May always feels as if it should be summer, but the larder is still looking a little bare. There is a month or so to go before the glorious glut of fruit and vegetables that makes sunshine cooking such a joy.

So, what to eat in the meantime? British asparagus and spring lamb are a good start, but there are less common treats to be had. Morel mushrooms raise their weird, honeycombed heads at this time of year – I once drove down a mountain road in Morocco in May to be greeted by children thrusting huge bagfuls of the things through the window round every bend. Sea trout return to the rivers from the sea. Wood pigeons are starting to plump up after the lean months of winter. Even the weedy dandelion has its moment, before the leaves get too geriatric and bitter.

It is to these minor seasonal heroes that I dedicate this week’s recipes.

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