In France, the month of may is known for two things. The first one is the many holidays we have, which allow us to take long week-ends, and as such give us time to wander around markets, cook and take long meals. The second is the arrival of a sunnier weather, and with it many vegetables that will warming our plates and our bellies. On the fruit side, if strawberries are finally back, a few weeks before other red fruits and berries which will mark the beginning of summer, it is still quite shy.

Fruits
– banana
– mango
– rhubarb
– strawberry

Vegetables
– artichoke
– asparagus
– beet
– broad bean
– chard
– carrot
– cauliflower
– cucumber
– early potato
– eggplant
– green pea
– radish
– snow pea
– spinach
– spring onion
– tomato
– turnip
– zucchini

Salads et leaves
– baby spinach
– batavia salad
– cress
– frisée salad
– lettuce
– rocket
– romaine lettuce

Mushrooms
– cep
– field mushroom
– girolle mushroom
– morel
– St George’s mushroom

Herbs and seasoning
– bay laurel
– chives
– cilantro
– dill
– oregano
– parsley
– rosemary
– sage
– savory
– sorrel
– tarragon
– thyme

A few appetizer ideas
As appetizers, salads are kings. You can make it quite simple, by mixing multiple types of lettuces and adding some home-made vinaigrette, or with more Mediterranean mixes (cucumber, tomato, feta, black olives and olive oil, for example). Let us not forget radish, which will be eaten fresh and whole with as pinch of salt, some fresh bread and slightly salted butter.

Finally, quiches are always an excellent idea. For example, a cress, beet, goat cheese crottin and walnut quiche. Or, more simply, why not make a tomato, tuna and mustard tart?

A few main course ideas
For the main course, early vegetables are a good occasion to make a garden vegetables mix (using snow peas, green peas, spring onions, carrots, turnip and early potatoes). Early potatoes are also excellent fried (with a few mushrooms), or steamed, and will easily go with your fishes and meats. You can also cook potatoes with spinach, which you can boil or fry before adding some thick crème fraîche, a perfect side for a nice rib steak.

Also, why not try asparagus? Cut it in pieces of 2 to 3 cm, fry it for a few minutes, and you can serve it some pastas and a poultry, as well as a white wine sauce, which you would have made in the pan used to cook it (to do it, put a nice glass of white wine in the hot pan with some poultry stock. Let it reduce a bit, then either add some corn-starch, a roux (see the beginning of the béchamel sauce step by step), or some thick crème fraîche to thicken the sauce ; taste, salt, pepper to your liking before serving).

A few desserts ideas
Finally, for desserts, nothing is simpler than combining strawberry and banana in a rich and refreshing smoothie. You can’t fail : just mix 4 to 5 strawberries of medium size for one banana, add some milk – just enough to cover the fruits – with a few ice cubes, and add sugar to your liking. You can also replace the milk by some coconut water or cream, or by a Greek yoghurt, depending on the desired texture.

Why not also marry strawberry and rhubarb in a tart or a pie? The sweetness and freshness of the strawberry completes perfectly the slight acidity of rhubarb; for the adventurers, why not add some pistachios?

Also published on Medium.

This post is also available in: French