Seasonal recipes from Gill Meller river cottage chef (2024)

I’ve always liked the word “gather”. It feels hopeful, natural and very human. Though few of us can go around picking berries and tracking deer, we still collect ingredients: bread, fruit, cheese, a jar of honey.

The way we gather has evolved and perhaps inevitably we’ve lost a handle on where our food comes from. And, quite often, we don’t spend enough time together enjoying a meal.

This multilayered word “gather” has helped me find a way to make the most of the food that I eat with my family and friends. It’s given me a path to tread that makes sense to me as a cook, and it’s given me an appreciation for the happiness that sharing food with other people can bring.

Spring cabbage salad with honey and sprounted lentils

This salad is all about the crunch and bite of raw ingredients, and the honey-sweet warmth of the punchy dressing that brings it all together.

To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a small bowl, whisk and set aside.

Trim off any rough or discoloured outer leaves from the cabbage. Slice it in half from top to bottom, then remove the thickest part of the stem from within each half. Slice each half into thin ribbons, no thicker than 1 cm wide. Wash the cabbage and drain well. You can spin it dry briefly if you have a salad spinner.

Scatter the cabbage over a large serving platter, or on to smaller individual plates. Spoon half the dressing over the cabbage, then scatter over the spring onion.

Place the sprouted lentils and/or beans in a small bowl. Drizzle 3 tbsp of dressing over it and tumble everything together. Scatter the lentils and/or beans over the plated cabbage and spring onions.

Scatter over the toasted sesame seeds and finish by drizzling over the remaining dressing. Serve immediately.

Samphire and prawns with butter and mace

When I make this dish at home, I tend to use shrimps and eat them shell and all. But if you use larger prawns, you might find the “shell-on” approach texturally challenging.

Serves 4
marsh samphire 250g, coarser stems trimmed
butter 1 knob
extra-virgin olive oil 2 tbsp
garlic cloves 2, peeled and thinly sliced
chilli flakes ½ tsp
lemon zest of ½, juice of 1
ground mace ½ tsp
cooked or live prawns or shrimps 400g
salt and black pepper freshly ground

Bring a medium pan of water to the boil. Drop in the samphire and cook for 3-4 minutes, until tender. Drain and set aside.

Heat the butter and olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. When bubbling, add the garlic, chilli flakes, lemon zest and mace. Cook, stirring regularly, for 1-2 minutes, until the garlic is just beginning to colour. Add the drained samphire to the pan and toss well.

If you have live prawns or shrimps, blanch them in salted boiling water for a few minutes until they have lost their translucency and are cooked through.

Scatter over the cooked shellfish, add the lemon juice, season well with salt and pepper, and remove from the heat as soon as the prawns or shrimps are warm. Divide the mixture equally on to 4 plates and serve straight away with good bread and butter.

Rabbit with pappardelle

This is a very simple recipe for one of the most enjoyable pasta sauces.

Serves 4
extra-virgin olive oil 2 tbsp
smoked streaky bacon 6 thick rashers, cut into lardons
celery sticks 2, trimmed and finely diced
onion 1, finely chopped
garlic 4 cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
bay leaves 2
thyme sprigs 6
rosemary sprig 1
wild rabbit 1 , jointed
chicken or vegetable stock
pappardelle pasta
salt and black pepper freshly ground

Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a medium casserole over a medium heat. When it’s hot, add the lardons and fry for 3-4 minutes, or until the bacon has given up a little fat. Add the celery, onion, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme and rosemary sprigs.

Cook, stirring regularly, for 10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and just beginning to colour.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large nonstick frying pan over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the rabbit pieces and season them all over with salt and pepper. Fry the rabbit for 6-8 minutes on each side, or until lovely and golden all over.

Transfer the rabbit and any pan juices to the casserole of softening vegetables. Pour over the stock and bring up to a very gentle simmer. Place a lid on the casserole, leaving it just ajar, then cook over a low heat for 90 minutes to 2 hours, or until the meat is completely tender and comes easily away from the bone. If the pan looks a little dry during cooking, add a splash more stock or water.

When the rabbit is ready, remove the casserole from the heat and use a pair of tongs to transfer the rabbit pieces to a large plate.

When the meat is cool enough to handle, pick it off the bone in shards and shreds and add it back to the pan. Stir everything well, and return the pan to the heat. Bring the sauce back up to a simmer and continue simmering until it has reached a consistency you’re happy with (I usually leave it bubbling away for about 15-20 minutes). When it’s ready, season with salt and pepper.

Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water (3-6 minutes if fresh, a little longer if dried), drain, then drizzle with a little olive oil. Place equal amounts of pasta on each of 4 plates, then spoon over generous amounts of the sauce and serve.

Chocolate rye brownies with bay and almonds

Rye flour and good chocolate are extraordinarily delicious together.

Serves 8-10
dark chocolate 200g, good quality, at least 70% cocoa solids, broken in pieces
unsalted butter 180g, cubed and chilled, plus extra for greasing
fine sea salt 2 pinches
eggs 4
golden caster sugar 100g
soft brown sugar 80g
light rye flour 150g , plus extra for dusting
almonds 100g whole, skin-on
orange finely grated zest of ½
golden granulated sugar 50g
bay leaves 6-8

Heat the oven to 160C/gas mark 2-3.

Grease and lightly flour a medium baking tin (about 20 x 30cm). Melt the chocolate pieces and butter, with 1 pinch of the salt, in a large heatproof bowl set over a pan of very gently simmering water for 6-8 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the chocolate is smooth and delicious-looking. (Don’t let the bowl touch the water.) Remove the bowl from the heat and set aside.

Separate 1 egg. Divide the white in half as best you can. In a large bowl, use an electric whisk to beat the remaining eggs, as well as the yolk and ½ egg white of the separated egg, with both the sugars until light, airy, pale and fluffy. Reserve the remaining ½ egg white.

Beat the whisked egg into the melted chocolate mixture, then fold in the rye flour until the batter is fully combined. Pour the batter into the prepared tin.

To make the topping, whisk the reserved egg white in a bowl until light and airy, then fold in the almonds, orange zest, granulated sugar and remaining pinch of salt. Tumble together until the almonds are well coated and the mixture is fully combined. Spoon the almond topping evenly over the brownies, then dot the bay leaves over the top, pushing the base of each leaf a little way into the batter.

Bake the brownies for 20-25 minutes, until they are cracked and firm on top, but gooey in the middle. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin, then cut into squares. Serve individually with cream, ice cream or thick, plain yogurt – or as they are with a cup of tea or coffee.

Gather by Gill Meller is published by Quadrille at £25. To order a copy for £20.50, go to bookshop.theguardian.com