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Yipee, asparagus season is upon us! I really love love love asparagus.

When I was growing up in Luxembourg, my mum would cook with asparagus every springtime. They were white asparagus, typically cooked with in northern Europe. She’d simply boil them and serve them with a creamy béchamel sauce and new potatoes. If there were any leftovers, she’d prepare a soup with them the next day.

Since moving to the UK, I discovered the delights that green asparagus have to offer. They’re slightly different from their white sisters – more intense in flavour, more ‘green’, and slightly bitterer. Green asparagus are perfect for grilling – just throw some on a hot griddle pan or on a BBQ, and let them release a smoky, chargrilled flavour that’s just amazing.

I still like the idea of making asparagus soup, so I decided to make one with green asparagus. I’ve added potatoes to create some texture, and made a few heavenly butter croutons to go with it. As always, there’s a dash of wine in my cooking (just adding a great dimension). If you prefer not to cook with wine, just substitute it for water or vegetable stock.

A heavenly springtime dish – ideal for the cold weather spell we’re experiencing in the UK at the moment.

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Did you know hops don’t only produce beer – they can also be a fantastic food ingredient? I had no idea.

So when I received a press release that branded hop shoots as ‘the poor man’s asparagus’, I was intrigued. The London Brewers’ Association was behind the idea – inviting chefs, restaurateurs and brewers to a day out in Kent, to go hop picking and then cook with the produce.

The idea to cook with hop shoots seemed so novel, that I realized it had great potential for a TV feature. When I pitched it to my editor, she raised an eyebrow and said “So, basically you want me to pay for you to have a fun day out?!”. Well, she had me on that point…!

With a commission in my pocket, I headed to the Kentish coutryside to spend the day filming hop pickers – and drinking beer with them. The only slight worry was the weather, since it’s been raining non-stop for the past week. But somehow, the ‘weather gods’ were on our side, and we were greeted with sunshine.

Once all the hop pickers had arrived from London, the hop picking started. Everyone picked a spot in the field, and cut off the small, delicate shoots to cook with in their restaurants that night. The atmosphere was really serene – only the wind blowing, birds singing and the odd chatter of enthusiastic chefs sharing recipe ideas.

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Hey you! Fed up with the ongoing rain? Desperate for some sunshine in your life? Then let me introduce you to the most summery dessert ever – a plate of golden sunshine: a mango pavlova!

No matter how crap the weather gets, there’s always a remedy: any recipe involving mango! Mango is one of my all-time favourite fruits. In Thailand I stuffed myself with heavenly ‘sticky coconut rice with mango’ on a daily basis. The combination of creamy coconut and mango really is hard to beat.

So, when I came back to the UK, I was still truly inspired by this heavenly combination. I bought all the ingredients needed to make sticky rice with mango, but somehow I never really got round to making it. You know how it is: back from a holiday, still buzzing with all the memories, desperate to recreate the experiences – but somehow it ain’t the same at home…

That’s why I decided to come up with a dessert that reflects the flavours of sticky rice with mango, but that’s completely different. Call it a play on my favourite Thai dessert, mixed with antipodean flair: a coconut pavlova with cinnamon-infused mango. It can’t get better than this!

So, let’s get down to the details of this superb and easy dessert!

A pavlova is basically a meringue topped with cream and fruit. Now, I hear some of you say “boy, this looks soooooo pretty, I bet it’s soooooo hard to make!”. Well, it ain’t. Meringues are in fact super easy to make! All you need is a bit of patience, since they need to bake in the oven for about 2 hours at a very low temperature. This will give them their crispy shell, but keep them chewy inside.

As for the shape: yes, it may look tricky, but it isn’t. You need a piping bag fitted with a star-shaped nozzle. Start by piping a spiral circle (starting in the middle, then piping in a spiral shape around the middle, so that it becomes a round spiral). Make it roughly as big as the inside of your hand. Then, pipe the outer “crown” layer: put the nozzle down on the outside of the disc, and pipe while doing an upward movement, ending on the top of the disc. This will give you little spikey bits, which will create the crown effect.

If that’s too daunting, just take a large spoon and chuck a couple of spoonfuls of mixture onto a baking tray, and flatten to a roundish disc with the back of your spoon. Simple as that! It may not look as fanciful, but it will definitely taste just as yummy. Plus, the rustic style is hip! Right? I mean, come on, Jamie Oliver wouldn’t start piping out these fancy crown discs, he’d just make some plain ‘bad boys’ that would taste just as good!

So, whatever meringue style you choose, you’ll love this dessert. Trust me, it’s one for the books!

Especially since it’s eternally versatile. I added toasted coconut to the meringue here, but if you don’t like coconut, just leave it out. Once you have your meringue base, top it with crême fraîche or Greek yoghurt and then add anything else you like. I’ve made it with raspberries, with rhubarb compote, even with chestnut cream (and it becomes a sort of Mont Blanc). A pavlova is just absolutely amazing… Amen!

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