I adore incorporating fresh herbs into cooking all year round, but unconsciously my desire has increased for them in relation to their availability.

We forget that herbs should, in reality, be seasonal. But rather like so many vegetables and fruits that line the shop shelves, our seasonality compass is a little blurred. For professional chefs and home cooks alike to follow a rigid and healthy obsession with seasonality is not new. However, if we were to apply that credo to herbs, we would not see them for long wintery stretches. No wonder I am using them so avidly now it is the height of summer.

Our compact but prolific herb patch in the garden behind The Peat Inn may play a part as well. At various points from spring onwards we cultivate lovage, thyme, rosemary, several varieties of mint, chives, coriander and chervil. We sometimes supplement these with extra deliveries; when we do, the difference between the two is striking. Herbs transported in a plastic pack will have been picked days beforehand. Ours can be plucked from the ground the instant we wish: their brighter colour, firmer texture and heady perfume is unmistakably superior.

One of the loveliest ways to appreciate the difference is to make a green salad brimming with fronds of fresh picked herbs. The aniseed hit of chervil and tarragon, the onion hint of chives, the summery freshness of mint and heady eucalyptus aroma of basil make such a simple addition yet add real elegance and complexity.

Salad of summer herbs with radishes, beans and minted yoghurt dressing

Recipes serve four

For the salad

40g per person of mixed salad leaves of your choice

Herbs: the exact selection is down to personal choice but try to incorporate at least three out of chervil, tarragon, fine chives, flat leaf parsley and coriander. You will want around 2-3g of each, or if you prefer, a rounded handful once picked. For chives, you need a small bunch about the thickness of your finger when grouped together

A pack of radishes

100g green beans

100g mange touts

100g sugar snaps

100g fresh peas, podded

For the dressing

3 heaped dsps of natural yogurt

8 mint leaves

A pinch of salt

A small clove of garlic, optional

A squeeze of lime juice

Method

1. First make the dressing. If not using the garlic, skip to step 2. If you are using it: place the clove of garlic on a chopping board, sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt then, with the flat side of a large heavy knife, grind the garlic to a paste. Transfer to a small or medium-sized mixing bowl, large enough to hold and mix the rest of the dressing ingredients.

2. To this, add the yogurt and mix thoroughly with a rubber spatula. Finally stack the mint leaves up in one neat pile on top of each other to make them easier to handle. Cut them in half lengthways then finely shred across them as small as possible. Add to the yogurt mix and combine then refrigerate until needed. This can be done up to three hours in advance. If you want, you can prepare the yogurt and garlic base the day before and chop the mint at the last moment so it doesn't go black

3. Bring a pan of water to the boil and salt it well. Top and tail the three types of beans. When the water is boiling rapidly, add them and the peas to the water and blanch for three minutes then drain and refresh under cold water. Drain and dry then refrigerate, this can be done several hours in advance if you wish, or as you prepare the salad.

4. To finish and serve: slice the radishes into fine rounds or wedges, as you prefer. Place the salad leaves in a large mixing bowl. Pick the herbs into the salad leaves, creating small clusters of each type of herb, so you are removing them from the big, tough to eat, central stalk, but leaving fronds of herbs bunched together in small edible bunches. If using chives, cut in batons about 2cm long. If using parsley, try to pick the smaller leaves, or you can slightly chop them or tear them down if the leaves seem very large. Scatter in the radishes, peas and beans. Drizzle over olive oil, season with sea salt flakes and ground black pepper and toss gently but thoroughly with a fork and spoon to mix and coat. Divide between serving plates then add the lime juice to the dressing before drizzling the minted yogurt dressing in stripes over the surface and serve.

Classic béarnaise sauce

Keen cooks know that this hollandaise derivative contains tarragon but many often forget it should also contain chopped chervil. Replacing these two herbs with mint gives you Paloise instead - great for lamb chops

250g unsalted butter

2 shallots peeled, sliced in rounds

3 dsps of finely chopped tarragon

2 dsps of chopped chervil

A sprig of thyme (reserve the stalks from both sets of herbs)

3-4 tbsps of white wine vinegar

8 black peppercorns

4 free-range egg yolks

Method

1. In a small saucepan place the thyme, tarragon and chervil stalks and peppercorns then cover with the vinegar. Place over a moderate heat and bring to a simmer then boil for half a minute before removing to cool. Once cool, pass through a small sieve and reserve the infused vinegar, discarding the shallots mixture.

2. Place the butter in a small saucepan and place over a very low heat. Reserve the butter paper. Allow to melt so the milky solids sink to the bottom. Skim off the residue from the surface. Carefully pour off the melted golden liquid butter into a clean pan or measuring jug, making sure you leave behind the milky layer in the original pan, which cannot be used for this.

3. Bring a small pan of water to the boil then turn off the heat. Place the egg yolks into a mixing bowl (stainless steel is best). Use a balloon whisk, and not a heavy thick whisk which will not incorporate air, and whisk the yolks until they thicken and become foamy. Do this with the bowl over the pan of warm water, taking care not to cook or scramble the eggs. The best way to prevent this is to leave the bowl over the warm water for 30 seconds at a time before removing it for 30 seconds while you whisk. The egg yolks will reach a sabayon stage where a trail is left behind in the yolk when you lift the whisk out.

4. Remove from the heat and while still whisking vigorously, add the warm butter in a slow steady drizzle. Do not add too fast or it may split instead of emulsifying. Continue until three quarters of the butter is added then add a spoonful of the vinegar reduction. Continue to add the rest of the butter. Add salt, taste for seasoning and adjust with vinegar so the sauce is sharp but not sour. Add the chopped herbs and fold through. Cover the surface with the reserved butter paper, cover the bowl with clingfilm and set over warm but not hot water to keep warm. This will hold for an hour or so happily. Stir once more before serving with grilled meat or fish.

Geoffrey Smeddle is the chef patron of The Peat Inn, by St Andrews, Fife, Ky15 5LH 01334 840206 www.thepeatinn.co.uk