole, stirring gently to distribute the tomatoes among the other vegetables.

Cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 20 minutes. Take off the lid and cook for a further 35 minutes.

Add the remaining olive oil and allow to cool completely. Then cover the casserole again and keep the contents for 24 hours before serving at room temperature.

Leeks vinaigrette recipe

When they are young and slender, leeks make an ideal light starter or vegetable accompaniment. Very thin leeks can be hard to come by, so if you cannot source them use larger ones, split lengthways – this dish will still work well. The intense flavour of the vinaigrette (yes, two tablespoons of Dijon mustard!) really lifts the whole dish perfectly.

Serves 4slender leeks 8, trimmed and cleanedhard-boiled eggs 2, coarsely chopped or put through a potato ricer, to garnish

For the vinaigrettered wine vinegar 2 tbspolive oil 14 tspDijon mustard 2 tbsp

Put the leeks into a large shallow saucepan of slightly salted, boiling water; cook for 7-10 minutes. Remove the cooked leeks and drain thoroughly.

For the vinaigrette, mix the vinegar, olive oil and mustard together. Season with salt and pepper.

Arrange the leeks on a shallow dish and drizzle with lots of vinaigrette.

Scatter the chopped eggs over the leeks and pour the rest of the vinaigrette over the finished dish.

Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons, Oxfordshire

The garden is open to hotel guests and tours, yet is also a vital working element of Le Manoir. It is part trial area (where up to 50 varieties of a single vegetable will be cultivated) and part laboratory (where chefs taste each variety to see which will make it to the menu).

Anne-Marie Owens and Raymond Blanc's kitchen garden secrets

Choosing a variety: Look out for nurseries' specialist vegetable days around the country – they often provide tastings of different varieties.Tomatoes: Raymond's favourite tomatoes are Roma, Marmande, Costoluto Fiorentino, Coeur de Boeuf and San Marzano. Anne-Marie gives them as much space as possible as this helps develop a healthy bushy plant as opposed to a leggy specimen. She supports plants with canes and pinches out the growing tip of each plant when it reaches 1.75m tall. To aid pollination, she taps the plants when in flower.Two is company: Dill is planted next to brassicas and left to flower and attract hoverflies. Geraniums (Pelargonium) also attract beneficial insects.Successional sowing: Sow spinach and radish every 10 days or so from mid‑spring to midsummer. Replace summer radishes with the winter variety from then onwards.

Le Manoir's assiette Anne‑Marie recipe

This is a true "garden to plate" dish, and very simple to create.

Serves 4For the stuffed courgette flowersgarden peas 120g, blanched, refreshed and crushedmint a sprig, choppedsea salt 2 pinchespepper a pinchextra-virgin olive oil 2 tbspwhole courgette flowers 4, stigmas and stamens removed

To servewater 75mlbutter 25gsea salt a pinchbaby courgettes 2, cut into 1cm piecesgreen asparagus spears 8, cut into quartersbaby carrots 8, slicedpurple sprouting broccoli 12 floretsbroad beans 30ggarden peas 10gfresh chervil ½ small bunch, finely choppedpea shoots 12 sprigs, to garnish

For the stuffed courgette flowers, in a small bowl, mix together the crushed peas, mint, salt, pepper and olive oil. Taste, correct the seasoning and put some stuffing inside each courgette flower. Place on a steamer tray or in a colander over a pan of boiling water covered with a lid, and steam for 8 minutes.

In a medium-sized saucepan on a high heat, bring the water, butter and salt to the boil. Add all the vegetables, cover with a lid and simmer for 3 minutes, until tender, then stir in the chervil. Place a hot stuffed courgette flower in one corner of each plate and fan out the baby courgettes in the opposite corner.

Spoon the remaining vegetables around the plate and garnish with the pea shoots.

River Cottage, Devon

The grower: Craig RudmanThe chef: Gill MellerThe kitchen garden supplies 60% of the produce for Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage in high season.

Craig and Gill's kitchen garden secretsPerfect soil: To grow plants successfully you must look after your soil. For most plants in the veg patch, aim towards the holy grail of a free-draining, moisture-retentive soil of pH 6.5–7.0.Water sparingly: Water only when absolutely necessary. If needed, water very heavily but infrequently.Grow hard: Plants given little extra water or nutrition are able to withstand pests and diseases better than soft pampered ones. Make the soil and the plants do the work.Take stock: View the garden, plants, soil and the animals within it as an interconnected ecosystem. Learn the life cycles of your plants, about beneficial insects and pests, and discover how to grow well in an environmentally responsible way.

