Hot, lazy days, hot spicy food, and a bank holiday at the end of it all: it's time to enjoy some `last of the summer' entertaining

I love this time of year. It needs just a few hot days to remind me of being back in Bangkok and Singapore, Marrakesh and Colombo, making me want to get out the spices and chillies. For me, spicy food with a chilli-bite is even more refreshing in hot weather than plates of salad and chilled soups, pleasant though they are. I even like chillies for breakfast, sliced and gently fried with some spring onions and then folded into creamy scrambled eggs, around which I wrap a warm tortilla. I came to appreciate these staying at the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, where chef Dean Fearing knows a thing or two about chillies.

This weather also makes me think of one late summer we spent in Paris, and most evenings would find us sitting over a platter of couscous royale somewhere on the Left Bank, alternating mouthfuls of grilled merguez with warm bread dipped into the vegetable juices mingled with fiery harissa, the red chilli sauce of Tunisia.

Local seasonal stars
But if your thoughts are turning to home produce, then now is the time to make the most of wild salmon and sea trout, as it finishes at the end of this month. Red mullet and sea bass, too, from Cornish waters, are still plentiful and plump. Small red mullet are lovely on the barbecue and the larger ones, along with the sea bass, can be wrapped in foil and baked in the oven; put a handful of herbs, some lemon zest and a splash of Noilly Prat or other dry vermouth in the parcel before it goes into the oven.

Pick-your-own farms are working overtime, and if you like to freeze fruit for the winter or make jams and jellies, this is as good a time as any to do it, with raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries and black and redcurrants all plentiful. Or you might make one or two extra summer puddings in plastic pudding basins to store in the freezer for a winter treat.

Home-grown cucumbers and tomatoes are full of flavour and make delicious uncooked chilled soups. I make one with cucumber, blending it with mint, a little salt and buttermilk and floating a few peeled prawns on top before serving. Use tomatoes, cucumber, garlic and green peppers, together with bread and sherry vinegar in one of the most summery soups imaginable: a chunky, refreshing gazpacho.

Pick up new products
There are a few new products on the market to spice up the dog days of summer, including Chipotle pepper sauce from Tabasco, a deliciously smoky power pack. I still like their Jalapeno, the green one, however, as much as any I have tasted.

Dona Maria is a well-known label in Mexico, producing authentic Mexican products, which they refer to as Mex-Mex, not Tex-Mex, and they are beginning to find their way into the shops here. Not just the tortillas, salsas and refried beans; you will also find jars of pickled cactus, jalapenos and cuitlacoche. This last is a real delicacy, best described as a fungus or mushroom that grows symbiotically with sweetcorn. But when you think fungus, think truffle, not mould, for it is certainly as precious to Mexicans as black truffles are to the French, and used in all manner of refined dishes and as a garnish to others.

The company called Seasoned Pioneers also has some new spice mixes, including Tunisian Tabil, Caribbean BBQ Jerk Rub and Chinese Sichuan Salt, amongst many others. The deliciously fragrant Moroccan ras el hanout is not to be missed. They have an excellent website, stacks of recipes and their list of products to order online at www.seasonedpioneers.co.uk. A wide range is also stocked in 357 Sainsbury's stores as well as delicatessens and other specialist food outlets.

Heat warning!
How hot to make the chilli component of a recipe is a matter of personal taste. But do not assume you have the same tolerance for chilli as the writer of the recipe, especially if the writer comes from a culture where chilli is used daily. My advice is to taste as you go.

Chillies need to be treated with respect. If in doubt as to what kind of chilli you are using, assume it is a hot one until it proves otherwise. Remove all the seeds and veins, which are the hottest part of the plant. Do not touch eyes or mouth after you have touched a chilli, and thoroughly wash hands and utensils after use. Capsaicin, the essential oil in chilli, is very volatile and induces powerful burning sensations where it comes into contact with soft or broken tissue. However, do not let all that put you off experimenting with these colourful and explosive fruits, more and more varieties of which are available in greengrocers, specialist shops and supermarkets.

Tom's wine recommendation
Lager is not the only partner for chilli hot food, and it certainly does not provide the answer for too hot a mouthful. For that, you need lassi, a mild yoghurt drink. But to really enjoy chilli and spices, the secret is not to overdo it, keep it subtle, as in Frances? recipes, and that way you can enjoy some decent wine.

The more we eat food prepared with chilli, the more convinced we are that there is one particular style of wine that suits it to near perfection. Forget about fruity young red wines and wines with soft tannins, forget about the often recommended 'spicy' Alsace Gewurztraminer and the New World Chardonnays loaded with tropical fruit.

Instead, match hot food with cold wine. And match the prickle of chilli on your taste buds with the prickle of carbon dioxide bubbles. California sparkling wine, Cava, Cap Classique from South Africa, sparkling `methode traditionelle' from Australia and the Loire and elsewhere, non-vintage supermarket Champagnes at home, and house Champagnes in restaurants are excellent with chilli-based food, whether Indian, Thai, Moroccan, or their fusion offspring. Good food from these regions does not rely for effect on the sledgehammer of large doses of chilli, but the subtle combination of spices, of which chilli is but one.

So for this month's menu, I recommend a good bubbly right through the meal, as simple as that.