Sautéed Cabbage Shrimp and Lime with Currant Yogurt Cake Nigel Slater's Summer Recipes

Beat the heat with a delicious menu of simple meals to prepare with friends

Lunch in the sun. A long, quiet meal with friends and family or a more intimate affair for just two. Either is a lovely way to celebrate a glorious summer afternoon. For a feast, I tend to choose dishes that aren't particularly time-sensitive. This time, a platter of roasted tomatoes with zaatar and dark red Aleppo pepper, the fruit on a fluffy mound of creamed chickpeas and a fragrant tahini vinaigrette.

There will be something to start, just a light, seasonal plate of melting white cheese perhaps – mozzarella or burrata – brightened up with pickles (I used cherries this time) and small sweet and sour pickles. Cherries can be stored in a jar to accompany cheese – they have a delicious affinity with a milky caerphilly – or perhaps sprinkle them in a cucumber and lamb's lettuce salad. Their juice is a useful addition to any salad dressing.

For a more intimate summer lunch, I'll stand at the kitchen table and chop some lemongrass and garlic, spring onions and tender green cabbage, then toss them with fatty wild shrimp in a very hot pan. A touch of soy sauce and fish, this is the kind of special dish that always tastes best when cooked just for two. The prawns, fatty and sweet, are a rare treat.

The dessert will be a yogurt cake, soft as a sponge but with a nod to cheesecake. There will also be berries, cooked with spoon honey on top. Currants are finally here and to be celebrated with any form of dairy (whip first, then crumble and cream, then stewed with yogurt).

If there are just a few of us, I'll still bake cake – it makes a nice weekend breakfast.
Spring cabbage, prawns and lime (pictured above)

Sometimes summer lunch is a small but special event. If it's an intimate lunch, I'm happy to cook something for just the two of us to share - a stir-fry, perhaps, (something I would never consider for a large group) which can be cooked while you chat, the kitchen doors wide open to the sun.

Serve 2
spring cabbage 200g
ginger 60g
garlic 2 cloves
lemongrass 2 large stalks
peppers 2 small, hot
spring onions 2
peanut or vegetable oil 3 tbsp
400g large prawns, raw
lime juice of 1 large
nam pla (Thai fish sauce) 2 tbsp
sugar (palm or semolina sugar) 1 teaspoon
soy sauce 1 tbsp
cilantro leaves a large handful
Thai basil leaves a handful

Begin preparation. It's best to have everything on hand, because when you start cooking, everything happens pretty quickly. Wash the cabbage leaves, then cut them into pieces the width of a pappardelle.

Peel the ginger and grate it finely. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Remove the outer leaves from the lemongrass, then very thinly slice the inner leaves. Finely chop the peppers, removing the seeds if desired. (They will add a little extra heat if left in.) Finely grate the spring onions.

Heat the oil in a wok or large, shallow skillet. Add the ginger, garlic, lemongrass, chili peppers and spring onions and sauté for a few minutes until the garlic begins to color. Be careful not to let it burn. Keeping the heat high, add the shrimp. When they turn opaque and color slightly, add the lime juice, nam pla and sugar. When everything is sizzling, add the shredded cabbage, turning the leaves over as they begin to darken and wilt.

As soon as everything is sizzling and tender, stir in the soy sauce, cilantro and Thai basil leaves.