Paper Palate

Mothering Sunday is coming up (in the UK, at any rate) and March’s fresh magazine offers several ideas to cosset your mum – from a whole selection of seasonal dinner dishes from Antony Worrall Thompson and Jean-Christophe Novelli (one assumes they mean mum to put her feet up for these ones!) to traditional gala day cakes to bake her as a treat.

Another tradition in March is Shrove Tuesday, otherwise known as Pancake Day. Try either the traditional recipe or the Scottish drop pancakes recipe with one of the suggested accompaniments.

For those whose mother never taught them how to make marmalade, there’s the hows, whys and wherefores of the art, including recipes for other citrus such as pomelo, tangerine, kumquat, lime, etc.

Fairtrade is one of the fastest growing market sectors in the UK and fresh takes an in-depth look at reasons, benefits and workings of the movement and some of their success stories. The 6th to the 19th of March is also Fairtrade Fortnight; a good time to revise your shopping habits.

Still on the theme of the conscientious consumer, editor Fiona Shoop kicks off a new Farming series with “Sheep Farming”, an article on the Dorset Breed. This heritage breed is exclusively sold by Waitrose supermarket, who maintain a unique partnership with the Dorset Breed Farmers Group through middle-men Dalehead Foods that ensures fair payment and constant communication between them all. It’s the type of sane capitalism we need on a much larger scale to revive the struggling farming industry.

On a cheerier note, St Patrick’s Day gets the menu treatment with a variety of tasty looking recipes which all include Ireland’s most beloved export – Guinness – and an explanation of why a pint of the black stuff will do you more good than harm. My favourite definitely has to be the Steamed Ginger Pudding. Mmm.

Michael van Straten also offers traditional Irish recipes with some charming little anecdotes, and for kitchen gardeners gives tips on how to sow and grow cauliflower now that spring is on the way, and lists some classic cauliflower dishes such as Chou-fleur Soufflé and Aloo Gobi.

Vegetable of the month is the potato (how could it be anything different around St Paddy’s Day?), herb of the month is thyme, and Shiraz and Syrah get the spotlight in this issue’s wine feature by Rosalind Cooper.

Chef Paul Rankin pairs four of the month’s 12 reviewed wines with tempting recipes and for those on a budget or in a rush there’s a collection of easy affordable family favourite dinner recipes as well.

Author and former fish seller William Black entertains with tales of London’s historic Billingsgate Fish Market, which has existed (in one spot or another) since medieval times. Top chef Raymond Blanc rounds off the issue with a discussion on the joys of fresh wet fish and why sustainable fishing is so important. His top buy for the moment is line-caught mackerel from the waters off south-west England.