What June has to offer...

Apologies for my neglect of seasonal fruit and veg over the last 2 month. In April, there was little new compared to March, though admittedly cucumbers came into season. In May, rhubarb, spinach, curly lettuce and asparagus made an entrance. As luck would have it, all are still in season this month too, which gives me chance to discuss at least some of them, which will hopefully get me partially off the hook. June brings with it peas, broad beans, courgettes and strawberries, and carrots make another appearance. With so many items to talk about this month, I can see that we will have to have another seasonal blog post next week.

Where to begin? Cucumbers it is. They've not yet been in the spotlight, so I don't want to give too much away, but what do you think about when cucumbers are mentioned? Cucumber sandwiches with a cream tea? A few sorry-looking slices with a salad? A salad veg that you buy with good intentions, but one which you only ever use half of and the rest is enjoyed by the composter? Perhaps we need to look at a few more ideas for how you can use cucumber so that it doesn't go to waste.

As cucumbers are mainly made of water, unless you plan to pickle them, they are best eaten cold. Try the following:

• Chopped into small chunks they go well with tinned tuna and salmon sandwiches. Sliced you'll find them in cold meat sandwiches. 
• For those of you who perhaps like bean pate or hummus, I'd imagine cucumber could add the finishing touch to crackers, oatcakes or toast topped with said fillings.
• Add chopped cucumber to pasta, rice or couscous based salads with whatever other chopped salad veg you fancy.
• Not all salsas are hot, think of the phrase "as cool as a cucumber".
• Deseed and chop a cucumber and a yellow or orange pepper
• Chop a tomato and a small onion
• Mix the above ingredients with 1tbsp lime juice, 1tsp coriander, 1 tsp parsley and a minced clove of garlic
• Keep in the fridge till serving as an accompaniment to Mexican fare.

Spinach and rhubarb have already snuck into this blog previously, so I'll now turn my attention to asparagus. I'd imagine for a lot of people, asparagus doesn't go on the shopping list very often; I know for myself, it's a veg to have as a treat or for a special occasion. If I'm honest I'll usually serve it on the side as an accompanying veg, but I'm always on the look-out for new ideas. It seems popular stirred through pasta, part of a tart, an addition to a salad or an omelette. I remember a while ago, Pizza Express had a pizza topped with asparagus, which I thought was a novel way to serve it. How do you like your asparagus?