Many of you reading this may have had a disastrous Valentine's Day culinary experience on Monday evening. Admit it!  Either you cooked something you had never attempted before and it didn't match expectations, the food was delicious but you were in too much of a sulk to enjoy it, you went out to a restaurant only to find that the special ambiance you craved was decimated by the abundance of couples yearning for the same experience, or you - sniff - had no-one to share a disastrous culinary experience with.  Do not despair.  All can be rectified.  A special meal shared with loved ones can be enjoyed any day of the year.  Using Prince William and Kate Middleton as our example, here is how to make a dinner more romantic than a drenched Mr Darcy or a wind-swept Heathcliff.

As everyone knows - except my husband, it seems - the key ingredient to all things romantic is the thought behind it.  So with Wills and Kate in mind, here is a guide to the perfect romantic meal.  If you are anti-romance then the principles of this idea can be adapted for birthday meals, anniversaries, hen parties and so on.  The underlying essence is to food-map your meal around the person/people you are cooking for.  For example, if you met at University in Fife then an ingredient should come from that area, if you lived together in Wales, then something of Welsh origin should also be on the menu.  This really is the food of love stuff.   So, here is a suggested three-course British meal for William and Catherine, comprising of seasonal ingredients for April because they may want to have a special meal then.

British chef, Mark Hix's recipe for Mackerel with Grilled Asparagus would make a delicious seasonal starter with fish sourced from William's Fish Market and Food Hall in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. Prince William grew up in the county, the shop shares his name and the fish is mostly sourced from Cornwall, the Duchy of which is held by his father. The asparagus could be sourced from Eassie Farm, by Glamis - the childhood home of the Queen Mother. Mackerel makes a perfect starter as it is rich in omega oil as well as not too a flamboyant fish in these financially fragile times. The shallot in the recipe could be sourced from Pittormie Fruit Farm in Fife and the fennel from Scot-herbs both purveyors of fresh and seasonal produce in close proximity to St Andrews.  The salt should be from The Anglesey Sea Salt Company. They produce a hand-panned sea salt from Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysyliogogogoch.  River Cottage produce a hempseed oil that could replace the olive oil in the recipe. The hempseed is grown in the UK.

Since the Royal residence is currently in Wales, spring lamb seems the obvious choice for the main meal.  A recipe of Lamb Baked in Hay with Herb Butter from Windrush House in Gloucestershire, William's home-county, would be ideal. Waled Elwy Valley Welsh Lamb is utterly delicious.  This special flock of lamb are shepherded on the hills of North Wales by farmer, Daphne Tilley, on horseback.  Salt could come from The Anglesey Sea Salt Company and the butter could come from family-run Pengoon Farm in Cornwall. Scot-herbs could provide the parsley, rosemary and thyme.  The lamb could be served with broccoli and carrots sourced from Smith's in Marlborough, where Kate Middleton went to school. To ensure some representation from Britain's isles, roasted Jersey Royal potatoes would make a fantastic accompaniment.

For pudding, Rhubarb Eton Mess, with rhubarb sourced from Bradfield Pick Your Own in Kate's home-county of Berkshire. Free-range eggs and cream can also be bought from the onsite Farm Shop.  Silver Spoon caster sugar, not only has an appropriate brand name for a future King of England but only uses British sugar beet. As we are being romantic, any coffee served should be Kenyan with milk produced by Duchy Originals, made from the Ayrshire cows at Highgrove.

So, now all you have to do, is write down all the British locations that are sacred to the person/people you love, find a recipe you like and source the seasonal ingredients from those places.  If there really is no-one in your life worth this effort then show some patriotism and invite some friends and family to dinner on 29 April and cook the aforementioned menu.

This month The Sauce decided to cook for a loved one who comes from Cornwall…

The Sauce

Cornish Lobster Thermidor

• What ingredients did you use and how readily available were they?
  I bought the Cornish lobster already cooked for £20.97 from Fish for Thought.
  The parmesan, butter and double cream were all bought from Neal's Yard Dairy in Covent Garden, as I happened to be passing.
  The white wine was from a bottle already opened at home.  I also already had the English mustard (Colman's), lemon, salt and pepper and I grow parsley in my window-box.  I bought a tub of fish stock, shallots, broccoli and potatoes from Sainsbury's. 


• What was the sum total cost of this meal
  £31.27.  Cheaper than going out and having the same meal.


• How many people did it actually feed?
  2


• How long did it take and how easy was it?
  About 45 minutes - ten minutes to cook and the rest was in the preparing.  I also steamed some broccoli and cut up potatoes to make home-made oven chips to go alongside the lobster.  The prospect of doing anything with a lobster was a bit daunting but, in practice, it was actually pretty easy.


• What did you do with the leftovers?
  There were none


• What did your guest think of the lobster?
  Very impressed - I am not sure if that was a compliment.


• Would you cook it again?
  It is definitely a treat meal and there was a lot of pre-preparation stress.  Now that I have cooked it, however, and know how simple it is, it will definitely become part of my repertoire.

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