At this time of year when summer starts to show itself the season offers some of the years’ true stars’ of the kitchen, fresh asparagus, jersey royals and salmon is at it’s best, also aromatic’s start to peak like the little used lavender and other English flavours like lovage and borage.

Here I have put together some of the season’s flavours to give you a superb lunch menu to try

To Start

1. Fresh asparagus with poached egg, parmesan shavings and wild roqette

Main Course

1. Poached wild Salmon with a warm salad of jersey royals, cucumber and fresh lovage

Dessert

1. Lavender Pannacotta

Recipes (all serve 4 people)

Starter

Fresh asparagus with poached egg, parmesan shavings and wild roqette

1. 2 Lrg bunches of asparagus
2. 4 hens eggs (medium)
3. 250g shaved parmesan (regiano)
4. 1 packet of wild roquette
5. 1 lemon
6. little olive oil

Blanch the asparagus for 2 minutes in boiling salted water, then put to one side.  Poach the eggs in boiling water with a few drops of vinegar.
To construct the salad, place the asparagus on the plate then put the poached egg on top and sprinkle with parmesan shaving and roquette leaves, then just squeeze a little lemon juice over the whole salad and drizzle with olive oil.  Also a few grinds of black pepper and rock salt will add the finishing touch to this classic starter.

Main Course

Poached wild Salmon with a warm salad of jersey royals, cucumber and fresh lovage

1. 4 x 6oZ pieces of wild Salmon
2. 500g jersey royals
3. ½ a cucumber
4. 1 red onion
5. 1 medium bunch lovage
6. 350ml extra virgin olive oil
7. 100ml white wine vinegar

 (to poach the Salmon)

1. ½ lemon
2. 1 glass white wine      
3. few pepper corns
4. 1 bay leaf

First of all make your poaching liquor for the Salmon take a large flat pan and put the wine, peppercorns, bayleaf and lemon into the pan and add one glass of water to this, bring it to a simmer then place your Salmon in to the liquor, remove from the heat straight away and put to one side.

Cook your jersey royals, strain and cut them into slices, place in a pyrex dish with the sliced cucumber and finely chopped red onion then over this pour the vinegar and olive oil at this stage you should season your potato salad to your taste with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt, place this dish somewhere warm so that the flavours marry together for around 30 minutes.

To serve:   Finely chop your lovage and to the potato salad then place in the centre of your plate.  Lift the Salmon from the poaching liquor and place on top of your salad.  The whole should be eaten at room temperature, this will bring out all the true flavours of this summer dish.

Dessert

Lavender pannacotta

1. 600ml Double cream
2. 175ml Milk
3. 1 vanilla pod
4. 8 heads of lavender
5. 90g caster sugar
6. 2 ½ leaves of bronze gelatine

Bring the cream, milk, split vanilla pods, sugar and lavender to the boil.  Then stir in the soaked gelatine leaves until they dissolve then pass the mixture through a sieve into a jelly mould and refrigerate until set, turn out and serve.