I can get green beans grown in Mexico throughout the year, but in summer no matter where I am they’re local, and varied. Every farmers market I go to in August rewards me with an array of fresh string beans. They are green, yellow and purple (though be forewarned that purple beans turn green when you cook them), round and flat, thin and fat. I buy them by the pound and use them in soups and pastas, salads and stir-fries, tacos and tempuras, ragouts and vegetable platters and stews.  

Sometimes I top and tail my beans as soon as I get home, then blanch them in generously salted water for 4 or 5 minutes so that they’re ready to use in all manner of salads, pasta dishes, and tacos. They’re nice to have on hand for snacking as well. Kids like them.

I love the versatility of these summer beans. They have inspired a whole collection of salads, some modeled on Salade Niçoise, others inspired by the classic Italian tuna and beans salad. Some of my favorite whole grains salads are vehicles for summer bush or string beans, like my farro salad with tomatoes and romano beans and mixed brown rice and barley salad with green beans. Green beans are also welcome in a potato salad.

When I have fresh beans and pesto on hand I will use both in the same pasta dish. The combination is one of my favorites, the beans just a little crunchy and juicy against the al dente pasta and rich, garlicky pesto. I say “just a little crunchy” because I am a firm believer in cooking the beans for at least 4 minutes, so that their full flavor will emerge. They should not feel or taste raw. Even when you are using them in a salad they should be properly cooked or you’ll miss out on their flavor.

I have a weakness for the flat, long green beans called romanos. I cook these for a minute or two longer than the round green, yellow or purple beans. Sometimes I even stew them for 20 minutes, with onions and tomatoes. They stand up to longer cooking and these Greek-inspired bean ragouts are irresistible.

I’ve done a lot with fresh string and bush beans over the years in my Recipes for Health column; so much so that I decided to put together a collection of over 2 dozen of my fresh beans recipes on cooking.nytimes.com. So go ahead, buy more than you think you’ll need when you next go to the farmers market. You’ll find plenty of ways to use them up.

All year long we take zucchini for granted; it’s something we can always find in the supermarket. But during these summer months it’s local, along with so many other varieties of summer squash. You may be fed up with getting it every week in your CSA basket, though I will never tire of those colorful farmers market displays of different kinds of summer squash – yellow and green, mottled, light green and dark, round and pattypan, long and crookneck. 

Of all the vegetables that I work with, I think I cover no wider range of cuisines or types of dishes -- stir-fries and frittatas, salads and soups, pasta and baked goods -- than I do with ideas for summer squash. My natural tendency is to make Provençal gratins, either simple ones with a mix of summer vegetables like this one, or main dish gratins bound with eggs and cheese that begin with a simple summer squash sauté, with or without the peppers in the linked recipe. Last week I posted a zucchini parmesan on Recipes for Health that was also a gratin, but Italian in nature, a lightened up zucchini version of eggplant Parmesan.

Peach Pie

1 Whole Wheat Flakey Dessert Crust

3 to 4 pounds ripe peaches

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon butter, cut into pieces

1 tablespoon milk for glaze

1 tablespoon sugar for glaze

1. Very lightly butter a 9 1/2- or 10-inch pyrex pie dish. Divide dough into 2 unequal pieces, roll out large piece and line dish, with edge of dough overhanging by about 3/4 inch. Roll out other piece of dough into a circle and place on parchment paper. Chill both doughs for 1 hour.

2. Remove dough from refrigerator. Preheat oven to 425 degrees with rack in lower third. If desired, peel peaches by blanching for 15 seconds in boiling water and transferring to a bowl of cold water. Pit and cut in thick slices. Toss with lemon juice, brown sugar, vanilla, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Scrape into pie pan. Place top dough over peaches and join edges with overhang of bottom dough. Crimp together and pinch an attractive lip around the edge of the pan. 

3. With the tip of a paring knife make several slashes in the top of the dough. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Place on a baking sheet. To protect edges from over-browning, cover with strips of foil if desired.

4. Place in the oven and bake 20 minutes. Remove strips of foil, reduce heat to 375 and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, or until bottom and top crusts are nicely browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack. Serve warm or room temperature, with vanilla ice cream if desired.

Yield: 1 pie, serving 8 to 10

Despite the drought in Los Angeles, I make the best of my garden vegetables with some delicious recipes. Check out some of my ideas at Zesterdaily.

When I lived in France I made it a point to visit friends in Provence in late May and early June, when the cherry trees would be heavy with fruit. We would spend a day or two picking cherries and put up those that we didn’t eat (it is pretty hard to resist eating ripe, sweet, juicy cherries by the handful) or bake into clafoutis, pies, bread puddings and cakes. We put them up in big glass jars, preserving them in eau de vie to use later in desserts and cocktails, or in sweetened vinegar, to serve as hors d’oeuvres and with salads. 

