Tom Kitchin: Easter Sunday kedgeree | Wild garlic risotto with crispy bacon

My cooking is based entirely around the seasons, and I always let nature guide me for inspiration and new dishes. This is the season I look forward to most.

With the first cherry blossoms in the vases at the Kitchin, I always feel a bit lighter in my step as I await the arrival of the first spring produce.

The official start for me is always when the first vegetables come in. I especially look forward to the season's first peas and broad beans, but I also treasure the first wild herbs: the wood sorrel, the wild rocket flowers and the wild garlic, which is gathered from local woods and riverbanks.

It was only when I returned to Scotland, having spent years training in France, that I discovered how easy it is to pick wild garlic. It grows in abundance around rivers, and if you can't see the plants with your eye you can most definitely smell them at this time of year.

I love picking my own, and I think wild garlic brings a unique and natural flavour to my cooking. I use it at the restaurant and at home, as it really does make a difference to a dish.

One of my favourite recipes that celebrates this seasonal crop is my wild garlic risotto. It lets you appreciate the fresh, natural flavours of spring and makes a simple but impressive dinner.

For me, the most important – and most exciting – part of cooking is understanding and appreciating locally grown and locally sourced produce. I want diners at the Kitchin to get the chance to try things the minute they become available, so they can taste how incredibly fresh the ingredients are.

It's amazing how different food can taste when it's in season. I always push myself to ensure that I get my hands on the earliest possible produce. Cooking is all about creating natural food matches and using the produce around me to create new recipes and dishes.

It is also about minimising food miles and supporting local farmers as much as possible – and I find that whatever you can get from the land and sea on your doorstep will always be far superior, and taste far better, than food that is not in season.

Easter is the perfect time to spend with family and friends, catching up over some delicious comfort food. This year I am more organised than usual, with friends visiting from London, so I've decided to try an old classic for Easter Sunday: kedgeree.

I guess I fell in love with kedgeree after re-inventing it for the BBC's Great British Menu last year. It wasn't a winning dish, but it drove me to try something new with it, and I have now simplified the recipe entirely. I think my new twist on the classic is a winner, and it will hopefully go down well with our friends later today. And if not, well, at least my mother thinks it's perfection.

For several years, the Easter weekend was just one of many where I spent most of my time in a kitchen somewhere. Easter Sunday was then spent trying to catch up on some much-needed sleep, so I'm really looking forward to hosting our own family dinner this year.

It's only really in the last few years, with friends having children and my wife Michaela and I having our son Kasper, that we have started to celebrate Easter as a family.

A few years ago, when we had friends visiting, we took them up to Arthur's Seat, in Edinburgh, on Easter Sunday, and I was overwhelmed to see how many families were rolling eggs down the hills. I suddenly remembered that it was what we always used to do when I was growing up in the countryside of Scotland.

This year, with a cheeky but determined two-year-old running around, we're definitely going out for some egg-hunting before we head back to try the kedgeree.

Easter Sunday Kedgeree

Serves four

200g basmati rice

800g smoked haddock

1 pint milk

2 cloves garlic

onion

3g mustard seeds

3g curry powder

100g butter

juice of half a lemon

salt

pepper

4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

30g parsley, chopped

1 slice lime

Cook the basmati rice according to the instructions. Place the haddock fillets in a large pan and cover with the milk and garlic. Cover with parchment paper or buttered paper and place on a very low heat. Bring up to a gentle simmer and turn off the heat, leaving the haddock to cook in the milk. Flake the fish and set aside. Keep the garlicky milk and also set aside. Finely chop the onion, add the mustard seeds and curry powder. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan, then add the onion and seasoning. Sweat gently for five minutes without colouring. Then add the rice and mix well with the butter. Pour 500g of water, mixed with 100g of the milk mixture over the rice and cook for approximately 15 minutes, until the liquid has evaporated.

To serve

Add the haddock to the rice. Gently fold through and season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Top with the chopped eggs and the parsley, then garnish with the slice of lime.

Wild garlic risotto with crispy bacon

Serves four

1 litre chicken stock

100g butter

1 white onion, finely chopped

250g risotto rice

75ml white wine

150g grated Parmesan

150g wild garlic

150g parmesan shavings

12 rashers bacon, crispy

Boil the stock. In a pan, add 50g of butter and the onions, and sweat for three to four minutes. Add the rice, then the wine and reduce until dry. Slowly ladle in the stock to cover the rice. Mix continuously while slowly adding stock, as required. Cook for 15-17 minutes until rice is al dente, not completely cooked. Once cooked, remove from heat and add the remaining 50g of butter, the grated parmesan and the chopped garlic

To serve

Add crispy bacon and shavings of Parmesan on top of the rice.

This article was first published in The Scotland On Sunday on April 04, 2010