FOOD & GARDENING
In the final part of our series, TV chef Clodagh McKenna serves up an alfresco spring feast, fresh from her abundant garden
PRODUCTION BY PATRICIA TAYLOR
As the sun comes up on spring mornings, chef and television presenter Clodagh McKenna can be found in her pyjamas in the greenhouse, watering her seedlings. “There’s so much to do in the garden at this time of year. I like to get an hour in before I start work,” she says. “After a winter indoors, I also like the excuse to get outside again. It’s so joyful to see the daffodils in bloom and bright green leaves unfurling on the trees. Best of all, the vegetable garden is showing signs of all the delicious food on its way.”
Spring certainly comes with a lengthy to-do list for the old walled garden at Broadspear, the 300-year-old cottage Clodagh shares with husband Harry. In the greenhouse, she tends to seedlings that will go on to produce bumper harvests later in the year. The rows of tomatoes, cucumbers, chillies and basil will stay under glass, but the pumpkins, butternut squash, beans and celery will soon be transferred outside. In preparation, Clodagh has cleared away weeds and dug manure into the raised beds from a well-rotted heap produced by Broadspear’s herd of Aberdeen Angus. The potatoes and root veg are planted directly as soon as the soil is warm enough, as are the salad leaves. “I like to sow a mix of lettuces, spinach and peppery leaves like rocket and mizuna, which has a delicious wasabi taste,” she says. “I also grow heaps of radishes. These taste best when they’re young and crunchy, so I sow them in succession. As soon as I see shoots coming up, I plant another row in a different spot.”
It’s not all hard work, though; the garden also has a few crops ready to be picked. Clodagh likes to celebrate this early harvest by serving spring lunches to family and friends with amenu that reflects the freshness and vibrancy of the season. “It doesn’t need to be complicated. The sweetness of the first peas or broad beans is enough to lift a simple pasta dish, and young salad leaves bring a lightness we all crave after winter,” she says. “I grow some rhubarb under terracotta cloches, which makes the stems bright pink and so sweet. They make beautiful cakes and tarts, but are also delicious simply poached.” Aparticular favourite for Clodagh is her asparagus. She planted the crowns five years ago, not long after she painstakingly restored the walled garden, but the plants cannot be harvested in their first couple of years: “The season is so short and we probably only get enough for about four or five meals, so every lunch that includes those beautiful spears feels v
