Turn your crops into culinary treats
Discover new ways to get the most flavour from your summer homegrown with Rukmini Iyer’s harvesting advice and easy recipes
Cooking outdoors is a wonderful way to maximise your time in the garden this summer – I shun the indoor kitchen in favour of a little prep station in the garden, with just a knife, a chopping board and a barbecue to hand. It’s even lovelier to cook and prep with your own freshly picked crops – tumbling salads together with your own herbs and leaves, griddling peppers on the barbecue or serving great platters of home-grown tomatoes with good olive oil and a nice round burrata.
Get family and friends involved bringing their homegrown produce, or send children out into the garden to forage for strawberries and tiny courgettes. For a more formal gathering, I’m in favour of one massive outdoor table, laid with proper tablecloths and jars of wildflowers and candles down the middle. But it’s just as nice to scatter the garden with blankets, cushions and mismatched sets of smaller tables and chairs, so guests can drift around and relax at leisure, as you roll food off the barbecue – no judgement for anyone who needs a mid-afternoon snooze in the sunshine.