Lorraine Pascale’s Fast, Fresh and Easy Food

Three tasty, no-cook skinny dip numbers; great to eat with potato-skin crisps, tortilla chips or crudités such as carrots, radishes and celery. You can make them all or just one or two. They can all be made ahead of time for stress-free snacking!

Time from start to finish (for all three): 15 minutes (about 5 minutes each)

Equipment: 2 medium bowls, scissors, colander, blender

Tuna & crème fraîche dip with black pepper

Makes: about 225g

185g or 200g tin of tuna in spring water

75g half- or full-fat crème fraîche

A few fresh chives

¼ lime (or lemon)

Teeny squidge of honey (optional)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Hummus with cumin & paprika

Makes: about 350g

400g tin of chickpeas

100g half- or full-fat crème fraîche

2 tsp cumin powder

Extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove

¼ lime (or lemon)

A good pinch of paprika

A few fresh coriander or flat leaf parsley leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Avocado, chilli & chive dip

Makes: about 275g

2 ripe avocados

1 small red chilli

A few fresh chives

1 lime (or lemon)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Tuna & créme fraîche dip with black pepper

+ Drain the tuna well, squeezing out as much of the water as possible. Place in a medium bowl, add the crème fraîche and then snip in the chives using scissors. Mix together well and season to taste with salt, pepper and a good squeeze of lime (or lemon) juice. Add a little honey to sweeten, if liked, also. Spoon into a serving bowl to serve.

Hummus with cumin & paprika

+ Drain the chickpeas, rinse well and then tip them into a blender (I find a stick blender brilliant). Add the crème fraîche, cumin and a drizzle of oil, then peel and add the garlic clove. Season well with salt and pepper and blitz until fairly smooth. Check the seasoning, adjusting if necessary, add a squeeze of lime (or lemon) juice and then blitz again briefly. Spoon into a serving bowl, sprinkle the paprika on top, rip over some coriander or parsley leaves and serve.

Avacado, chilli & chive dip

+ Cut the avocados in half, discard the stones and then scoop out the flesh into a medium bowl. Deseed and finely slice the chilli and add. Then, using scissors, snip in the chives. Mash everything up until fairly smooth, season to taste with a good amount of salt and pepper and squeeze in the lime (or lemon) juice. Spoon into a serving bowl to serve.

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Lemoncello jello shots (#ulink_2c6505c7-921e-591f-bdfe-77ddfc013317)

Remove these sassy sunshine slices from the freezer or fridge an hour or so before you want to use them so they soften slightly before eating. Of course, these can be made for the kiddies, but for adults I like to add 150ml of lovely, luscious limoncello (#u9d6f52e0-752e-54c9-989b-411db795dac1) to 350ml of water. No need to heat it; just dissolve the jelly in boiling water, add the gelatine leaves, then finish with the limoncello and sugar.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Setting time: 30 minutes in the freezer (or 1 hour in the fridge)

Makes: 20–28 (depending on the size of lemons used)

Equipment: Kettle, small wide bowl, large tray or 12-hole muffin tin, heatproof measuring jug

Seven 6.5 × 11.5cm or eight 7.5 × 11cm leaves of gelatine

7 medium or 5 big lemons

135g pack of lemon jelly

400ml hot water

Couple of small drops of lemon essence (optional)

1 tbsp caster sugar

+ Put the kettle on to boil. Then put the gelatine leaves into a small wide bowl, cover them with cold water and set aside to soften.

+ Cut the lemons in half lengthways and, using a spoon, scoop out the juicy flesh. It takes a bit of wiggling and getting squirted by the juice, but you will get there! The trick is not to break through the skin. (You don’t need the flesh here, but afterwards I like to squeeze the juice out and freeze it in an ice-cube tray for handy lemon juice needs at other times.)