So, apparently, this is spring? You’d expect with March being all but over that we’d have more green shoots around. But alas, winter has extended her stay, leaving us longing for some of our favourite seasonal ingredients.

Our chefs at The Italian Villa have been using this “waiting time” to use our newly acquired smoker, which means that we’ve been able to smoke our own salmon, chicken and other meats. But we have been preparing for spring’s imminent arrival, excited by the prospects of tender asparagus – always a popular menu item from mid-April.

Equally, we have the busy wedding season to look forward to, which bodes well for another menu item we’ve been craving through the winter – Dorset spring lamb. Wedding guests often opt for our lamb cutlet from the rack, served with a divine confit lamb shoulder in a reduced red wine-infused lamb jus.

And if the cold has really got to you, you can always rely on hard liquor to warm the cockles... Well, brandy specifically, which we mix with a secret blend of spices to soak our raisins in, making the perfect match for our home-made panettone bread and butter pudding – a dessert to surely warm the hearts of every bride and groom.

  • Tony Beales is managing director of Beales Gourmet & The Italian Villa at Compton Acres