I still go to Provence every year, usually in the summer, but this year I’m here in late May, and I’m picking cherries from my friend Christine’s trees every day. Most don’t make it past the bowl in the kitchen before we’ve devoured them, but some are finding their way into desserts. Clafouti, a sort of cross between a flan and a pancake, continues to be my hands down favorite cherry dessert. It’s easy to make and has the elegance of a tart but does not require a crust, a great choice for a dinner party when you are short on time. The French don’t even bother to pit the cherries – they feel that you will savor your dessert and eat more slowly if you know there are pits in the cherries. But in my recipe I leave that up to you.

Unfortunately there was no way for me to transport jars of sweet and sour cherries back to the States. So instead of preserving the kilos of cherries we picked when I was in France, we ate them at breakfast, lunch and dinner (sometimes with Nutella). But here’s the recipe, in case you find yourself with a surfeit of this irresistible fruit, the first of the summer stone fruits to show up in our markets But here’s the recipe, in case you find yourself with a surfeit of this irresistible fruit, the first of the summer stone fruits to show up in our markets.

Sweet and Sour Cherry Pickles

2 cups good quality champagne vinegar or sherry vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound firm, ripe cherries, with stems

5 to 6 sprigs fresh tarragon, rinsed and dried

1. Combine the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and stir until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.

2. Meanwhile, pick over the cherries, discarding any with blemishes or soft spots. Rinse, drain, and gently roll them in a towel to dry. Cut the stems with scissors to 1/2 inch.

3. Place the tarragon in a dry, sterilized 1-quart canning jar and fill with the cherries. Pour the cooled vinegar solution over the cherries, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. If the cherries are not completely covered, mix together more vinegar and sugar in a 4-1 ratio. Seal the jars with a sterilized lid and refrigerate for at least 2 weeks before eating. The cherries will keep in the refrigerator for couple of months. 

I can’t get enough of them during their short season so I buy them every time I go to the market. I’ve tried the shelled bagged fresh peas at Trader Joe’s, but they aren’t sweet like the peas you pop out of the pods and eat like candy. It’s rare for me to be able to hold onto fresh peas long enough to actually use them for a dish, but I managed to this week. I will have a link for you soon to my new recipe for Garlic Shrimp with Fresh Peas, coming up in Food in the New York Times. Meanwhile, this pasta is irresistible. Peas and sweet fresh herbs – tarragon and chives – are a match made in heaven. This is a dinner that is so easy to throw together, as long as you don’t eat all the peas while you’re shelling them. 

Quick! Get those fresh peas before they’re gone for the year!

Linguine with Fresh Peas, Garlic and Tarragon
Yield: Serves 4

Salt

3/4 pound linguine

1 pound fresh English peas (1 cup shelled)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 to 2 garlic cloves or 2 to 3 green garlic cloves, to taste, sliced very thin

2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon

2 tablespoons chopped chives

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons finely chopped or finely grated lemon zest (optional)



1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt generously, keeping in mind that you will be adding 1/2 cup of this water to the finished pasta (so don’t be too generous). Add linguine and set timer for 5 minutes less than the cooking time suggested on package. Warm a pasta bowl.

2. Meanwhile combine olive oil and sliced garlic in small skillet or saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until oil begins to bubble around the garlic slices. Watch garlic closely and cook until it just begins to color and smell fragrant. Remove from heat and pour oil and garlic into pasta bowl.

3. When timer goes off add peas to pasta water. Boil for another 5 minutes. Ladle out 1/2 cup cooking water from pasta and set aside. Drain pasta and peas and toss immediately in the warm pasta bowl with oil and garlic, reserved water from the pasta, herbs, Parmesan, and pepper. Serve at once.

Fresh fava beans are one of the best things about spring. I buy them (and fresh peas) whenever I see them, knowing their season is short. Don’t let the task of skinning them keep you from working with favas. Yes, it is necessary and don’t let anybody convince you that it isn’t. But you can get into a rhythm and it can go quickly. Turn on some good music or catch up with those last two episodes of Mad Men that you missed while you pop the favas out of their skins. Here’s how you do it:

Shell the favas. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice water. Drop the shelled fava beans into the boiling water and boil  2 minutes. Drain and transfer immediately to the cold water. Allow the beans to cool for several minutes, then slip off their skins by pinching off the eye of the skin and squeezing gently. Hold several beans in one hand and use your other thumb and forefinger to pinch off the eyes, have a bowl for the shelled favas close at hand and this will not take a very long time. Once you’re done skinning, choose from some of my favorite recipes in my fava bean recipe box on cooking.nytimes.com.

Cinco de Mayo has come and gone but don’t let that stop you from making fabulous Mexican food as often as possible. I have been working with Pati Jinich, host of Pati’s Mexican Table, on her next cookbook, Mexican Today, and I am totally inspired by her incredible recipes. I have always been as passionate about Mexican food as I am about the cuisines of the Mediterranean, and it’s been nice to get back to doing more Mexican cooking. These enchiladas are my most recent creation, very light, vegetarian, easy. I’ve also made a collection on the cooking.nytimes.com site of some of my favorite black bean recipes.