Summer food for friends? We're the home chef's best friend!

We all know the feeling, don't we? It's Saturday, and we're expecting friends for dinner. Or it's Sunday, the sun is shining - so it's perfect for a family barbecue. You certainly don't want to slave over pudding, which is where our tried-and-trusted recommendations come in.

We are planning to start a recipe collection of our favourite ideas, and to get you started, here are three very easy ideas for gourmet treats without tears. Oh, and if you have favourite ways of serving Minghella ice cream or sorbet that you would like to share, please do let us know, won't you?

Poached Peach Melba for 4

Ingredients 4 ripe peaches

100mls white wine
100mls water
75gms caster sugar
250gms Raspberries
50gms icing sugar
500mls Our Famous Vanilla Ice Cream
500mls Raspberry Ripple Romance Ice Cream

Dissolve the caster sugar completely in the water and then bring to the boil. Allow to boil rapidly for a couple of minutes, then lower the heat to simmering and add the wine. You can leave this to simmer gently while you prepare the peaches. Start by washing the skins or, if you are feeling up to it, you can remove the skins at this stage by immersing them briefly in boiling water and then carefully peeling them away. Halve them neatly and remove the stones. Place them, cut side up, in a shallow baking dish and pour the hot, winey syrup over them before baking in a medium oven until tender.

To make the melba sauce, just wash the raspberries and pass them through a sieve into a jug. Stir the icing sugar into this wonderfully tangy puree, adding a little more if you find it too sharp.

To serve, place two juicy halves per person with their delicious cooking juices in a pretty glass bowl, add one scoop each of your fabulous Minghella ice creams and pour over a generous drizzle of sauce. (If you feel particularly extravagant and really want to spoil your adult guests, you could always add a splash of Raspberry Liqueur - and serve a tiny glass alongside to enhance what is already a memorable dessert. It's one of those moments in life when gilding the lily isn't a bad thing at all!)

A trio of fruit sorbets: totally delicious, beautiful on the plate and completely satisfying (shhh - also fat-free and very easy to make!)

For this stylish, simple and utterly delectable dessert, you need three sorbets of different colours - choose from Raspberry, Blackcurrant, Fruits of the Forest, Strawberry Kiss or Pink Grapefruit for rosy tones; Kiwi, Green Apple, or Lime for green; Mediterranean Orange, Mango Alfonso or Passion Fruit for orangey shades; Sicilian Lemon or Pear William are close to white in colour.

For 4 - 5 people, buy one tub of each of your chosen flavour. Arrange one scoop of each flavour on your most stylish dessert plates or pile them into your prettiest dessert glasses. Decorate, if you like, with a sprinkling of icing sugar or a mint leaf, but it really doesn't need that to be fabulous - in fact, I've been known to place the open tubs on the table and pass round the scoop to my guests, and I suggest that, when the occasion permits, you do exactly the same...

(By the way, never known to be a purist, I do have a real weakness for a combination of vanilla ice cream and any and all sorbets. Somehow, the velvety ice cream complements the tanginess of the sorbet and each makes the other more delicious. Try it!)

The Minghella Classic Cherries Jubilee

This is the Minghella version of a traditional ice cream sundae, with a decadent, boozy sauce. One for adults only, but oh so delicious. (Igniting the sauce at the end isn't essential, but it looks very impressive! Just take care.)

Ingredients for 4 people

250g canned stoned black cherries - drain the can and reserve the juice.
2 level teaspoons of arrowroot
The juice of half a lemon
100mls brandy (or you can use Kirsch if you prefer)

Blend the arrowroot with the black cherry juice and heat it gently, stirring constantly, in a small saucepan until boiling and clear. Stir in the cherries and the lemon juice and heat until warm.

Pour the sauce into a warmed sauceboat or jug. Warm the brandy slightly and then pour the warm spirit over the sauce. Carefully light immediately with a match.

This is usually served with Vanilla ice cream, but you could try it with our Gold Award winning Black Cherries with Kirsch ice cream. Or do as I do and serve both...