Summer Garden Tempura

If you boil purple French beans they turn a dark grey-green.

By dipping them raw and whole into tempura batter, and then shallow-frying them, they stay looking fantastic and taste even better. Mix them with mini peppers, courgette flowers, aubergines and carrots for a wonderful plate of garden vegetable tempura. Dip them into chilli dipping sauce and soy sauce.

Serves 10-12

750ml sunflower or groundnut oil

2 handfuls of French beans, tops and tails left on

2 red or green sweet peppers, cut into strips or, if small, deseeded but kept whole

3 to 4 mild chillies, such as Hungarian wax, with stems

1 aubergine, cut into discs

3 to 4 courgettes, cut in half, or whole if small

3 courgette flowers

2 globe artichoke hearts, cooked (see below)

Selection of green herbs:

tops and flowers of parsley,

chervil,

tips of basil and single sage leaves,

whole 8 nasturtium flowers

A few roots (beetroot, mini carrots, sweet potato), cooked briefly and sliced into bite-sized sections Salt and black pepper

For the tempura batter:

225g plain flour

Plenty of salt and black pepper

2 eggs, beaten

375ml iced sparkling water or cold lager

First make the tempura batter. Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt and pepper and make a dip in the centre. Add the eggs and, with a balloon whisk, mix in the cold water or lager to make a batter the thickness of double cream, but not too smooth.

Keep this in the fridge until you need it.

Pour the oil into a deep pan so that it reaches about one-third of the way up the side. Heat the oil until it reaches about 170C. If you don’t have an oil thermometer it’s easy to test the temperature. Drop a cube of bread into the oil. It should turn golden brown in less than a minute.

Dip the vegetables, herbs and flowers into the batter, a few at a time, and then into the hot oil until pale gold and crisp. Drain them on kitchen paper. These are at their best eaten hot, sprinkled with sea salt and ground black pepper.

To cook globe artichokes: Cook four or five at a time in two huge pans. Find a lid or a plate that is just too small to cover the pan and use it as a weight to prevent those at the top from floating and thus taking longer to cook. Put half a lemon in the water for a brighter green colour and cook them for 30-40 minutes, depending on size.

They will start to smell strongly when nearly done. Test them by pulling off one of the bottom leaves; if it comes off easily, the artichoke is ready.