Whilst having lunch with my daughter over this past summer, she was bemoaning the fact that she couldn’t get a decent Iced Coffee, they were all too milky. This set me thinking about the best Iced Coffee I was regularly served when labouring for my cousins during my student days. Icy black coffee with vanilla ice cream, that’s all, just so simple, but perfect.

During this summer I have been making granitas, a refreshing treat on the hottest days. It wasn’t a hard stretch of imagination to make a coffee granita and serve the icy granules over sour cream ice cream.

Granitas are fantastic, no ice cream churn, just a shallow tray, a lightly sweetened fruit puree or coffee. Freeze this for an hour, then fork the freezing crystals into the centre and repeat at 30 minute intervals, until you have an icy slurry. Should you have a frozen mass, let it defrost and repeat the freezing process.

Try a yellow nectarine granita before they and the summer disappear.

As I organise myself to make my last batch of Quince Paste for the season, I wonder who eats the Quince paste? During my years of working boardrooms and catering I've unfortunately seen so much quince paste that's been thrown out, the least consumed element of a cheeseplatter. Even more disappointing when one has made it oneself, a true labour of love.

From the defuzzing of the surface down, peeling and coring, cooking the quinces until they collapse and become a puree. Then the dangerous and arduous task of cooking the puree and sugar as it becomes a molten and volatile explosive lava flow that all so slowly changes to a beautiful cornelian hue.

Each year despite my use of protective gear - glasses, gardening gloves (that have never seen a garden) - I always manage to bear battle scars. The worst a molten hit to an eyelid, hence the glasses.

Despite this, each year when I see quinces I'm compelled to make quince paste, but now I only offer it with those who share my passion for quince paste.

This summer was the year of the Apricot Souffle. With a bounty of Moor Park apricots to use, there is only so much jam and poached fruit one can consume before one calls enough, but not soufflés.

I poached the apricots in a 50/50 sugar syrup and vanilla bean – pureed the fruit, then reduced the puree slowly to intensify the flavour and used this as the base for my soufflés. (1 egg per person plus an extra white, sugar to taste). Nothing else is required, well maybe a little cream or vanilla ice cream.