a sauté of young, fresh summer vegetables.

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The mild flavours of early-summer vegetables are often more gentle and elusive than the sweeter ones that come later in the season. The tiny courgettes – pale, crisp, almost timid – have a creamy quality that is often missing in those of high summer and early autumn. Those I found this week were as youthful and snappy as you could wish for, as were the beans I picked up. Those beans were Italian, but had a good flavour and added a green lushness to a midweek dinner of early-summer vegetables which included tiny tomatoes from the Isle of Wight, and local asparagus.

I made the asparagus go further by cutting each spear in half lengthways, and could have done the same with the early carrots, but gave them a quick steam instead. No peeling. The skin of most vegetables is so thin at this point in the year that peeling is totally unnecessary. A firm wipe or a gentle scrub with a vegetable brush is all they need. Even then you need to take care with the smallest, youngest carrots that are too fragile even to grate.

I sautéed them not in butter but in a moderately grassy vegetable oil. It kept the flavours cleaner and brighter. In winter, when the vegetables would have been roots and mushrooms, I would have used duck or goose fat. And in autumn, with beans and pumpkin, almost certainly butter. I also included some herbs in the oil. This time it was tarragon, because the mild aniseed notes work nicely with courgettes and carrots, but any of the milder herbs – chervil, parsley, dill or fennel fronds – would have been contenders, too. Steeping the herbs in the oil would be too subtle, so I just blitz leaves and oil in a food processor to get a brilliant-green cooking medium.

Any sort of vegetables cooked in this manner make a good accompaniment, but this was to be a main course, so the options included adding shredded salami, prosciutto, some leftover roast beef or chicken. I used cold cooked ham because it was beckoning when I opened the fridge door.

The fruit scene is getting more interesting with each passing week (I’m never happy until I see my first blackcurrant), but it is the strawberry that is the star at the moment. I refuse to do too much with this fruit. Maybe a squeeze of lemon juice, the soft whisper of whipped cream or the surprisingly happy partnership of passionfruit. As a rule it is a hands-off type of fruit. But this week I think I have found the berry’s new best friend: mellow Pedro Ximenez sherry. Initially I left this nutty, sugary wine in the fridge for drinking in tiny amounts after dinner, but finding a really good brand at a reasonable price, it occurred to me it could be useful in the kitchen. The trick is to chill it thoroughly first. Whatever, a few tablespoons over a bowl of strawberries did wonders for the fruit. It is only a matter of time before the two meet up in an ice cream.

Summer vegetable sauté

Peas, both sugar snap and pea shoots, would be another possibility in this simple lunch, as would a few podded broad beans. I like to let the tomatoes burst so their juice mingles with the olive oil and tarragon.

Serves 3-4 as a light lunch

For the vegetables:
spring carrots 250g
haricot beans 350g
young courgettes 200g
asparagus 100g
small peppers 100g
cherry tomatoes 200g
cooked, unsmoked ham 250g

For the tarragon oil:
tarragon a large handful
olive oil 150ml

Trim the carrots and gently scrub them, then steam over boiling water for 8-10 minutes until they are just tender to the point of a knife. Remove them from the heat. Meanwhile, top and tail the beans, halve the courgettes and asparagus lengthways and cut the peppers into strips.

Chop the tarragon finely in a food processor then pour in the oil and continue mixing for a few seconds until you have a pale-green, aniseed-scented oil. Do this by hand if you prefer. Pour the oil into a shallow pan for which you have a lid, and warm gently.

Put the peppers into the oil first, followed a few minutes later by the courgettes, cooked carrots and asparagus, then a minute or two later the cherry tomatoes. Let the vegetables cook until they are tender. A little colour here and there is fine, but you don’t want them to brown.

Tear the ham into thick, short shards and stir into the vegetables. Leave to cook for a couple of minutes until the ham is hot, season, then serve.

Strawberry brioche

I haven’t tried it, but I think raspberries could be treated in this manner, too. For the record, I used a nutty, treacly, Williams Humbert Don Guido 20?year?old Pedro X, which is available in useful half bottles from supermarkets and wine merchants at about a tenner. This is also a good recipe for teasing out the best from berries that turn out to look better than they taste. The sweet wine really gives them a deeper, richer strawberry flavour. Might be useful for those first berries of the season, which often disappoint.

Serves 2

strawberries 250g
sherry 3 tbsp
basil leaves 2
brioche 2 slices, 2cm thick

Remove the green hulls from the strawberries, then slice them, from stalk to tip, into pieces no thicker than a pound coin. Put the sliced berries into a mixing bowl and add the sherry. Tear or shred the basil leaves and toss them with the sherry and strawberries.

Cover the strawberries with clingfilm and refrigerate for about an hour. (Any longer and the texture will turn woolly.) Toast the slices of brioche lightly on both sides.

Pile the sliced berries on top of the brioche and serve, spooning over any of the liquid from the marinaded strawberries as you go.

Email Nigel at [email protected] or visit guardian.co.uk/profile/nigelslater for all his recipes in one place

Grow your own fruit and vegetables with Bill & Sheila

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