Summer food

Sunshine food

Whatever I eat, it always seems to taste better outside. Even if I'm tucking into a sandwich on the back step, its flavours seem to be heightened by a spot of sunshine. But there are certain foods that almost seem to exist for eating outdoors: the lovely open tarts of the South of France, the cool pasta dishes of Italy and our own genteel dishes of cold salmon, summer pudding and gooseberry fool all seem to have been devised purely to eat in the sun.

Season's first offerings

From mid-May onwards I look longingly at the sky each morning in the hope of the sort of weather that allows me to lay the table outdoors. Inevitably the first meal tends to involve asparagus. The season seems to collide happily with the first truly sunny days and many is the time my first al fresco lunch has involved a plate of asparagus and a pot of melted butter.

This year I've been trying out something different: the idea of soft fresh cheese beaten with a little natural yoghurt and some chopped chervil and chives instead of the butter. The slight sharpness seems to bring the flavour of the spears out quite nicely.

Broad beans are the other early vegetable that smacks of sunshine. I simply boil the first of the season and toss them with a classic French dressing and lots of fresh parsley and lemon zest. They make a great salad with slices of cold ham.

Summer fruits

As the summer progresses, we have all the early local fruits to play with, such as strawberries and the first of the currants and gooseberries. My first time with all of these will be in the simplest way - perhaps a perfect bowl of strawberries and a big jug of cream to start off the season.

It's scarcely a week or two into the summer before I start embellishing the berries with simple but effective seasonings such as a drop or two of balsamic vinegar, a very (very) fine sprinkling of black pepper, and sometimes a little grated orange zest and juice, all of which seem to make the fruit shine even brighter.

Currants and gooseberries form the main part of my summer desserts, often in straightforward fools and fruit salads, but also as fruit compotes slowly cooked with a little sugar and sometimes a dash of elderflower cordial. Then the apricots and peaches come and I feel summer has really arrived at its height. Last year I split peaches in half and stuffed them with ricotta cheese and chopped basil and wonderful they were, too.

I occasionally use the seasonal fruits with meat, sometimes offering a dish of stewed gooseberries with mackerel that I have grilled until crisp and golden, and other times using them with baked gammon. A very pleasing change from the usual accompaniments.

Light and bright

Most people will have salmon at some point during the summer, often grilled with a simple sauce, but I find it's worth cooking a really large piece and using it for cold suppers too. Salmon is not as expensive as it was, although it's still a treat and I love a wedge of it on a plate with mayonnaise livened up with some chopped basil or tarragon.

Having a piece of cold salmon in the fridge is very useful when making summer sandwiches. Even a small amount will go a long way when mixed with light mayonnaise and peeled, chopped cucumber, parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice. Brown bread obligatory!

I look forward to the lighter meats in hot weather - chicken, of course, but also lean cuts of pork and lamb that will be as good cold as hot. A sharp and interesting grain-based salad takes summer cold cuts into new territory. I often make a couscous salad with as much parsley, mint and lemon juice as I can, then place paper-thin slices of rare lamb on top. A little drizzle of olive oil and you have a really fine salad. Another possibility is a tomato salsa with chopped fresh chillies, mango and coriander leaves stirred into soaked bulgar wheat - so good with cold chicken.

The grill is definitely my major cooking tool in the summer, but I have taken to using it for vegetables as much as for meat. Courgettes and aubergines are delicious grilled and tossed in a pesto sauce thinned with a little more olive oil than usual. The pesto takes up some of the smoky notes of the vegetables: wonderful with cool, milky mozzarella, but strictly for eating outdoors with the sun high in the sky.

Recipes

There's such an abundance of produce around at this time of year that the only difficulty is deciding which ingredients to feast on. You can start with this selection of recipes from Nigel Slater that are perfect for an al fresco barbecue feast or a fast, fuss-free supper.

• Strawberry and mascarpone tart
• Soup of roasted summer vegetables
• Clams with ham and sherry
• Lamb-filled flatbread
• Grilled monkfish with rosemary and garlic mayo
• Grilled chicken with garlic and lemon butter
• Peach and blueberry soured cream cobbler
• Salad of red mullet with lime and ginger