T'is scorching hot here in the South of France and as happens when temperatures hit the 30s, my energy levels rapidly take a dive.

So what you want in the middle of the day is something easy to prepare, light on the tum and refreshing. To me this is all summed up in my Serrano ham and peach salad with creamy mozzorella cheese.

Step 1: Ingredients . . .

To make this salad you will want something similar to the following list of ingredients:

Salad leaves (peppery rocket is my first choice but use whatever is available)
Serrano or other dried ham
Ball of Mozzarella cheese (buffalo is best)
Peach or nectarine
Spring onion / scallions
Cucumber
Basil
Lemon and oil for dressing

Step 2: Assembly . . .

One of the joys of this salad is that there is nothing to cook so straight away you start assemling it on the platter. Although not essential it does work best laid out this way and not in a bowl.

So start by covering the platter with the salad leaves. If full lettice leaves then tear them up into small pieces, the idea been that all the components of the salad are roughly the same size.

Next take a ball of Mozzarella cheese and start tearing of small bit size chunks and distributing them evenly on top of the salad leaves.

Add cucumber and onion before taking a ripe peach or nectarine and break that up. If need be use a knife to halve the peach but then tear it up as you did for the Mozzarella. Do this over the platter so any juices that escape are captured.

Step 3: Salty Cured Ham . . .

Don't be frugle with the ham, it is this salty dry cured meat and the the peach that lift this dish beyond a mere salad. I always use the whole of a 100 gram / 4 ounce pack, tearing each piece into 3 or 4 pieces before dropping on top of everything else.

If you have any floating around, grab a handful of basil leaves, tear them up and drop on top once more.

Step 4: Dressing . . .

Normally I would use lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and perhaps a little white wine vinegar but we happen to have some ready made caesar dressing that I think with its saltyness from the Parmasan cheese goes really well.

So there it is, Serrano ham and peach salad. Perfect for those lazy lunches in the sun.