There's no shortage of seasonal, home-grown food around this month, which makes planning summer menus a breeze

June is a traditionally festive month in the calendar, midsummer, the season for weddings and garden parties, not to mention all the glamorous sporting fixtures. Such celebrations require copious, satisfying food and preferably plenty of people to help you with the shopping and cooking.

Strawberries and salmon are essential summer eating, but bear in mind that Wimbledon always drives up the price of English strawberries and fresh salmon. If you're lucky enough to be near a pick-your-own farm, this can be a cheaper, fun option. There are also some special offers on Spanish strawberries in the supermarkets. As for salmon, the price of wild salmon is likely to stay high as it is in such short supply - try sticking with organically reared salmon, which can be up to two times cheaper.

Greens
Salad leaves of all kinds are in plentiful supply. Look out for mixed leaves, similar to the French mesclun. One of the farmers at the local farmers' market is bringing in boxes of rocket, mizuna and mustard leaves, and I simply buy a handful of each. Jersey Royals are not the only good spuds; look for those grown in Cornwall and Lincolnshire, and use them in salads, with plenty of herbs, especially the pungent garlic chives.

English greens also come into their own at this time of year. And I have found a new way of cooking cauliflower, never my favourite vegetable. In Valencia and Alicante, the garden of Spain, a favourite first course is grilled vegetables, parillada de verdures. The biggest surprise on the plate, amongst the courgettes, peppers and sliced sweet onions, was slices of cauliflower, grilled to a remarkable nutty deliciousness. English asparagus should still be available and is delicious. I like it cooked on the griddle, which concentrates its sweet earthy flavour. If you cook it in water, it is worth keeping the cooking water for an asparagus risotto the next day.

Herbs
As the chance of frost lessens, it is worth investing in a few pots of herbs for the balcony or window sill. Stock up on the essentials such as basil, chives and tarragon, and start experimenting with some more unusual flavours. Try growing lovage with its yeasty celery taste, summer savory, which is the classic herb for broad beans, and sweet cicely, with its delicate, anise-flavoured leaves is perfect in summer drinks and fruit salads

Fruit
Apart from strawberries and cherries, Spanish nectarines and peaches are in good supply, both yellow fleshed and white, which are slightly more fragrant and subtle. My favourite way of serving them is thinly sliced with another fruit juice splashed over them. Orange juice works, but strawberry juice or raspberry juice can give it an extra summer feel. If you do not have a juicer, simply sieve the fruit and spoon the puree over the peaches or nectarines. To skin or not to skin? A matter of choice, but I prefer to peel them with a sharp knife rather than dropping them in boiling water to loosen the skin. Although the dunking is only brief, it seems to me that it does cook the outer layer of fruit, which loses its sharp freshness.

Entertaining in June
Not long ago, I devised a menu for a summer ruby wedding, and I have used some of the same elements in this month's menu, as it is so perfect for midsummer entertaining - new potatoes, English duckling, and new season's peas, beans and cherries in the main course and strawberries for dessert. The cherries are more likely to be Spanish than anything else, as this month sees the arrival of the excellent fruit from the Valle del Jerte.

June menu

Beetroot, new potato and smoked eel salad with dill cream

Griddled breast of Gressingham duck, with a cherry and balsamic sauce

Strawberry Fair
It has to be strawberries for dessert in June. However, for a wedding breakfast or birthday party, I think you can really go to town here, and have a strawberry buffet, hence the name, Strawberry Fair.

Here are a few strawberry recipes to get you started:

Strawberry ice cream
Strawberry and blueberry terrine with strawberry sauce
Eton mess or Strawberry and raspberry fool
Strawberry tart

Tom's wine recommendations:
The first week in June is English Wine Week and these are the wines that I recommend with Frances' recipes this month, on the basis that local wine goes with local food and this is such an English menu. And note, it is English wine, not British wine. English wine is made in England from grapes grown in English vineyards. As the saying goes, British wine is neither British nor wine. It is made in factories here from grape juice imported from all over the world, and has, in my view, nothing to recommend it.

If you can afford about #15 a bottle, Nyetimber or Chapel Down Brut Reserve 1995 make a festive start to any party. For something less expensive, the non-vintage Chapel Down Brut makes an excellent Pimm?s Royale.

Smoked fish is ideal partnered with the Fume from New Wave Wines. Ortega, Seyval Blanc and Reichensteiner grown in vineyards in Tenterden, Kent, make up this soft fragrant wine. We have had it with smoked haddock, and it will do justice to the smoked eel.

With the duckling, I recommend the 1999 English Pinot Noir, which the company boldly suggests will `surprise the Burgundian bores'. With typical berry flavours and up to 12 months barrel ageing, this has the body and bottle age of a most respectable wine. Do serve it cool rather than the average British `room temperature', which makes most red wine taste like soup.

English sweet wine is made occasionally, but is elusive. Instead, I recommend Moscato d?Asti, served very chilled. Low in alcohol, fresh and sweet but never cloying, this is the best fizz to serve with a strawberry-based - or indeed any fruit - dessert.