River Cottage peas with ham and cheese recipe

At River Cottage, Gill likes to place bowls of peas in the pod down the supper tables, carefully arranged next to bowls of salty pork crackling. This is more of an assembly than a recipe. A few simple foods – such as peas and ham; mint and peas; ham and cheese – go beautifully well together.

Serves 2-3 as a starterfor the labnehwhole milk yoghurt 1 litre plainfine sea salt 1 tsp

to serve

podded garden peas handfuls ham good-quality, air-dried, 8 slices tender pea tops handful, plus any with nice flowers mint leaves small 12-16small nasturtium leaves a fewextra-virgin olive oilsourdough bread toasted

For the labneh, put the yoghurt in a bowl, add the salt and mix well. Line a sieve with a square of scalded muslin or a thin cotton cloth, and place it over a bowl. Spoon the yoghurt into the muslin, then flip the sides over the yoghurt to enclose it. Transfer to the refrigerator and leave for at least 24 hours and up to two or three days. Lots of liquid will drain into the bowl, but you need to turn the yoghurt over in the sieve every so often, to encourage it to do this evenly. Eventually the yoghurt should end up looking like a soft cheese.

To serve, add the peas to a small saucepan of lightly salted boiling water and cook for 1–2 minutes, until just tender. Drain, and refresh in iced water to stop the cooking process and help to keep the pea colour. Divide the slices of ham between four plates, followed by a spoonful of labneh. Scatter over the peas, their tops and flowers, the mint and nasturtium leaves. Trickle with good olive oil. Season and serve with toasted sourdough bread.

Jekka McVicar's herb farm, Gloucestershire

Jekka McVicar has grown more than 650 varieties of herbs on her farm near Bristol over the last 27 years. Among Jekka's clients is the Company of Cooks – a catering company for venues including the Royal Opera House, and RHS Garden Wisley.

Jekka's kitchen garden secrets

Play safe: Use seed compost for container sowing – potting or multipurpose compost is too rich in nutrients, and makes the seedlings develop too fast.Water first: Always water your seed trays and modules before sowing, allowing the water to soak through and completely moisten the compost.Start small: Plant just a few herbs that you are going to use in the kitchen. This way you will be able to maintain them and harvest them regularly. Cut back: Trim thyme, sage, lavender, mint, oregano, hyssop and savoury after flowering to encourage the plants to put on new growth for late season pickings. It also helps to protect the plants from heavy rain, gales and snow.

The Company of Cooks' grilled mackerel with beetroot recipe

Grilled mackerel makes a striking partnership with sweet beetroot and the aromatic, aniseed-like notes of fennel tops. Fennel pollen has a sweet and intense character .

Serves 4 as a startercandy-striped beetroot 100ggolden beetroot 100gred beetroot 100gsherry vinegar 2 tbsplemon oil 6 tbspmackerel fillets 4, in 3cm wide slicesextra-virgin olive oil 2 tsp

To servefennel topsfennel pollen 1 tsp to garnishbergamot flowers to garnish

Dice half the raw beetroot. Bring three small saucepans of salted water to the boil and add each beetroot variety to a separate saucepan. Return the water to the boil and after 5 seconds drain the beetroot and leave on one side.

Whisk the vinegar with the lemon oil and stir it into the diced beetroot, to marinate. Finely slice the remaining beetroot on a mandolin or use a sharp knife to cut them into wafer-thin rounds. Sprinkle the mackerel slices with salt and pepper, and brush with olive oil. Cook, skin-side facing upwards, under a very hot grill for 3 minutes on one side only – until crisp.

To serve, put some fennel tops on each plate and then fold the beetroot slices in half and arrange around the fronds. Add a mackerel piece to each plate skin-side facing upwards, and scatter with the marinated diced beetroot. Drizzle around the marinated beetroot dressing. Sprinkle fennel pollen over the mackerel, and finish with more fennel tops and bergamot flowers.

Extracted from Kitchen Garden Experts by Cinead McTernan (Frances Lincoln, RRP £20)