Recipe: Asparagus with watercress mayonnaise, a fresh and simple seasonal treat
Watercress is delightfully fragrant and offers a simple way to add colour and peppery notes to spring dishes.
Food and Drink
Discover the latest in food and drink news, try our delicious and easy recipes using fresh seasonal produce and read our pub and restaurant reviews.
Here at Country Life we love to cook and we love to eat. Seasonality is important, whether you’re growing your own or visiting the farmers’ market for your ingredients – but we love to cook seasonally. Whether it’s our brilliant collection of elderflower recipes in the summertime, our ultimate sloe gin recipe in autumn or gorgeous roast goose recipes in the winter, we have collected the best seasonal recipes by ingredient on dedicated pages
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Asparagus with watercress mayonnaise from our resident Kitchen Garden Cook, Melanie Johnson. Credit: Melanie Johnson/Country Life -
Credit: Alamy Jason Goodwin: 'In a regimented, digital world, where everyone seems to be selling something, yeast and bacteria are free and wild'
Jason Goodwin discusses kombucha, the deceptively foreign-sounding tea-based drink, among other weird and wonderful things produced by home fermentation.
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Credit: Simon Hopkinson / Country Life Simon Hopkinson's lamb cutlet recipe: Good enough for a Last Meal
Simon Hopkinson says that lamb cutlets would be his last meal. And here's how he'd like them cooked, thank you very much.
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Dr John Walters hard at work distilling. Credit: English Spirit The Oxford don who turned his hand to making English rum: ‘It’s like drinking liquid Christmas pudding’
Ten years ago an Oxbridge scientist turned his considerable brainpower to distilling proper Caribbean rum in the heart of Cambridgeshire. Emma Hughes tells his story.
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Credit: Melanie Johnson The perfect spring pizza, with asparagus, prosciutto and delicious burrata
Spikes of asparagus in the kitchen garden are a sure sign that the British spring has truly arrived. Melanie Johnson has created a wonderful spring dish using these tender stems perfect for a light dinner.
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Roasted Stuffed Leg of Lamb with Spinach and Pine Nuts Credit: Alamy Recipe: Tom Aikens's roast leg of lamb, perfect for Easter Sunday
This is an exciting time of year for chefs with the arrival of all the delicious young vegetables and salads. Tom shares his recipe for roast lamb.
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Credit: Joe Pepler/PinPep The Utterly Inessential Shopping List: Spring scarves, wonderful wine for your Easter lamb and Godiva's £10,000 Easter egg
As we leave the snowdrops behind and welcome the bluebells, we turn away from the world of wellies and jackets and towards a softer, lighter world, filled with silk scarves, wonderful wines and £10,000 Easter eggs. You know, just the normal things.
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'Abandon hope, all ye who cook this dish'.... Credit: Joff Lee A hot cross bun recipe that will be even more divisive than the whole Brexit thing
Eggs, bacon, ketchup and hot cross buns in one recipe? It's either a sure sign of the apocalypse or else so mad it might just work.
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Rare Blue Grey cattle grazing on Ingleborough National Nature Reserve, North Yorkshire. Credit: Alamy Stock Photo The special alchemy of rare-breed meat, and 10 places of the best places to get hold of it
The surest way to aid the survival of Britain's rare breeds is to support the farmers who rear them – and in doing so you can end up enjoying some of the finest meat on earth.
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Credit: Alamy Stock Photo Curious Questions: Why do we eat hot cross buns at Easter?
Annunciata Elwes traces the curious history of the hot cross bun in Britain.
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Rhubarb, raspberry and thyme mille-feuille. Credit: Melanie Johnson / Country Life The ultimate 'posh' rhubarb and custard? How to make rhubarb, raspberry and thyme mille-feuille
Here's how to elevate simple rhubarb and custard to something rather smart.
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Credit: Getty Is English whisky becoming a worthy opponent for its Scottish rival?
We’ve all heard the hype about English gin and sparkling wine, but those with an eye on the future should look to whisky, says Rupert Ponsonby.
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Credit: Daniel Herendi The Utterly Inessential Easter List: Bunny headphones, a terrific toothbrush and eggs, from scotch to cheese to (of course) chocolate
What ho! It's time for our regularly scheduled decadence to receive its regularly scheduled seasonal edit. This week we're considering everything that springs (get it) to mind when we think of Easter and all the shopping it entails. Think food. And lots of it.
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Credit: Melanie Johnson / Country Life How to make pan-fried haddock with wild garlic mayonnaise
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Credit: Alamy Dog-friendly London: Where to eat, shop and stay with your four-legged friend
Planning a trip to the capital, but don’t want to leave the most important member of the family at home? Emma Hughes pulls together the ultimate Country Life guide to dog-friendly London. Illustrations by Sholto Walker.
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The Macallan 1926, a 60-year-old whisky, with a label by artist Sir Peter Blake. Credit: AFP/Getty Images The extraordinary rise of single malt Scotch whisky – and how 2018's £1m bottle will likely be be the first of many
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Credit: Alamy Four recipes to make the humble cucumber rather more interesting
Cucumber is fresh and delicious, but it's difficult to use it in a dish that really zips off the plate.
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British beef produces roughly half the CO2 of the average, even before you factor in transport – buying local really does make a difference. Credit: Alamy Jason Goodwin: Giving up meat for Lent? I'm dreaming already and it’s only week three
Our columnist decided that Twitter or chocolate wouldn't count - but is he now regretting his choice?
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Credit: Alamy Roast dinner tips fresh from the Oxfordshire kitchen of Raymond Blanc
The highlight of any Brit's weekend; a Sunday roast is simple yet wondrously appreciated. The Raymond Blanc Cookery School at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons teach a wealth of transferable knowledge in their hands-on courses; Alexandra Fraser shares those she found the most useful after attending one such lesson.
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Credit: Roux Parliament Square Roux at Parliament Square review: A peaceful retreat from the surrounding environs with presentation almost as wondrous at the food itself
