I love salad season.

Here are a couple of my favourites:

Vegan coleslaw

Carrots, grated

White cabbage, shredded

Red cabbage shredded

1/4 finely chopped red onion

Equal quantities of vegan garlic mayonnaise and soya yoghurt

Juice of a lemon

Few splashes of chipotle tabasco

Sea salt, ground black pepper

I use equal quantities of grated carrot and shredded red and white cabbage – do it by eye until the three colours are equally visible. Add onion. I mix mine with my hands in a large bowl.

For the dressing use about 3-4 tablespoons each of garlic vegan mayonnaise and plain soya yoghurt. Enhance with a a few dashes of chipotle tabasco. Add the juice of a lemon, some sea salt and black pepper to taste. Just keep tasting it until it tastes delicious and then toss half into the salad, and mix thoroughly with your hands. Add enough more until the veggies are coated, but not dripping in dressing.

Warm new potato and asparagus salad

1lb jersey royal potatoes

2 spring onions, chopped finely

3 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped

5 sunblush tomatoes, shredded

14 fat pitted black olives, quartered

olive oil

sherry vinegar

teaspoon of dijon mustard

teaspoon of caster sugar

sea salt and ground black pepper

15 leaves of fresh basil, torn up

Boil some small jersey royal potatoes in salted water until cooked.

Whilst they are boiling, mix your dressing thoroughly – I like about 3 parts olive oil to 1 part sherry vinegar, spiked with a heaped teaspoon of dijon mustard and tempered with a scant teaspoon of caster sugar, all shaken together in an old cough medicine bottle.

Drain the potatoes and cut to rough bite sized pieces. Toss in the dressing and leave them to soak it all up whilst you mix the other ingredients in a large bowl.

When you have cooked your asparagus, add the potatoes to the tomatoes and olives and spring onions, add the basil and serve warm.

Grilled asparagus

Toss your asparagus spears in olive oil, and cook lightly for a couple of minutes on a hot griddle pan, until you get a few char marks on the spears. Put them on a plate, squeeze over lemon juice, sea salt and pepper, and serve warm with potato salad and coleslaw.