Gloucestershire food with Rob Rees June 2010

From Father’s Day cookery lessons, making the perfect summer salad and discovering the perfect accompaniment to English strawberries, June looks set to be a busy month for The Cotswold Chef Rob Rees.

In the fields of Gloucestershire, things are really starting to warm up now – with countywide farmers markets and farm shops beginning to bulge at the seams in June.

Young tender leaf spinach is everywhere, bottle green in colour and so good for our health, it is a truly versatile leaf. Simply washed and mixed with some chopped garden mint and a few spoons of natural Chedworth farm yoghurt and you have an accompaniment to a salad of chicken or fresh salmon from the splendid CooksFish and Game in Chaxhill. And there is no need to boil young spinach – it can be simply sautéed in a little butter with a twist of nutmeg.

Little Gem lettuces are crisp and full of goodness in June. It’s wonderful ripped open, washed and placed in a bowl with some layers of Oxspring ham, segments of citrus fruit, watercress leaves and slices of Charles Martells Single Gloucester Cheese. For a quick dressing, try a few spoonfuls of real ale chutney from Kitchen Garden Foods with some extra olive oil to dilute, poured all over the leaves.

Spring onions are now at the size where they show their true worth. The bulbs should be really swollen giving a real zing to a summer salad. I adore them sliced thinly at an angle and mixed with some seasonal radishes and glazed for a couple of minutes with sugar, butter, water and a twist of pepper. Add a few capers and a twist of lemon at the end and you have one of the simplest garnishes to a grilled skate wing.

If it’s a sensational summer ice cream that you want to go with your English strawberries this month, then look no further than The Cotswold Ice Cream Company, where the from-cow-to-carton in 24 hour ices are delicious – particularly the cappuccino flavour, which is light, full of aroma and the perfume of vanilla, and is fantastic with pan-fried pineapple and a drizzle of butterscotch sauce.

And if you’re still wondering what to do for dad on Father’s Day, if he’s a dab hand in the kitchen (or really could do with a few pointers!) then don’t forget you can book him a cookery lesson with The Cotswold Chef thecotswoldchef.com (that’s me, of course!) and there are some other great cookery schools in Gloucestershire too including Foodworks at Colesbourne, Thyme at Southrop and Daylesford Organics.

For a treat on the other side of the kitchen, my top tips for eating out on Father’s Day include The Swan at Southrop, The Village Pub in Barnsley, Cotswolds88 in Painswick, and Bibury Court Hotel.

And finally, what with the World Cup and Wimbledon taking place, we really do have lots to celebrate in June. While I’m lucky enough to be in South Africa for the group stages of the World Cup, I’m equally looking forward to returning to the huge bowls of summer fruits and fresh vegetables peaking in freshness in Gloucestershire this month.

See you again in July for some sizzling summery food highlights from across Gloucestershire.