When the sun’s out, keep lunch simple with dishes you can prepare in advance, from chicken and couscous to panna cotta

A summer lunch should feel carefree and effortless. An assortment of dishes served cold or at room temperature, probably made earlier in the day. Perhaps the day before, brought to the table with very little fuss. (There is little worse than a cook arriving at the table hot and hassled.) I vote for one, and only one, dish that needs last-minute work. A plate of battered courgettes brought rustling from the kitchen or a dish of prawns tossed with butter, peas and dill. Even the dessert can be made first thing in the morning, or the previous night.

Prawns, peas and pasta

A plate of hot, plump prawns with melted butter and dill is a good, if rather expensive, summer lunch. I bring it down to earth with a little pasta to add body, and peas simply for their affinity with the shellfish. I suggest you ignore the large tiger prawns which are often tough and rarely sustainable, and head instead for chubby, shelled raw prawns, although I have a fancy to try this made with tiny brown shrimps, too.

Serves 2-3

cavatelli 250g, or other small pasta

peas 150g (podded weight)

raw prawns 400g large, shelled

butter 60g

olive oil 2 tbsp

dill a good handful, chopped

Bring a deep pan of water to the boil and salt it generously. Add the pasta, cook for about nine minutes until al dente, then drain.

While the pasta is cooking, roughly chop the peas. Cut the prawns in half down their backs. Melt the butter in a shallow pan, add the oil and then the prawns, letting them cook for two minutes till they curl and turn opaque.

Finely chop the dill fronds. Add the chopped peas, a seasoning of salt and black pepper then continue cooking for a minute or two before adding the drained pasta and dill.

Chicken with sumac and couscous

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chicken with sumac and couscous. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer

A good-natured chicken salad that can be eaten hot or cold. I prefer it half an hour or so after assembly, eaten while the grains of couscous are still comfortingly warm and the chicken skin retains a little of its crispness. Whatever your timing, the watercress and pea shoots are best added just before serving, so they retain their vibrancy and freshness.

This is a sound recipe for a crowd or a picnic (it travels well in a Tupperware box) and is easy to scale up or down. I have suggested a mixture of cuts but you could make it with just thighs or drumsticks if you prefer. The point is to make the most of the cheaper, more delicious brown meat and for the couscous to soak up its hot, spice-flecked roasting juices.

Serves 4

hot paprika 2 tsp

sweet paprika 1 tbsp

ground sumac 2 tbsp

olive oil 6 tbsp

chicken wings 600g

chicken thighs 500g

chicken drumsticks 500g

shallots 6 large

smoked salt a good pinch

chicken stock 350ml

couscous 250g

watercress 100g

pea shoots 100g

chopped parsley 2 large handfuls

Mix the hot and sweet paprika, ground sumac and olive oil in a large mixing bowl. Put in the chicken pieces and turn them over in the seasoned oil, evenly coating each piece, then set aside for half an hour. Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6.

Peel the shallots, halve them lengthways then add to the chicken, sprinkling with the smoked salt. Tip the chicken, shallots and their dressing into a roasting tin then roast for 1 hour, turning everything over half way through cooking, until the skin is golden and chicken cooked through.

Bring the stock to the boil. Put the couscous in a heatproof bowl, pour over the chicken stock, cover with a plate and leave for 10-15 minutes until the couscous is swollen with stock. Run the tines of a fork through the couscous to fluff it up, then add to the roasting tin, picking up the roasting juices as you stir, together with the watercress, pea shoots and parsley. Tumble all the ingredients together and transfer to a large serving dish.

Buttermilk courgettes and broad bean cream

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Buttermilk courgettes and broad bean cream. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer

A last-minute recipe, best finished when everyone is seated. A fritter waits for no one. They are light and have the refreshing tang of buttermilk. You could use kefir. Either are at home with a courgette. The broad beans can be cooked and crushed up to an hour or two before you intend to eat, if kept cool and covered.

Serves 4

broad beans 350g (shelled weight)

mint leaves 15

olive oil 150ml

white wine vinegar 1 tbsp

lemon juice of 1

courgettes 1 large or 2 medium

buttermilk 350ml

plain flour 6 tbsp

oil (vegetable or groundnut) for deep frying

lemons 2, halved

Bring a medium-sized saucepan of water to the boil, drop in the broad beans and cook for four or five minutes till tender, then drain and plunge into a bowl of iced water.

