Summer Dinner, with Winter Possibilities, for 6

• Grilled pepper salad
• Marinated, butterflied leg of lamb
• Garlic potatoes, watercress and raw mushroom salad
• Poached peaches with Sauternes custard or ice-cream, or
• Sauternes and lemon balm jelly

In summer, I cook the lamb on the outdoor grill; in winter in a hot oven. You might want to modify the menu otherwise: only you can tell exactly what mood the weather puts you in and how you want, culinarily, to respond. In winter, of course, you won’t get the peaches, or if you do they’ll be expensive and, worse, probably unsalvageable by poaching. You could, then, just make a baked Sauternes custard (see Weekend Lunch) and eat it without the fruit to accompany it, or soak and then poach some dried peaches or apricots, or a mixture of each. If you find some peaches you think you could do something with, then follow the recipe for sugar-sprinkled roast peaches in Fast Food. I couldn’t stop myself from adding the recipe for Sauternes and lemon balm jelly, too. The advantage of this – apart from the spectacular but delicate beauty of its taste – is that it is pathetically easy to make. And when it’s really hot, it’s not just that you don’t feel like eating excessive amounts of food, but that you don’t want to spend excessive amounts of time in the kitchen.