With longer, warmer days on the horizon and al fresco dining finally a possibility, embrace the sunny season with lighter, brighter dishes, swapping limp lettuce and boring burgers for healthy dishes that still look and taste indulgent.
Quick, easy meals using fish, plants and leaner cuts of meat are the order of the day and with British watercress coming into season, you can even get smug about helping reduce the carbon footprint since it’s freshly harvested on farms right here in Dorset and Hampshire.
As well as tasting and looking good, this endlessly-versatile little leaf has a fascinating back story.
It’s still grown in the traditional – and only – way, in flowing spring water that runs through unique, Victorian watercress beds. In fact, so fascinating is the growing method for the peppery plant that it has a huge following and even its own festival!
Traditionally, about 15,000 people pitch up at Arlesford in Hampshire for the annual Watercress Festival and having been deprived of the slightly bonkers celebration for the last couple of years, they reckon this year’s event will be bigger than ever!
It’s one of the healthiest vegetables around, packed with more than 50 vital vitamins and minerals with more vitamin C than an orange, more folate than a banana, more vitamin E than broccoli and more calcium than milk.
The festival is on May 15 watercress festival.org but if you can’t wait, here’s one tasty recipe:

Sea Bass Fattoush with Watercress, Tomato, Radish, Cucumber, Pitta Chips & Creamy Yoghurt Dressing

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 Sea bass fillets
1 Pitta bread
85g watercress
1 large tomato, chopped
A few radishes, finely sliced
¼ cucumber, finely sliced
Parsley leaves, chopped
Olive oil

For the dressing:
3tbsp natural yoghurt
1tbsp olive oil
A few mint leaves, roughly chopped
1tsp lemon juice
(optional) Garlic clove, minced

Method
Start by making the dressing: simply combine all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
To make pitta chips, roughly chop a pitta bread into chunks. Heat some oil in a pan, enough to cover the base. Once hot, shallow fry the pitta chunks for a couple of minutes each side until golden brown. Tip them onto some kitchen paper to soak up any remaining oil and set aside to cool.
Pan-sear the sea bass skin-side down for a few minutes, until it gets some colour. Flip it and cook for a further couple of minutes until cooked through.
Assemble the watercress, tomato, radish and cucumber on a plate. Add pitta chips and sprinkle with parsley.
Place the sea bass fillet on top and drizzle everything with the creamy yoghurt dressing.

by Lorraine Gibson