Lemons with everything: Letitia Clark’s recipes for creamy baked fennel and spring fregola salad

To the bluish eye, attuned arsenic it is to the muted and russet tones of our indigenous apples and pears, the citrus is simply a happening of astir mocking brightness and jollity – truthful bold, blatant and exclamatory successful its yellowness. Lemons are variously described arsenic electric, fresh, optimistic, uplifting, zesty, spritzy, cheerful, sunny, lively. They are synonymous with freshness and optimism, and a blessed citrus is full, pert and perky, and unapologetically, proudly yellow. Long unrecorded the lemon!

Spring fregola crockery (pictured top)

Fregola is simply a Sardinian pasta made by rolling grains of semolina unneurotic to signifier tiny balls, past roasting them successful an oven. The finished pasta has a toasty, smoky flavour, a wonderful, nubbly texture and is conscionable small/large capable to supply a nutty chew. It is versatile and delicious, and tin beryllium cooked similar atom oregon pasta. Here, it is boiled similar pasta and near to chill earlier becoming the ground of a important salad. The smokiness works good with the sweetness of young earthy courgettes, portion toasted almonds apical everything off. This is simply a large broadside crockery for roast food oregon achromatic meat, oregon a bully summertime crockery connected its own.

Prep 10 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 4 as a side

250g fregola
Sea brackish and achromatic pepper
150g frozen peas
50-60ml extra-virgin olive oil, positive other to serve
Finely grated zest and foodstuff of 1 lemon
3 tiny courgettes, sliced oregon peeled into strips
1 fistful sweet herbs (mint, parsley, dill), astir chopped, positive other to service
150g fresh ricotta
40g flaked almonds, toasted

Cook the fregola successful a ample saucepan of boiling salted h2o for astir 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, adding the frozen peas to the cookware a infinitesimal earlier the fregola is done. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and rinse rapidly nether acold moving water. Drain again and enactment successful a vessel to cool, stirring occasionally to forestall the fregola sticking together. When the fregola has cooled, play it good with salt, plentiful olive lipid and citrus foodstuff and zest, past sensation for seasoning and set accordingly (the fregola volition portion up the oil).

Toss the courgette ribbons done the cooled fregola and pea mixture, past adhd a small much seasoning if necessary. Toss done the herbs, past put connected a platter and apical with ample blobs of ricotta. Sprinkle implicit immoderate much astir chopped herbs and the almonds, drizzle with a small other lipid to finish, past serve.

Creamy fennel, citrus and pecorino bake

Letitia Clark’s creamy fennel, citrus and pecorino bake.

At 1 of my favourite restaurants of each time, the Seahorse successful Dartmouth, Devon, a tiny metallic crockery of sliced fennel baked successful pick is often served alongside baked achromatic fish. The fennel is pale, delicate, saccharine and savoury, and provides the cleanable accompaniment. It looks beautiful, too, successful each of its elven, airy green-white splendour. This is simply a gilded mentation of that aforesaid dish, lifted by a treble deed of citrus and fixed a savoury punch by ail and anchovies; if you similar to support it vegetarian, permission retired the anchovies and it volition inactive beryllium delicious (you mightiness besides similar to adhd a fewer roasted almonds, for other savouriness and crunch). This tin beryllium a repast successful itself (with a sharp, lemon-dressed greenish salad, say) oregon a broadside for pork, chickenhearted oregon fish.

Prep 10 min
Cook 1 hr
Serves 4-6

Butter, for greasing
2 ample oregon 3 tiny fennel bulbs (about 1kg)
Sea salt
300ml double cream
50ml milk
1 lemon, zested and quartered
1 ail clove, peeled and bashed
80g grated pecorino (make definite it’s a vegetarian one, if request be)
30g coarse breadcrumbs, preferably from a rustic loaf (dried breadcrumbs would besides work)
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
6 anchovy fillets (optional)

Heat the oven to 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5, and grease a ample gratin crockery with butter.

Trim the roots and stems from the fennel bulbs, chop disconnected and reserve the fronds, past portion the bulbs lengthways into 3mm- to 4mm-thick slices. Bring a cookware of well-salted h2o to a boil, driblet successful the sliced fennel and navigator for 3 minutes, until conscionable tender. Drain, adust and put successful the gratin dish.

Meanwhile, successful a saucepan, vigor the pick and beverage with fractional the citrus zest, a pinch of salt, the chopped reserved fennel fronds and the bashed ail clove. When it comes to a boil, instrumentality disconnected the vigor and disturbance successful fractional the pecorino, until melted.

Chop 1 of the citrus quarters into bladed slices, past chop these into small pieces and scatter each implicit the fennel. Pour implicit the pick mixture, and region and discard the bashed garlic.

Mix the remaining citrus zest with the breadcrumbs and remaining cheese, sprinkle this implicit the fennel and cream, and drizzle with the olive oil. Dot implicit the anchovy fillets, if using, past cook for astir 40 minutes, until aureate and bubbling.

• These recipes are edited extracts from For the Love of Lemons: Italian-inspired Sweet and Savoury Recipes, by Letitia Clark, published by Quadrille astatine £28. To bid a transcript for £25.20, spell to guardianbookshop.com