The two fruits that say summer for me more than any other are peaches and field tomatoes. The greengrocers are piled high with them at the moment, and I like to buy my fair share.

I always know when the Maltese field tomato season is in full swing when I see trucks laden with crates of them lumbering up Xemxija Hill on their way to the Gozo canning factory with another bumper crop.

We get plenty of good tomatoes from greenhouses all through the year, but field tomatoes just seem to be that much juicier. The only downside is their tougher skins, but they’re easily peeled if you find them hard going.

My second tomato recipe is so simple, hardly a recipe at all really, and something of a moveable feast. You can use ciabatta instead of ftira, you can use mozzarella or ricotta instead of ġbejniet and you can replace the pesto with Maltese stukku with artichokes.

Sometimes I also add rocket, which makes a substantial snack or lunch, or cut into smaller pieces for a tasty nibble with drinks.

As for peaches, we have both imported and local ones to choose from, so I tend to cook with the imported ones and save the local ones for the fruit bowl. Also, this year there seem to be more of the delicious ‘flat’ peaches about than usual.

In spring I made strawberry jam using jam sugar, so I thought I’d give it a go with peaches. A kilo of chopped fruit, the juice of a large lemon and a kilo of jam sugar boiled together, set in no time. It is quite delicious and I used some to glaze my peachy pie.

Although the size of my pie serves four quite generously, it’s also a bit of a moveable feast in that you can increase the amount of pastry and peaches to make a bigger one, or you can make itty-bitty individual ones.

I recently tried a recipe for an upside-down peach cake I saw in a magazine. Although it looked and tasted nice, it needed a bit more ‘oomph’. So I then made two sponges, one with peaches and one without, and sandwiched them together with a filling of mascarpone and chopped peaches.

Much better – and plenty of oomph! The recipe will make a 23cm cake but I just made a small one for the photo, otherwise we’d be eating peach pie and cake forever.

Easy-peasy peach pie

(Serves 4)

150g plain flour
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp icing sugar
80g butter
1 egg, separated
3 large ripe peaches
2 tsps lemon juice
2 tbsps sugar, plus extra for dusting
1 tbsp cornflour

Sift the flour, salt and icing sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter. Mix to a dough with the egg yolk and a tablespoon of iced water if necessary. Knead lightly, then wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 190˚C. Halve and stone the peaches and slice them into a bowl. Add the lemon juice and toss until the peaches are coated. Mix the sugar and cornflour together and stir them into the peaches.

On a lightly-floured surface, roll out the pastry to a circle approximately 30cm in diameter, then transfer it to a large baking sheet. Pile the peaches in the middle of the circle, leaving a border of about 5cm, then carefully fold the excess pastry up around the sides of the fruit, making sure there are no gaps for the juices to escape. Brush the pastry with the egg white and sprinkle it with extra sugar.

Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes until the pastry is golden and the fruit is tender. Slide the tart on to a wire rack to cool, then transfer it to a serving plate and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Tomato and ġbejniet ftiras

2 ftiras
Extra virgin olive oil
4 fresh ġbejniet
Pesto sauce
4 large plum tomatoes, peeled if preferred
Salt and pepper
A few small basil leaves to garnish

Split the ftiras in two and toast the cut sides until lightly browned, then brush them generously with olive oil.

Slice the ġbejniet horizontally into about four or five pieces, divide them between the ftiras and spread a teaspoon or two of pesto on to each one.

Slice the tomatoes fairly thickly and arrange them on top of the cheeselets, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Put them under a hot grill for a few minutes until bubbling, then scatter over some basil leaves.

They’re nice served as a fairly substantial snack or lunch, or cut them into smaller pieces and serve with drinks.

Peach upside down cake

250g self-raising flour
1½ tsps baking powder
250g softened butter or soft margarine
250g caster sugar, plus 3 tbsp extra
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 peaches
250g tub mascarpone
Icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 190˚C and line the bases of two 23-centimetre sandwich cake tins with non-stick baking paper.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter, caster sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Using an electric whisk on slow speed, beat everything together until amalgamated, then turn up the speed and whisk for two minutes.

Halve, stone and slice three of the peaches and toss them with a tablespoon of the extra sugar, then arrange the slices in the bottom of one of the cake tins. Cover with half of the sponge mixture, spreading it gently over the peaches.

Put the rest of the cake mix into the second tin. Bake the plain cake for about 20 to 25 minutes until golden and springy to the touch, and bake the cake with the peaches for about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Halve and stone the remaining peach and chop one-half. Beat the mascarpone with the rest of the sugar and stir in the chopped peach. Turn out the cakes, put the plain one on to a serving plate and spread it with the mascarpone mixture, then gently sit the peach cake on top.

Slice the remaining peach half and decorate the top. Dust with icing sugar, then serve on its own or with whipped cream or ice cream.