Pod almighty: Mark Hix serves up seasonal vegetables

What a great time of year it is for vegetables; you really don't have to think too hard about what colourful accompaniments to dish up with your meals. There are loads of native beans and peas in the shops, and I've even been serving bowls of peas in their pods as a snack or starter – they're fresh, simple and get you in seasonal mode for your meal.

The possibilities are endless with summer beans, and you can even seasonalise your favourite winter stews such as oxtail or braised neck of lamb by adding liberal amounts of peas and broad beans to the pot.

In case you're not able to get hold of the fresh variety, it's always worth keeping a stock of frozen peas and broad beans at hand, as they are great for blended soups and purées.

Peas and beans are also great for getting the kids involved in real food at an early age. Even if the children refuse to eat them, it pays to have an extra pairs of hands to get the podding done.

Summer vegetable minestrone

Serves 4

A clean, simple soup like this makes good use of all the seasonal vegetables that are available at this time of year. You can chop and change the vegetables according to taste and what's at hand, even adding cabbage or chopped lettuce or spring onions.

Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1.5 litres vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
A few sprigs of thyme
150g shelled broad beans
1 small leek, trimmed, cut into rough 1cm dice and well rinsed
100g shelled peas
60g French beans, cut into 5mm pieces
1/2tbsp chopped chives
1/2tbsp chopped chervil
1tbsp chopped parsley

Bring the vegetable stock to the boil in a large saucepan. Meanwhile, blanch the broad beans in boiling, salted water for 3 minutes, drain and take off the skins.

Add the leek, peas and French beans, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the broad beans and chopped herbs, and simmer for another 5 minutes. Season again with salt and pepper, if necessary.

Red mullet on toast with crushed broad beans and pea shoots

Serves 4

I had a similar dish to this in Market restaurant in Camden a few months back, and recently put a version on the menu at the Fish House in Lyme Regis. It really says summer when it arrives at the table, especially when you have a great sea view. You could use red or tub gurnard or even mackerel fillets.

250g podded weight of young broad beans
4 slices of bread from a large baguette or small bloomer type loaf
4 small 80g red mullet fillets or fillets from larger fish, halved
A couple of good knobs of butter
A handful of pea shoots
60g shelled weight of peas, cooked

For the dressing

1/2tbsp chardonnay vinegar
11/2tbsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the broad beans in boiling, salted water for 5-6 minutes until tender or a little longer if they are large. Drain them and blend to a coarse purée in a food processor, adding a little butter and seasoning to taste; keep warm.

Cook the peas for a couple of minutes in boiling, salted water. Drain and set aside.

Season the red mullet fillets, and then melt the rest of the butter in a heavy or non-stick frying pan and fry on a medium heat, skin side down first, for a couple of minutes on each side.

Mix all of the ingredients for the dressing and season. Meanwhile, toast the bread on both sides and spread with the broad bean purée; place the mullet on top.

Arrange the peas and pea shoots around the red mullet on the broad bean purée on the toast, and spoon the dressing around.

Olive oil poached sea trout with runner beans and summer girolles

Serves 4

I'm still yet to catch a decent-sized sea trout; I did get a tiddler on the Dee, but that hardly counts. Sea trout has a great flavour but you rarely find it on menus or in fishmongers. If you can't get your hands on sea trout, then a wild salmon will do the trick and cooked like this the fish has a lovely moist texture.

You can re-use the oil once you have cooked the fish in it, just strain it and refrigerate. It's great for a dressing or you can re-use it for cooking fish again. Girolles, or chanterelles as they are sometimes called, should be popping up at any time in woods around the British Isles, especially in Scotland.

4 portions of sea trout weighing about 180-200g, boned and scaled
150-200g runner beans, thinly shredded on the angle
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
150-160g girolles, cleaned
60-70g butter
1tbsp chopped parsley (reserve the stalks for the oil infusion)

For the oil infusion

200-250ml olive oil or enough to cover
10 black peppercorns
1tsp fennel seeds
A couple of sprigs of thyme

Put all the ingredients for the oil infusion into a wide saucepan large enough to fit the trout fillets in. Add a couple of teaspoons of salt and heat up to about 60C, then turn off the heat and leave to infuse for about half an hour.

Cook the runner beans in boiling, salted water for 3-4 minutes then drain in a colander.

Place the sea trout into the infused oil and heat it back up. Then turn the heat off and leave the fish in for a couple of minutes; remove with a slotted spoon. Cooking times will vary depending on the thickness of the fish but it's important to keep it pink.

Melt the butter in a frying pan until it foams, then add the girolles, season; cook on a medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring every so often. Stir in the parsley; remove from the heat. Toss the beans in a little infused oil and season; arrange in the centre of serving plates. Place the sea trout on top and scatter the girolles around. You can spoon a little infused oil around as well if you wish.

Fried green beans and anchovies

Serves 4

Deep frying green beans may not seem very obvious, but they go very well with fried fish. If you can't get your hands on anchovies then whitebait will work just as well.

150g green beans, trimmed
12 anchovies
Vegetable or corn oil for deep frying

For the batter

4-5tbsp self-raising flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
150-200ml cider or lager

Blanch the beans in boiling, salted water for 2-3 minutes then drain and refresh under the cold tap. Put the flour into a bowl and whisk enough of the cider in to make a thick batter then season. Preheat about 8cm of oil to 160-180C in a large thick-bottomed saucepan or electric deep-fat fryer. Dip the beans in the batter and fry for 2-3 minutes, dropping them individually into the oil so they don't stick together, until they are nicely coloured. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on some kitchen paper. Do the same with the anchovies, then mix the two together and sprinkle with salt. Serve with home-made aioli or caper mayonnaise.

To see Mark Hix's exclusive cookery videos, see http://www.independent.co.uk/hixcooks

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