Summer vegetables

Seems as though summer is really with us - in Alsace it's 30ºC in the shade (which is the best place to be), the herb garden is alive with bees and my veggie patch is poised ready to give of its best. We've already had spinach, mesclun and rocket salads and the sugar snap peas and wonderful purple podded beans are on the starting blocks. Here are some good summer recipes to get you in the spirit.

• For the pâté, rinse the beans well under running water and shake dry, put them in the liquidizer or food processor with mashed garlic, salt, pepper and lemon juice
• Blend or process till smooth, then add the olive oil in a steady stream and continue blending till thick
• Add optional harissa/chile paste and parsley and blend/process again
• Bring a pan of salted water to a boil and boil the eggs for 3 minutes
• Tip away hot water, replace it with cold to stop the cooking
• Peel the eggs under cold running water and cut them in half
• Divide the celery into sticks and cut in 3 cm pieces; or separate the chicory leaves and use the small inner ones (keep the big ones for salad); or cut cocktail tomatoes in half and scoop out the seeds
• Put a good teaspoonful of white bean pâté on each celery stick/chicory leaf/halved tomato and top each with half a quail’s egg
• Sprinkle with celery salt and/or lumpfish roe and garnish with parsley

The wonderful market in Mulhouse had a profusion of fresh beets recently, and I pounced on them to do this super-quick and easy terrine. (To speed things up still further, use ready-cooked vacuum-packed beets - though the flavour is definitely less good.) Even if you’re a bit iffy about beetroot - or, for that matter, goat’s cheese – do give this beautiful ‘terrine’ a go. The sweetness of the beets is beautifully offset by the sharp freshness of the goat’s cheese, and the colour contrast is great. It’s also super-speedy to put together and for some miraculous reason it even holds together when sliced.

• Brush out a small terrine 14 x 10 x 6 cm deep (½-litre capacity) with oil and line it with a generous piece of plastic wrap
• Arrange a layer of beetroot slices in the bottom of the terrine, cutting them to fit; season with salt and pepper
• Follow with alternating slices of goat’s cheese and beetroot, seasoning as you go – finish with a layer of beetroot
• Close the plastic wrap over the top and press down firmly
• Refrigerate for a few hours
• Blend together the mustard, salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, herbs, egg, and sugar in the liquidizer/food processor to give a smooth green emulsion
• Invert the terrine onto a board, peel away the clingfilm and slice the terrine carefully into thickish slices with a very sharp knife
• Pour a little dressing onto each serving plate and lay slices of terrine on top

If you're living in Italy you'll find ready prepared artichoke hearts in the market, floating in a bucket of acidulated water. In France we can find them (frozen) in Picard. If you don't have access to either of these, use bottled artichoke hearts (but omit the first step in the recipe). They're a bit mushy but beggars can't always be choosers.

• Cook the artichoke hearts in boiling salted water for 6-8 minutes (if fresh/raw or defrosted) or 10-13 minutes (if frozen) until barely tender (do not boil bottled artichokes)
• Heat some olive oil in a frying pan, soften the shallots and garlic without allowing them to brown, add the sliced fennel and stew for about 5 minutes
• Add the skinned/seeded tomatoes (or canned tomatoes), salt and pepper and cook for about 15 minutes or until thick and reduced
• Heat the oven to 200ºC. Cut a disc of baking parchment to fit in the bottom of a baking tin 28cm in diameter
• Arrange the artichoke hearts on the paper, rounded sides downwards, spoon a little tapenade into each one, spread tomato/fennel mixture on top and cover with shaved cheese
• Unravel the pastry over the top, snuggling the edge in to fit
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is golden
• Place a plate over the top and invert the tart onto the plate

• Heat the oven to 180ºC 
• In a mixer or food processor, beat together the eggs, yogurt and oil 
• Sift together the flour and baking powder and fold them into the egg mixture 
• Stir in the Mozzarella, tomatoes and olives 
• Pour the batter into a loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes
• Stick a skewer into the middle to test – it should come out clean
• Cool the loaf on a rack
• Slice and/or cut in bite-sized squares

A great recipe for a summer buffet, the quail are butterflied, bathed in a lemon marinade, then grilled and served over a selection of salad leaves with cilantro pesto. A combination grill/fan oven works well: the quail brown nicely at the same time as cooking through - or do them on the barbecue if you prefer.

• Butterfly and flatten the quail and place in a large roasting pan 
• Mix together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, onion and thyme, spoon this over the quail and leave to marinate for a few hours 
• Set combination oven to grill + fan and heat to 240oC (or heat grill or barbecue to maximum)
• Grill/roast the quail for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and just cooked. (If using grill/BBQ, turn birds once, halfway through cooking)
• Leave quail in the roasting pan to cool off in their juices
• Put garlic, pine nuts, cilantro and parsley in liquidizer or food processor and blend/process finely. Add olive oil in a steady stream and continue blending/processing until smooth
• Arrange salad leaves on a large flat dish, arrange the quails on top, spoon on some pesto and scatter flowers on top

This kind of salad can be found all round the Middle East, sometimes based on couscous, sometimes bulgur, always with lemon juice, mint and tons of parsley too. This one has added almonds for a bit of crunch – pistachios are another alternative.

• Put the couscous in a large bowl
• Boil the water and dissolve the stock cubes in it
• Stir the water into the couscous and leave it to swell 
• Fork up the couscous to separate the grains and let it cool
• Stir in the capers, mint, parsley, lemon zest and juice
• Fry the almonds in 1 tbsp olive oil till lightly golden, shaking the pan regularly – be careful not to burn them
• Add them to the couscous with the rest of the oil
• Mix well and taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper as necessary

Sponge fingers are layered with a Mascarpone egg mousse and soft fruit, instead of the more usual chocolate/coffee combo. You can make the tiramisu up to a day ahead and keep it in the fridge.

• Prepare the fruit: hull and quarter strawberries; stone/pit cherries.
• Currants (de-stalked) and rhubarb (cut in short lengths) will need to be cooked: put in a pan with some sugar, allow to boil and cook briefly till just soft. Drain currants/rhubarb and allow to cool; reserve the juice for splashing on the sponge fingers

• Mix all the fruit together in a bowl and sweeten to taste 
• In a medium bowl, beat together the yolks and 50g sugar with a hand-held mixer until light and creamy and the sugar is dissolved (about 5’) 
• Add Mascarpone and continue beating until the mixture is smooth
• In a separate, larger bowl beat the egg whites and 50g sugar till firm but still creamy (don’t beat too stiff or they’ll be hard to incorporate)
• Mix the egg whites into the Mascarpone with a wire whisk, lifting and shaking to combine the two preparations
• Pour some grapefruit juice (or reserved fruit juice) into a shallow dish and dunk the sponge fingers in it, a few at a 
• Put a layer of dunked sponge fingers in the bottom of a glass dish, sprinkle on half the fruit, then half the Mascarpone 
• Add another layer of dunked sponge fingers, the rest of the fruit and Mascarpone
• Chill the tiramisu for a few hours or overnight
• Scatter edible flowers and mint leaves on top to serve