The summer is moving too quickly. I saw a basket of marrows, cobnuts in their frilly sheaths and fat heads of sweetcorn this week, a sure sign that autumn will be here in a heartbeat. This is the time of year I leave the shops with a panic-buy basket of summer greens and fruits, worried that this might be last I see for another year.
The fridge is looking bountiful, but it is stocked with vegetables and fruit that must be used quickly. Broad beans and long, climbing runners; broccoli and enough herbs for a summer’s worth of salsa verde. I came home with two sorts of basil this week: aniseed-scented Thai basil and a huge bunch of Italian leaves that you could smell from 2m away.
The recipes I’m finding really useful at the moment are those that use a large variety of vegetables – they help with the glut of good things – but recipes that are more of a blueprint than something to stick to rigidly. The sort of suggestions where you can chop and change the ingredients, replacing green beans with courgettes or broad beans with mangetout or sugar snaps, and where it really doesn’t matter if you substitute blackberries for loganberries, or vice versa.
With such loose, easygoing ideas in mind, I made a coconut-scented pot of summer vegetables and a sparkling fruit sauce for any seasonal scarlet fruit. Dishes in which you can use different greens and fruits as the mood takes you and as the summer races on.
Summer green vegetable curry
The vegetables are interchangeable here. As different greens come into season, or depending on what you have in your basket, you can easily swap them for those on the list. Serves 4. Ready in 1 hour
aubergines 2, medium
groundnut or vegetable oil 4 tbsp
broad beans 250g (podded weight)
green beans 100g
broccoli 150g
curry paste the recipe below or 4 tbsp of ready-made curry paste
spring greens 150g
coconut milk 500ml
limes 2
Thai basil leaves a handful
coriander leaves a handful
To serve:
steamed rice or sticky rice
For the curry paste:
chillies 3, small and hot
garlic 3 cloves
ginger 1 small lump, about 40g
lemongrass 3 plump stalks
coriander seeds 8
coriander leaves 75g
ground turmeric 1 tsp
vegetable oil 3 tbsp
Make the spice paste. First, remove the stalks from the chillies. Peel the garlic and ginger, and place in the bowl of a food processor, together with the chillies. Discard the tough root end and outer leaves of the lemongrass. Roughly chop the inner leaves and add to the other ingredients in the bowl. Add the coriander seeds and leaves and the ground turmeric.
Process the spices, herbs and aromatics to a thick paste, adding as much of the oil as you need or maybe a little extra. Scrape the paste into a small bowl using a spatula.
Cut the aubergines in half lengthways and then into slices about 1.5 cm thick. Warm the oil in a large, low-sided pan, then lightly brown the aubergines, turning them over when the underside is golden. If you cover them with a lid, they will take up less oil. Remove the aubergines and set them aside.
While the aubergines are cooking, cook the broad beans in boiling, lightly salted water for about 4 or 5 minutes. Drain them and, if you wish, remove their papery skins. Set aside. Top and tail the green beans and cut them into short lengths (you’ll be eating this with a spoon, so you probably won’t want long beans to deal with). Trim the broccoli into florets, cutting any large clumps in half.
Put the curry paste into the aubergine pan and let it sizzle, stirring it so it doesn’t burn. Lower the heat and stir in the coconut milk. Let the milk come to a simmer without letting it boil, then drop in the broad beans, green beans and broccoli and let them cook for about 5 minutes, until tender.
Shred the spring greens and add to the curry, along with the aubergine. Halve the limes and squeeze one of them into the curry. Keep the other for offering at the table for those who need it. Tear the basil and coriander into small pieces and stir into the curry. Serve with sticky rice.
Summer fruits in raspberry and elderflower
A simple, stunning summer fruit recipe that can be used as a blueprint for any fruits. To the raspberry and elderflower purée you could add mulberries, purple gooseberries, loganberries or tayberries as they come into season. Serves 4. Ready in 30 minutes
For the sauce:
raspberries 250g
elderflower cordial 2 tbsp
mint 6 leaves
For the fruits:
raspberries 250g
redcurrants 125g, or any other berries
blackberries 150g
cherries 250g
To make the sauce: put the raspberries in a blender or food processor, then pour in the elderflower cordial. Tear up the mint leaves, add them to the blender and process to a thick purée. Pour into a mixing bowl and chill thoroughly.
Put the raspberries in a bowl. Pull the redcurrants from their stems and add them, together with the blackberries.
Remove the stalks from the cherries and halve them, removing the stones as you go. Mix the cherries with the other fruits then stir the raspberry mint sauce over them, stirring gently to coat the fruits.
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