Winter-spring: the most frustrating time in the kitchen calendar. We want spring food, with its baby veg and fresh flavours, yet in reality it is still a bit early. By this time last year I was eating outdoors almost every day but I see from my diaries that the food was still quite wintry: a rabbit stew with pearl barley; pot roast chicken; fish pie. Such food neatly sums up the season, not quite winter, not quite spring. These past few weeks my appetite has jumped about from wanting great fat roasts with piles of mashed root veggies to feeling the need for whole meals of vivid spring greens. Last week saw my kitchen full of squid (grilled and tossed with parsley and lime) dark green lentils (tossed with baked feta cheese) and a dark-fleshed organic chicken which ended up being roasted in a pot with vegetables, rather in the style of a game bird. The list of locally grown vegetables is hardly exciting at the moment (unless you are a swede fancier), but there are some tender broad beans coming in from Italy and some crunchy fennel too. From our own farms there is still plenty of purple sprouting broccoli around, and the crisp cabbages here are so good when shredded and fried in bacon fat or dunked into glistening noodle soups. My biggest treat of the week was some little pork patties that I flavoured with lemon, parmesan and thyme. With a sweet, rich meat and bright citrus seasonings, they were the very essence of winter-spring cooking and we followed them with the best fruit of the month - organic bananas, sliced thickly and marinated with Italian orange zest.

Pork and lemon patties

Delectably moreish little balls these. You probably wouldn't mind a few wide and slithery Italian noodles on the side, or perhaps some rice. Or maybe just a plate of greens such as sprout tops or purple sprouting.

serves 4

fresh, white breadcrumbs - 70g

pork mince - 500g

a lemon

parsley leaves - large handful

thyme - about six bushy sprigs

grated Parmesan - 2 heaped tbs

anchovy fillets - 10

to cook:

40g butter

2 tbs olive oil

200ml chicken stock

Put the breadcrumbs and pork into a mixing bowl. Grate the lemon zest in with the pork then halve and squeeze the lemon. Add the lemon juice to the pork with the roughly chopped parsley leaves and the thyme leaves stripped from their stems. Tip in the grated Parmesan then the chopped anchovy fillets. Season the mixture with a little salt, then more generously with black pepper. Mix thoroughly.

Make about 18 small balls of the mixture, using a heaped tablespoon of pork for each one. I find it easiest to shape them into a rough ball then flatten them slightly. Put each one onto a floured baking sheet.

Warm the olive oil and butter in a heavy based pan that doesn't stick. Roll the patties lightly in the flour then fry them in the oil, about eight at a time, for 4-5 minutes until they are crisply golden on each side. Lower the heat and leave to cook through to the middle - a matter of 6-8 minutes more. (I tend to turn them no more than once or twice during cooking so they develop a crisp, slightly sticky exterior.) Now tip the fat, or at least most of it, from the pan, then pour in the chicken stock. Leave to bubble for a good two or three minutes, scraping up and stirring in any pan stickings. Let the stock bubble down a bit then divide the patties between four plates and spoon over the juices from the pan.

Lime and parsley squid

A seriously punchy mixture of charcoal flavours given a hit of lime and red chillies. A wake-up call when eaten with hot green leaves such as watercress or rocket; surprisingly soothing when stirred through a small bowl of white rice. If you are taking the rice route you will need about 180g of white basmati for two. Put the rice on to cook, just covered with water and seasoned only with salt, a good 15 minutes or so before you start to grill the squid.

serves 2

squid, cleaned and prepared - 300g

olive oil - 4 tbs

flat leaf parsley - a small bunch

coriander - a small bunch

a couple of hot red chillies

the juice of 2 limes

white rice or salad leaves to serve

Cut the squid into thick rings. Rinse and pat dry.

Pour the olive oil into a mixing bowl. Chop the parsley leaves and the coriander. I tend to prefer this kept on the rough side. Chop the chillies quite finely, removing the seeds if you want something less than vibrantly hot, then mix them with the olive oil and the herbs and add a good grinding of both salt and black pepper.

