How to make Tart London's lemon ricotta with fresh spring peas

Each May in Somerset, we find ourselves drawn to Jemima’s vegetable garden for peas.

Picking a ripe pea pod for the first time, popping it open to reveal the perfect little row of emerald jewels inside and eating them straight away is a moment to savour. Jemima’s little boy, Arlo, eats so many freshly picked peas and with such gusto that it makes us wonder why we ever cook them when they taste so good raw.

No season is more fitting for us creatively than spring, with the excitement that it brings and a powerful sense of fresh beginnings in the air. For the first time all year, we feel thankful to live in such a rainy climate, the result of which is vivid pink radishes, the mottled stalks of rhubarbs shooting up strong and bushy and, our personal favourite sight of spring, arrow-shaped asparagus.

We cannot remember a year when we have wanted to celebrate the arrival of spring as much as this. The season of optimism has swept us off our feet and, with that, we’ve created this little dish as an homage.

This zesty ricotta with honey, broad beans and peas, dressed with a herby gremolata, makes a chic little starter or side dish — it would be perfect paired with a lemony roast chicken and minty, crushed new potatoes. We particularly love this way of creating saffron honey; make extra and it can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes. We put a few drops on top of feta, along with crushed nuts and smoked paprika, before baking in the oven.

Simple, fresh and with a little twist, this recipe is what we crave at this time of year, with some good grilled sourdough drizzled in olive oil.

Serves 4

100ml runny honey

Small pinch of saffron

250g ricotta

Zest of 1 lemon

Large handful of fresh peas, shelled

Large handful of fresh broad beans

1 red chilli, finely chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

Juice from ½ lemon

Truffle oil

For the gremolata

Handful of smoked almonds

Small bunch of parsley

Small bunch of basil

Zest of 1 lemon

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Place the honey in a small pan, gently heat and add the saffron to infuse. Cool and store in a jar, where it will last for a few weeks.

Place the ricotta in a bowl, add the lemon zest, salt, a little olive oil and mix well.

Blanch the peas and broad beans for 2 minutes, then remove the beans’ shells. Toss the peas and beans in a bowl with the chilli, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

To make the gremolata, blend all the ingredients to a rough salsa.

Place the ricotta on the plate and spoon over the broad bean mixture, drizzle with the saffron honey and gremolata. Finish with truffle oil.

You could add some shaved truffle and edible flowers, too. Serve with toasted sourdough.