These nectarines are very quick to make and you can just as easily use peaches of course. If you have any elderly fruit that needs using up, this is a good way to cook them.

You can grill the nectarines, you can fry them, or you can very successfully barbecue them.

This goes really well with vanilla ice cream – go here for a really easy, no-machine way of making your own. Go here for a guide to buying ready-made. What also goes well over the ice cream is a drizzle of elderflower cordial.

To convert this into something dairy-free substitute the shortbread for dukkah or for granola; and the butter for walnut oil.

Recipe for grilled and filled nectarines

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 large nectarine
• 1 shortbread biscuit (go here for how to make your own shortbread)
• 6 candied pecans and/or almonds
• knob of butter
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• lavender flowers – about ten (the individual tiny florets, not the whole head). Or you can use thyme flowers.
• slosh of rum or whisky

Method

1. Cut the nectarine in half and take out the stone.
2. If you are frying, then add a knob of butter to the pan and fry for about five minutes, cut side down until the cut side starts to turn golden. If you’re grilling add a small knob of butter into the hollow left by the stone, and grill cut side up, under the grill.
3. If you are using rum or whisky, warm this.
4. Meanwhile chop up the biscuit and the nuts and mix together.
5. When the nectarine is done, drop the biscuit-nut mix into the central hollow, add another, very small knob of butter, drizzle with honey, and if using alcohol.
6. Garnish with the lavender or thyme flowers – NB – this in not just for show, they give a subtle depth of flavour.