Hectic Host: Summer Salads and the Best G&Ts Ever!

The last thing one wants to do on a hot summer's day is slave over a hot oven. Summer food is all about assembling rather than cooking. Here are a few of my favourite and speedy recipes, designed to keep everything on the down-low.

The first flat that we bought was in the superbly named Mundania Court, an Art Deco block in East Dulwich, at the time the home of the British Bakelite Museum and opposite the cemetery where Entertaining Mr Sloane was filmed. The building was far from mundane; inside the flats are arranged around a central courtyard, we would all leave our front doors open and neighbours were forever popping in and out of each others homes. One summer a somewhat annoying woman took to turning up just before dinner (Mundania Caught – see what we did there?) I would of course ask her to join us. She would dive into the huge salad I had made and say the same thing every evening 'I am sorry, I've taken all the good bits.' So wound up was I by this phrase, and the woman, that I perfected a stream of salads that were comprised entirely of only 'the good bits'.

But before we get onto the salads everyone will want a drink, remember this handy tip. On a baking tray freeze some very thick slices of cucumber, once they are solid tip into a Tupperware bowl and repeat the process. Forget struggling with ice cube trays altogether when your guests arrive; instead drop handy frozen chunks of cucumber in their G&Ts.

Now back to work.

• Chop one head of celery; add two handfuls of seedless red grapes, two chopped apples, two chopped pears, a handful of crumbled walnuts and some crumbled blue cheese. Dress with a mustard and honey vinaigrette.

• Place a generous heap of baby leaf spinach in a bowl over which flake several skinned fillets of smoked, peppered mackerel. Peel an orange over the bowl, so as not to waste any of the juice, break into segments and then tear into pieces. So simple and so delicious.

• For an equally simple, seasonal salad, take some more baby leaf spinach and scatter with slices of fresh strawberry. Serve with simple vinaigrette of 1 part raspberry vinegar to 3 parts olive oil. Top off with a warm slice of toasted goat's cheese on a sliced baguette.

• Grill some tuna steaks and leave to cool. On a bed of rocket lay some large hunks of avocado. Flake the tuna over this and squeeze over lots of fresh lime and a drizzle of olive oil.

• Cube two mangoes into a bowl, mix in some cooked tiger prawns, some torn coriander leaves and some grated cucumber. Mix together some plain yoghurt with some lime juice and spoon over the salad. Sprinkle with chopped red chilli.

• Marinade slim slivers of sirloin steak in soy sauce. Flash fry in a little sesame oil with some dried red chilli. Strain and place on a bed of watercress. Drizzle over some of the juices from the pan and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

For a delicious summer soup that requires no cooking take equal quantities of Greek yoghurt and passata add a level teaspoon of curry powder and blitz together in the blender. Pour into large serving bowl and chill in the fridge for an hour or so, scatter with shredded coriander and serve with hot nan bread.

Our favourite summer dessert recipe could not be easier. Hull some strawberries and drizzle with Manuka honey, sprinkle with toasted pistachio nuts and freshly torn mint. Serve with a big helping of fresh clotted cream.

We are lucky enough to have two pear trees in our garden; I keep a great big hunk of parmesan in the fridge as there is nothing nicer, in lieu of dessert, than a slice of pear and parmigiana with a glass of red. Which reminds me …..

Hectic Host appears monthly in SE Magazines.