Merguez with green beans, and shallot and herb sauce

Having moved from London to Yorkshire four years ago, I’m discovering what rural cooking and sourcing ingredients really means. With farmers working in all directions, our area is dotted with weekly markets and there’s a staggering coastline with fish shacks to drool over. Our nearest shop is several miles away, so we have to travel farther to find what’s worth eating. We are now growing some of our own vegetables, motivated by being able to pick them fresh, and friends share their own homegrown produce with us. This is the time of year for a lovely late-summer feast

Use soft herbs to make the zingy, green sauce for these smoky merguez – a North African-style spiced lamb sausage. Yorkshire-based Swaledale Butchers and online butcher Farmison & Co make delicious ones. This dish can be left to cool a little, so you can relax on serving timings.