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Make sure you always wash and dry salad leaves from the garden or market. You can grow herbs and lettuces in even the smallest outside space. Your nearest garden centre will probably be really helpful – I’ve become such a regular at my new local, North One, I’m in danger of putting down roots If you’re behind with the weeding, don’t worry. For me a garden salad can include anything you’ve got in the garden – chives, nasturtiums and the odd pea shoot, young dandelion leaves or even chickweed if you have it growing on your paths. You may need to add a little more olive oil to bind the herbs.Pre-heat the oven to 220ºC/Gas mark 7.

Score the fat of the pork in a criss-cross fashion and season. Roast the pork for 30 minutes, turning it halfway through, then turn the oven down to 160°C/Gas mark 3. Cook for 3 hours, basting and turning it a couple more times. For the last 45 minutes finish it fat-side-up.Cook the beans individually until tender then toss them with the basil leaves and olive oil. Slice the pork into thickish 1cm slices and serve either on plates with the beans and a spoonful of salsa verde or on platters for guests to help themselves from.. Any fresh beans in season go well with the meat but I matched it with fresh borlotti and cannellini beans and a salsa verde made with garden herbs. 1 loin of pork, boned, with the rind removed, weighing about 1-1.5kg Salt and freshly ground black pepper A selection of seasonal beans and/or peas, around 120g, podded weight, per person A handful of basil leaves 3-4tbsp olive oil
for the salsa verde40g mint leaves 40g parsley leaves 40g green basil leaves 3tbsp capers, washed 200-250ml extra virgin olive 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed 1-2tsp Dijon mustard 6-8 anchovy fillets (optional) Salt and freshly ground black pepperFirst make the salsa verde by blending all the ingredients in a liquidiser to a coarse pur?and then seasoning.

My mate Drew has been tracking down some wonderful foods from small producers in East Anglia and driving them to London restaurants. Thanks to him, for this recipe I used great-tasting pork from Roger Human, who trades under the name Tavern Tasty Meats. Add the white wine and samphire, season and cook on a high heat with a lid on for 3-4 minutes, shaking the pan every so often, until the mussels and cockles are open Serve immediately with some warm crusty bread. Or, if you want to have less to do at the last minute, leave it to cool and serve as a seafood salad.. Stir them around with your hand every so often so they release sand particles from the shells. Put the cockles and/or clams in a large pot with the mussels and prawns and any other shell fish you are using. Then drizzle with olive oil mixed with a little good quality wine vinegar and maybe add some chopped herbs such as chervil or fennel.

10-15 medium sized whole raw prawns 300-400g mussels 400-500g cockles and/or clams 6 razor clams or langoustines 150-200g samphire Salt and freshly ground black pepper 50ml white wine If you are using cockles they will need a good wash in running water for about 20 minutes. The selection of shellfish can depend on what’s available, but cockles, mussels, raw prawns and razor clams would make a good start. Various types of clam, pieces of lobster, crab claws and langoustines will help to create a beautiful visual feast.
You could also turn this into a seafood salad by cooking everything in advance, and leaving it to cool. Then, 10 minutes before you want to eat, add the lentils and beans, bring to a boil and stir. Season with pepper and make a little pool of garlic oil on top and eat with crusty bread, and saut?otatoes.Kate Mosse’s new novel is ‘Labyrinth’ (Orion, £9.99). A simple plate of mixed, steaming seafood makes a great sharing centrepiece for the table.

I’ve used a mixture of samphire and rock samphire here which you can find growing wild by the sea or buy from a good fishmonger or greengrocer The season is coming to an end, so grab it while you can. Then it’s very important to a get glass of ros?nd sit in the sun for 45 minutes. After that, take the pan off the heat and let it stand for half an hour. My husband invented the dish though, and all the ingredients come from the garden – well, apart from the two tins.
One final note, I find it doesn’t need any salt as the garlic oil brings out the flavour.500g big round tomatoes 3-4 sweet peppers (red, orange or yellow) 1 large white onion 3 shallots 1 aubergine 2 medium courgettes 1 small tin of green lentils (cooked) 1 tin haricot blanc 3tbsp olive oil Black pepper 2tbsp garlic oilDice the onion very finely, and heat gently in the oil. Shred the peppers and lay them as a layer on top of the onion. Peel and slice the courgettes into rounds and add as a third layer Peel, cube and salt the aubergine and leave for 5 minutes Blanche and skin the tomatoes, then quarter and deseed Add the aubergine, then the tomatoes, as two layers Cover and simmer. We spend four months of the year here, and I’ve even set one of my novels here.