It's a beautiful spring morning in Richmond, Surrey and for the first time this year I have to put on my sunglasses. Even if the sun wasn't shining down on Petersham Nurseries charmingly ramshackle courtyard, I'd need something to protect my eyes from Bill Granger's beaming toothy grin.

Two dozen of us (including actor and Granger fan Richard E Grant) have gathered around a long trestle table for a four-course brunch of Bill's casual, comforting grub, and to snap up signed copies of his latest book Feed Me Now. When Granger stands up and announces his plans to relocate his family from Sydney to the UK later in the year in order to open a restaurant, there's a collective intake of breath followed by a round of applause. No wonder he's always smiling; the man is obviously loved.

Granger's easy going recipes have helped him shift 800,000 books worldwide and gained him an audience of two million in the UK for his TV series bills food (the lack of punctuation is something of a trademark; you won't find a capital letter or apostrophe on the signs of any of three Sydney restaurants or at the newly opened branch just outside of Tokyo). Its a seasonal style of cooking that's coloured by the strong South East Asian influences of the Sydney dining scene where he moved to in the Nineties.

“South East Asian food is so perfect for this time of year because things are so lightly cooked,” says Granger. “For example, I'll chop some Asian greens like choy sum or bok choi and then heat a pan up until its really, really hot. I add a tablespoon of oil and fry some ginger and garlic for just a few seconds then add the greens and toss them in the hot oil. I then add a tablespoon of water and put a lid on the pan so the greens both sear and steam. I sprinkle them with lots of salt and that it. Its a technique I picked up in Japan.”

Chilled watercress and spinach soup

This low-fat soup is brimming with vitamin C, iron and calcium

• Gordon Ramsay's health kick

Food for spring

Winter might be over but it sure isn't salad time yet. Bring on the lamb, spring greens and zesty fruit

• Orange salad with basil

• Rack of lamb with lentils and mint

• Sprouting broccoli with anchovy dressing

Related Links

• England's 8 best places to eat out

• Seasonal food recipe finder: May

Despite his global leanings, Granger is equally as inspired by the British produce he's encountered on his trip around the UK.

“English cheeses are just amazing. There are now great makers who are building a history again. Like Australia, the UK lost the tradition of small farmhouse cheese, it was all about bulk product. But now we're getting it all back, and better than ever.”

Granger recently discovered Ticklemore, a four-week-old, semi-hard goat's cheese from Devon during a cookery demo at Patricia Michelson's famous La Fromagerie cheese shop in North London.

“It just tasted like pasture. It was amazing you could taste the season in the cheese,” enthuses Granger, who shaved the cheese over a salad of fresh peas and butter lettuce dressed with a vinaigrette of sweated-down sweet white Italian onions, mustard, acacia honey, light Tuscan olive oil and white wine vinegar. “It was just a really delicious thing and with some crusty bread it was the perfect spring lunch.”

Although Granger is still looking for a site for his first UK restaurant, he already has firm ideas about what will be on the menu.

“I'll be using British produce, absolutely. British food is produce driven, its not heavily seasoned with a huge range of spices, it really lets the ingredients sing. You taste the earth and I think that feels incredibly modern again." Granger raves about a ham hock and kohlrabi remoulade and cheese pie he had recently at Hereford Road.

As we tuck into the brunch of caramel bananas and pancakes; “melt and mix” banana bread with fig and prune butter and radicchio with fried eggs, sourdough breadcrumbs, spicy beans and feta, I can't help wondering if the Granger family ever really eat like this at home.

“I wouldn't make all the dishes, but there's nothing complicated about the food, its straightforward,” says Granger. “The baked beans are made a bit more interesting with some feta and spices, and I played with the texture of the fried egg by using the breadcrumbs and finishing it with some the lemon zest and the radicchio. But its homely food and that's the food that excites me.”

Recipes: Fried eggs with radicchio and torn bread

Tear the bread into small pieces. Depending on the size of you pan, you might need to cook these in two batches. Heat in a frying pan over a medium-high heat until hot, then add the olive oil, bread, salt and chilli flakes. Stir until the bread is lightly toasted.

Reduce the heat to medium and break the eggs into the pan. Cook them to you liking – I prefer mine with a runny yolk.

Meanwhile, place most of the torn raddichio on a serving dish. Slide the bread and eggs from the pan onto the leaves and scatter over the rest of the raddichio. Return the pan to the heat, add the wine vinegar and swirl for a few seconds to heat. Pour over the eggs and serve, sprinkled with Aleppo and/or black pepper.

Caramel Bananas

3 bananas

60g butter

90 g soft brown sugar

½ teaspoon natural vanilla extract

halve the bananas lengthways and cut each piece in three. Put the butter, sugar , vanilla and 2 tablespoons of water in a large frying pan over a medium heat and cook until the mixture forms a caramel and darkens. Add the bananas and toss through until well coated.

Times Recommends

• Top Ten most searched for recipes
• Chalet Chef 2010: the winning menus
• Gin and pomegranate jellies