Pop the beans from their papery skins by pressing them with your thumb and forefinger, then discard the skins.

Put the beans into the bowl of a food processor with the mint, olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice, and process to a thick, smooth cream. Scrape out into a bowl using a rubber spatula, cover and set aside.

Pour the buttermilk into a shallow bowl and the flour into a second one. Thinly slice the courgette into rounds no thicker than a pound coin.

Warm the groundnut or vegetable oil to 180C in a deep pan. Dip the courgettes first in the buttermilk and then in the flour, then lower carefully into the hot oil. Fry till golden and crisp, turning over once or twice during the cooking.

Serve, hot from the pan, with the broad bean cream and halves of lemon for squeezing.

Crab with rocket and harissa mayonnaise

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Crab with rocket and harissa mayonnaise. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer

These pots of ready-dressed crab meat, one each of white and brown, are useful for crisp fish cakes studded with coriander and chilli, for thick brick-red fish soup and for sandwiches with soft bread, cucumber and deep green, ice-crisp watercress. They also make a mighty fine crab mayonnaise spiced with paprika and capers or, as I do here, with a little harissa paste. The richness of crab meat needs a fresh, light partner such as pea shoots, watercress or cucumber. The spiky leaves of wild rocket work, too.

Serves 4

For the harissa mayonnaise

egg yolks 2

groundnut oil 200ml

olive oil 100ml

lemon juice 3 tsp

harissa paste 2 tsp (to taste)

For the crab

brown crab meat 250g

spring onions 2

white crab meat 250g

parsley 2 tbsp, chopped

coriander 2 tbsp, chopped

rocket a couple of handfuls

Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl with a pinch or two of salt flakes then slowly whisk in the oil, drop by drop at first, then a little more on each addition until all the oil has been incorporated. Finish with the lemon juice and harissa paste. The result should be citrussy with a deep underlying warmth.

Stir the brown crab meat into the mayonnaise. Trim the spring onions, discarding any tough, dark green leaves. Put the white crab meat in a bowl then gently fold the chopped herbs and spring onion through it with a fork, taking care not to over-mix.

Rinse the rocket leaves in iced water, shake them dry and place on a serving dish. Pile the brown crab meat on top then scatter the white crab meat over it.

Cardamom and buttermilk panna cotta with mango and passion fruit

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cardamom and buttermilk panna cotta with mango and passion fruit. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer

If you make the courgette fritters above you will only use a little of a bottle of buttermilk. The recipe that follows is the perfect way to use the rest.

Buttermilk adds a smoothness and faintly tart note that isn’t achievable with yogurt. The mango needs to be perfectly ripe, and if that proves unattainable then I would use another fruit instead such as raspberries.

I like the crunch of the passion fruit seeds as a contrast to the quivering softness of the panna cotta, but you could sieve the seeds out if you prefer. The shock of the sour passion fruit juice with soft warmth of cardamom and cream is well worth the four-hour wait for the dessert to set.

Serves 4

For the panna cotta

green cardamom pods 12

double cream 350ml

caster sugar 100g

gelatine 2 sheets

buttermilk 150ml

For the fruits

large, ripe mango 1

passion fruit 4

You will need 4 small ramekins or small coffee cups.

Crack open the cardamom pods and extract the seeds, then crush them to a coarse powder using a pestle and mortar. Put the cardamom in a small, non-stick saucepan with the double cream and sugar, and place over a moderate heat. Bring the cream almost to the boil, then remove from the heat, cover with a plate and leave to infuse for 30 minutes.

Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes or until it has become soft. Warm the infused cream gently, stirring continuously, for two or three minutes, but on no account let it come to the boil. Lift the gelatine from the water and drop into the cream, stirring with a wooden spoon until it has dissolved, then remove from the heat.

Pour the cream through a sieve suspended over a jug. Stir the buttermilk into the cream then pour into four small ramekins and refrigerate for four hours or until lightly set.

Peel the mango and slice the flesh from the stone, then cut into small dice. Halve and squeeze the passion fruit, removing the seeds if you wish with the help of a tea strainer or small sieve, then add to the mango and chill thoroughly.

Warm the ramekins briefly by dipping them for a few seconds in hot water, then turn out the panna cotta into small dishes and serve with the mango and passion fruit.

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