Monday is the start of National Vegetarian Week and to mark the occasion there’s a host of tasty recipes which will tempt even the most confirmed carnivore.

One of the most influential figures in vegetarian cuisine was Elizabeth David and to celebrate the centenary of her birth a new book, Elizabeth David On Vegetables, has bee n publioshed.

Here is receipe for an ideal summer lunch:

TARTE AUX ASPERGES (Asparagus tart) (Serves 4-5)

For the pastry: 250g plain flour, 175g butter, A pinch of salt, For the filling: 1kg asparagus, 1tsp sugar, 450ml bechamel sauce made with milk or cream, 60g grated cheese.

Knead the flour, salt and butter together, adding a little water to make a paste.

Prepare this one hour before cooking, if possible.

Prepare the asparagus very carefully, peeling off the dry outer skin of the stalks. Put them tied in a bunch and heads uppermost into boiling salted water, to which you add also a teaspoon of sugar and cook them for 10 minutes (a little longer if they are very large ones). Drain them and cut each asparagus into three or four pieces, discarding the hard part at the ends.

Roll out your pastry, line a flat buttered pie tin (23-25cm) with it, cover the inside and the edges with kitchen paper and put the usual beans into the paper to keep the pastry flat. Bake it in a hot oven (200°C/gas 6) for 20 minutes.

Heat up the bechamel gently while the pastry is baking. Now add the grated cheese to the prepared bechamel and, off the fire, the asparagus.

Take the paper and the beans off the pastry, fill with the asparagus mixture, put it into the oven to brown, and serve hot.

  • Elizabeth David On Vegetables by Elizabeth David, is published by Quadrille, priced £20