April - Whats in season?

Before I move on to April I thought I would briefly review how I did for March. I tried several new foods (and to my surprise liked them all!). They included purple sprouting broccoli, watercress and pineapple (I'd had it from a tin or an a pizza before and not liked it but this weekend we had it fresh and I really liked). We also ate a lot of leeks which are in season. It wasn't a total success as we did it some veg that weren't in season (mainly courgettes and aubergines) but I do feel I'm getting more informed and making seasonal choices where possible.So its officially spring now! I'm really looking forward to the difference in cooking from winter to spring and all the veg starting to come in to season. I already blogged about my chicken, lemon and pea risotto but this dish for me was fresh and zesty and spring like. I'm looking forward to cooking more dishes like this over the coming months.

Sources used to put this list together:

Sainsbury's Magazine April (& there 2009 recipe calendar)
Eat the seasons

April

Vegetables: Asparagus, Broccoli, Carrots, Jersey Royals, Kale, Leeks, Mint, Morels, Parsley, Pea shoots, Purple sprouting broccoli, Radishes, Rocket, Rosemary, Spinach, Spring greens, Spring onions, Tarragon, Watercress, Wild garlic

Fruit: Rhubarb (passion fruit, bananas, kiwis, pineapple)

Seafood: Clams, Cockles, Cod, Coley, Crab, Dover sole, Haddock, Mackerel, Monkfish, Oysters, Pollack, Salmon, Scallops, Sea bass, Sea trout

Meat: Spring lamb

There is certainly a lot of seafood in season and that is an area where I only eat a small range so needs expanding. Vegetable wise leeks and purple sprouting broccoli will be on my shopping list again and I'm determined to get some spinach in to our diet this month. But I am particularly looking forward to Jersey royals and asparagus. I still want to try rhubarb (we now have a rhubarb plant in the garden but that won't produce any for us to eat for 2 years) and of course lamb will be on the menu at some point this month hopefully.