It’s not always possible to get away to some cool, shady spot during the summer months, but one can take inspiration from bustling cities and the way in which they keep their inhabitants cool with summer food and drinks. A light touch, combined with bright, clean flavours, is the order of the day. Some of the ideas I have come across over the years adapt so well to the Maltese islands that I would like to pass them on.

New York might be famous for its jewel-coloured Martinis, but also does a nice line in home-made fruit lemonades to accompany appetising snacks such as crab cakes with red pepper aioli; baked new potatoes filled with salmon roe – try this with sea urchin instead; a stack of thinly sliced rare roast beef and rocket on pumpernickel, or simply a ruffle of prosciutto on a Parmesan crisp.

Nowhere is cooler, in every sense of the word, during a Roman summer, than the roof terrace at the Hotel Eden. It overlooks some of the seven hills, the Vatican, and steep roofs with terracotta pantiles leading down to the Spanish Steps.

However dusty the streets and irate the traffic cops, there is a breeze up there and the city noises are distant. On the bar, a jug of freshly crushed strawberry purée is poured into glasses, which are then topped up with champagne, a strawberry Bellini, I suppose. One or two of these and hunger pangs arise, as the dusk darkens to night, and the bats swoop and dive. A plate of grilled sprats with pine nuts and raisins, to follow a pasta course of tagliolini with saffron, prawns and courgettes were perfectly lovely, homely dishes.

It was singularly pleasing to find them among the lobster medallions and fresh foie gras, which a deluxe hotel has always to offer its glamorous and demanding clientele. During the day, of course, one cools off in Rome at one of the numerous excellent gelaterias with fruit sorbets, the best of which, for me, is always the lemon, icy sweet, and mouth-puckeringly sour at the same time, almost painful, but deeply refreshing.

Chillies and ginger, too, are good for cooling down in summer and here my inspiration comes from as far apart as the US’s Western desert and Asia. For example, a dish with soft tortillas and flavours of chilli, coriander, limes and fruit, the kind of food you’d get in Arizona, California and Texas, where the Mexican influences are as strong as the sun is hot. It’s lively, appetising, flavoursome food, fun to assemble and easy to eat.

The best summer cooler in Paris is undoubtedly the citron-pressé, but the panachée also has its adherents.

This is none other than shandy, but using lager, and with a larger proportion of lemonade. Sophisticated Parisians unable to leave the city cool off with meridional flavours, full of the colour and liveliness of Provence.

Raw tomato sauce and toast à la tapenade are served with the petits farçis provençaux, small vegetables such as artichokes, onions, tomatoes, turnips, patty-pan squash, and finger-length courgette, stuffed and baked with a different filling, couscous, soft cheese or olives, for example.

Fresh figs are roasted in their leaves and served with a sorbet of fresh sheep’s milk cheese and white peaches roasted with lemongrass.

At the British embassy in Paris, guests were cooled with intriguing and innovative dishes, such as cockles, winkles and mussels set in jelly, with chilled pea and mint soup, and with cauliflower salad served with a contrasting hot anchovy sauce.

When I did some work there with the chef a few years ago, one of his dishes was a roasted whole cod, served cold with a herb-garden mayonnaise and new potatoes.

Salmon is excellent preparedin the same way, as is any large fish; try it with dentici, for example.

A glass of Pimms would precede such a meal beautifully. But perhaps you might opt for homemade lemonade, or a powerful Martini.

Citrus Martini

(Serves 2 or 3)

100ml lemon vodka
1 tbsp Cointreau
1 tbsp lemon juice

Garnish:
Twist of lemon zest

Put the vodka, Cointreau and juice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled glass, add lemon zest and serve. In Manhattan, this is a single serving. It will do two, or even three, nicely. Then you can make another. They stay colder that way.

Chicken and melon salad with warm coriander dressing

(Serves 6)

3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 small honeydew melon
1 tbsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed
2 tbsps sesame seeds
3 tbsps sunflower or groundnut oil
1 t tbsp rice vinegar or sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1-2 tbsps fresh coriander leaves, chopped

Poach or steam the chicken for eight minutes. When cool enough to handle, slice and arrange the slices on plates, alternating with slices of melon, or put a fan of chicken slices to one side of the plate and a fan of melon slices on the other. In a small heavy frying pan, toast the coriander and sesame seeds until golden brown. Scatter them over the chicken and melon. In the same pan mix all the ingredients except the fresh coriander; bring to the boil, remove from the heat, stir in the coriander and spoon over the salad. Serve immediately. Fresh basil can replace coriander for those who do not like it.

Fajitas

(Serves 8)

1 thick piece of rump steak, weighing about 1kg
4 green or red chilli peppers
Fresh coriander leaves

Marinade:
1 large mild onion, peeled and thinly sliced
100ml pineapple juice
Juice of a lime or lemon
1 tsp each Angostura bitters and Worcester sauce
3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 or 2 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
½tsp freshly ground black pepper
½tsp Gozo salt
½tsp dried chilli flakes

To serve:
Flour tortillas, iceberg lettuce, sour cream, salsa, guacamole

Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade. Slash the meat two or three times on each side and put it in a shallow bowl with the marinade. Leave for two to four hours.

Heat the grill or griddle. Reserving the marinade, remove the meat from it and pat it dry. Grill the steak on both sides until done to your liking. Grill the peppers until charred. When cool enough to handle, skin them, cut them in half, remove the seeds and shred the flesh finely.

You might like to wear thin rubber gloves when dealing with the chillies. Slice the meat thinly across the grain, mix with some of the peppers and with a little of the reserved marinade, first boiled up for about 10 minutes and strained through a sieve. Transfer the meat to a serving platter, garnished with fresh coriander and the rest of the peppers.

Serve with warm flour tortillas, shredded lettuce, sour cream and guacamole, letting everyone assemble their own tortillas, not forgetting the final element, a spoonful of salsa.

This dish of sliced grilled meat, fajitas, is also extremely good when made with duck breasts. Cook them with the skin on, but remove the skin before you slice and serve the meat.

Cook’s note: pineapple juice, because of its enzymes, is excellent for tenderising meat, much better than wine, which draws out too much liquid, thus making the meat drier when cooked.