There was roast chicken, the still warm, lemony juices pooling on the plate; the rustle of fried potatoes with ice-cold cucumber and a smear of mayonnaise, peppery with chopped rocket. An apparently effortless summer lunch, hiding the fact that I had made the mayonnaise by hand – there is no more perfect addition to a summer’s lunch – and scrubbed each and every potato, some of which were barely bigger than a broad bean. The second salad, served on a platter to be passed around, was one of broad beans, radishes and pecorino, a salad so much the essence of early summer and dressed with appropriate simplicity. I will not complicate these early summer lunches, but instead take painstaking care over the skinning of beans and scrubbing of potatoes or whipping an egg yolk and oil dressing until it shines and stands in proud peaks. Summer tasks as old as the hills. These first lunches of the season are celebrations, where the wise cook knows to respect the ingredients and to keep things simple, to not clutter their recipes with unnecessary additions, but to let the young crops – the beans and radishes, cucumbers, new potatoes and soft-leaved herbs – speak for themselves. Fried new potatoes, cucumber and rocket mayonnaise When mayonnaise is to play a starring role, I make it myself. I like it to have a mild olive note, so I use mostly vegetable oil, only topping up with a little of the olive oil. Made entirely with the olive, I find the flavour too strong and rasping, especially if it is to contain chopped watercress or rocket. The contrast of hot and cold of the fried, salt-dusted potatoes and the chilled cucumber here is as good as it gets, but it’s also rather fine when served with slices of chicken, roasted and left to rest until just warm. Serves 2-3 new potatoes 500g groundnut or vegetable oil for frying cucumber 250g dill 1 small bunch For the mayonnaise: egg yolks 2 Dijon mustard 2 tsp white wine vinegar 2 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil 200ml olive oil 100ml rocket leaves 25g lemon juice 1 tbsp, to taste Scrub, but do not peel the potatoes. Put them into a steamer basket above a pan of boiling water and cover tightly with a lid. Let the potatoes steam until they are knifepoint tender, testing them after 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and slice each potato into 3 or 4 thick coins, depending on their size, and put them in a large mixing bowl. Make the mayonnaise: put the egg yolks in a large mixing bowl, add the mustard, a pinch of salt and the white wine vinegar and whisk briefly to mix. Introduce the vegetable oil, at first drop by drop, whisking between each addition, then pouring in the rest in a slow steady stream, whisking continually. When you have exhausted the vegetable oil, start to add the olive oil, tasting as you go. Chop the rocket finely, then stir it into the mayonnaise with a few drops of lemon juice to taste. Cover and set aside. Fry the potatoes: warm the oil in a shallow pan, add the sliced potatoes and let them cook for 7-10 minutes over a moderate heat until pale gold and starting to crisp on the underside. Flip the potatoes over with kitchen tongs or a palette knife and lightly brown the other side. Salt them, then remove from the pan. While they are cooking, peel the cucumber with a vegetable peeler and cut in half lengthwise. Scrape out the wet core and seeds with a teaspoon, then cut the cucumber into finger-thick slices. Finely chop the dill. Gently toss the potatoes, cucumber and dill, then divide between 2 or 3 plates and add a small mound of the rocket mayonnaise to each. Broad beans with radishes and pecorino When broad beans are really young, you can eat them raw with lumps of pecorino, broken into nuggets. I no longer grow them – my entire harvest would be gone in one June lunchtime – instead pouncing on the smallest pods as soon I see them in the shops. When they are small and young, the pod no bigger than your middle finger, the beans within take so little cooking: 3 to 4 minutes at most. This is when I toss them with lemon and mint and slices of crisp breakfast radish and either eat them as they are or with slices of pecorino, shaved from the piece. Serves 2 broad beans 450g (weight after podding) lemon 1, juiced mint leaves about 20, medium-sized olive oil 3 tbsp radishes 8-12, depending on size pecorino 50-75g To cook the broad beans, bring a deep pan of water to the boil, salt it lightly, then add the beans. Let them cook for about 6-10 minutes, until tender, then drain. While the beans are cooking, squeeze the lemon juice into a small bowl. Finely chop the mint leaves and add them to the lemon with a seasoning of salt and black pepper. Stir in the olive oil. Depending on the size of the beans, either leave them as they are or pop them from their skins. I tend to leave the small, young beans in their skins. Finely slice the radishes and add to the dressing. When the beans are ready, add to the radishes and set aside for 20 minutes. During this time, the beans will soak up a little – though by no means all – of the dressing. Spoon the beans and their dressing on to a serving dish, then take long, wide shavings from the pecorino with a vegetable peeler, letting them fall on the beans and radishes. Serve immediately.