What’s in season this month?

Fruit: blackberries, cherries, elderflowers, gooseberries, raspberries, redcurrants, rhubarb, strawberries, tayberries. Imported figs, and some mangoes.

Vegetables: asparagus, baby carrots, broad beans, broccoli, chervil, chives, courgettes and flowers, cucumbers, fennel, globe artichokes, green beans, horseradish, lettuce, mangetout, new potatoes, peas, peppers, radishes, rocket and other salad leaves, samphire, spinach, sorrel, spring onions, tomatoes, watercress. Imported aubergines.

Fish and shellfish: black bream, brown and rainbow trout, brown shrimp, cuttlefish, first fresh kippers (run until Oct), grey mullet, haddock, hake, john dory, lobster, mackerel, pollack, prawns, sardines, sea bass, sea trout, signal crayfish, spider crab, whitebait, wild salmon.

Meat, poultry and game: hogget lamb (aged half way between a lamb and a sheep), Welsh lamb.

Cheeses: ewe’s milk cheeses, Stinking Bishop, British goats’ cheese, Farmhouse Cheddar. Bouille, Crottin de Chavignol, Saint Marcellin, Sancerre.

Tonight I’m cooking spicy prawns with stir fried home grown green beans, spring onions, spinach and mustard greens. That’ll be served up with lemon couscous with fresh coriander, mint and parsley. I’m starving now just thinking about it…

What are you going to cook?

So, what’s good to eat right now?

Fruit: rhubarb, strawberries. Imported Alphonso mangoes.

Vegetables: Asian greens, British asparagus, baby broad beans, cabbage (green), chervil, chives, cucumbers, Jersey Royal potatoes, lovage, lettuce, mint, morel mushrooms, parsley, radishes, rocket, samphire, sea kale, sorrel, spinach, spring greens, spring onions, summer savoury, watercress, wild garlic. Imported Hass avocado.

Fish and shellfish: brown shrimp, crab, cuttlefish, haddock, mackerel, pollack, prawns, sardines, sea bass, sea trout, signal crayfish, Spring lobster, wild salmon.

Meat, poultry and game: duck eggs, new season lamb, poussin (Spring chicken).

Cheeses: ewe’s milk cheeses, Stinking Bishop, Bonchester, English soft cheeses, Sharpham, Wheatland. Bleu d’Auvergene, Chabichou, Reblochon. Pecorino (early).

Can’t wait to get down to the market for some fresh Pecorino, to serve up with my home grown parsley and baby broad beans. What are you going to cook?

Things are improving in the UK as growers extend growing seasons with polytunnels, coldframes and greenhouses, and try out new varieties of plants. Keep an eye out for any of the fresh homegrown foods you can get hold of, including:

Fruit: early/forced rhubarb, apples and pears from store.

Vegetables: asian greens, cabbage (green), chicory, endive, kale, leeks, nettle tops, parsley, parsnips, purple sprouting broccoli, sea kale, sorrel, spring greens, spring onions, swedes, wild garlic, winter varieties of lettuce.

Fish and shellfish: bass, brown crab, clams, cockles, pollack, young mackerel, mussels, rock oysters, sardines, scallops, sea trout, wild salmon.

Meat, poultry and game: not the top season for any meats in particular.

Cheeses: Cotherstone, Stilton. Comté, Roquefort.

I think I’ll be cooking up some bashed neeps (swedes) and wilted curly kale to serve with burgers or sausages, some noodle soup with Asian greens and shellfish, and some sprouting broccoli baked with eggs and garlic.

What are you going to cook? Do you have any favourite recipes?

What’s in season for August?

Fruit: apricots, bilberries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, currants (black, red, white), early apples, early damsons, figs, greengages, gooseberries, loganberries, peaches, plums, raspberries, strawberries and wild strawberries. Imported melons, nectarines.

Vegetables: aubergines, basil, broad beans, broccoli and calabrese, celery, chives, courgettes, cucumbers, fennel, globe artichokes, green beans, horseradish, kohlrabi, lamb’s lettuce, lettuce, mushrooms (ceps, chanterelles, field, oyster, porcini, puffball, shaggy ink cap), new potatoes, peas, peppers, radishes, rocket, samphire, sorrel, spinach, spring onions, summer squash, sweetcorn, tarragon, tomatoes, watercress.

Fish and shellfish: black bream, brown and rainbow trout, brown crab, crayfish, Dover sole, haddock, herring, john dory, lobster, pilchards, pollack, prawns, red and grey mullet, salmon, sea bass, squid.

Meat, poultry and game: grouse from the 12^th, hare at its best.

Cheeses: Farmhouse Cheddar, British goats’ cheese. Chaource, Charolles, Valencay.

While I’d like a fancy Dover sole dinner more than anything right now, I think it’d be more realistic to settle for some blueberries and cherries (is it my imagination or is there a glut of them this year?), or maybe some roasted squash soup or risotto.

What are you going to cook?