Put the squid onto a hot grill or ridged grill pan, season with salt, the lime juice and black pepper, and leave to cook for a minute on each side. Toss the hot squid with the parsley sauce and serve with the rice, folding the juices from the salad through the rice as you eat.

Warm lentil and feta salad

I have got a bit of a thing about piquant sheep's cheese and earthy pulses. Sometimes I toss grated young Pecorino with hot chickpeas and spiky, throat-catching rocket leaves. On other occasions I make a salad such as this with warm lentils and baked cheese, scooping it up with soft, warm bread.

serves 2

small dark green lentils - 150g

medium-sized red onions - 2

thyme - 6 bushy sprigs

olive oil

feta cheese - 400g

mint - about 25 leaves

warm Middle Eastern bread to serve

Set the oven at 200 c/gas 6. Rinse the lentils under running water and bring them to the boil in deep water. Turn down to a rolling boil and let them cook for 25-30 minutes until tender but nutty.

Peel the onions and slice them thinly. Break the slices into rings and put them into a mixing bowl with the leaves from the thyme sprigs and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Toss and season with black pepper.

Put a piece of kitchen foil or greaseproof paper on a baking sheet or ovenproof dish and scatter half the seasoned onion rings on it. Lay the blocks of feta on top and scatter over the remaining onion. Scrunch the foil loosely over the top to seal then bake for 20-25 minutes, by which time the onions should have softened.

Drain the lentils, chop the mint leaves and mix them with two tablespoons of olive oil. Toss the drained lentils in with the oil and mint then grind over both black pepper and a little salt. Divide them between two warm plates then lay a piece of feta and some of the onions on top. The hot, soft cheese may crumble, but no matter.

Pot roast guinea fowl with celery and sage

The guinea fowl's lacks of fat means that we need to find ways of keeping its flesh moist during cooking. The time-honoured way is to wrap the bird in fatty bacon. Fine. But I don't always want the intrusion of that particular flavour. Another way is to let the guinea fowl cook in its own steam. In other words, a pot roast. What you get is plenty of juicy meat that tastes of itself and plenty of clear savoury juices.

serves 2

a guinea fowl - plump and oven ready

butter - 2 thick slices (80g)

garlic - 4 large juicy cloves

celery - 3 large ribs and a few leaves

new potatoes - 12 smallish

sage leaves - 6 decent sized

white vermouth such as Noilly Prat - 250ml

Set the oven at 180 c/gas 4. Wipe the guinea fowl, remove any stray feathers then season it thoroughly with salt and pepper. Melt half the butter in a deep casserole, one to which you have a lid. You want it hot enough to brown the bird but not so hot that it burns too quickly. Put the bird in the hot butter, letting it colour on all sides. When the skin is a rich gold remove the bird, pour away the butter and wipe the pan with kitchen paper. (The trick is to wipe away any burned butter but to leave any sticky goo stuck to the pan.)

While the bird is colouring in the butter you can peel the garlic, trim and cut the celery into short (2cm) lengths. Wash the potatoes and either halve them or slice them thickly depending on their size.

Melt the remaining half of the butter in the pan and add the potatoes, letting them colour lightly, then introduce the celery pieces and sage and celery leaves and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the vermouth, bring to the boil, letting it bubble for a minute or two then return the bird and any escaped juices to the pan. Cover with a lid and transfer to the oven for 35-40 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven, take off the lid and gently split the bird's legs away from its body, nicking the skin with a knife as you go. Return the bird, legs akimbo and without the lid, to the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove the legs then remove each breast in one piece. Put a leg and a breast on each of the two warm plates and then divide up the potatoes, celery and their juices.

Bananas with orange zest

oranges - 3 medium

a lime

bananas - 4 slightly under-ripe

serves 2

Using the fine side of the grater, grate the zest from one of the oranges into a serving bowl. Squeeze the juice from all the oranges and the lime in with it and stir. Peel the bananas, slice them thickly and leave to macerate in the fridge for about 20 minutes, but not so long that they become fuzzy.