Brussels is experiencing an unusually warm summer and this is not an overstatement: temperatures have been around 30 degrees Celsius for weeks now. I have vowed never to complain about the weather being too warm and I’m not about to start now. I love it. I might be constantly sweaty and inappropriately dressed for the office, but I don’t really care. It’s warm.

Another side effect of the heat is – at least in my case – that one is less inclined to cook and also to eat. Even thinking about turning on the oven seems slightly obscene. It is still important to get some nourishment, however, especially as I’ve been walking a lot and have started exercising again (I will update you in more detail at some later point, when it’s clear that it’s indeed a sustainable development. In real life, I’ve not been able to shut up about it.)

One of my favourite things to eat in these circumstances is a strawberry-mozzarella-basil salad. It’s one of those combinations I came up with on my own (and was very proud of it, too!), but has surely been ‘invented’ hundreds of times before. It is obviously a variation of the classic mozzarella-tomato salad that’s also a great thing to eat in summer.

There isn’t really much to making it, you just need strawberries, some buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil and balsamic vinegar. I like to use a fig-flavoured one, but that would certainly terrify food purists and is entirely a question of preference. You can add some olive oil and freshly ground pepper, if you’re so inclined. As with most extremely simple recipes, the quality of the ingredients is of paramount importance. I am generally not as evangelical about seasonal food as some other people (because I’m from Estonia where the season lasts about two hours), but I would only make this when your local strawberries are at their tastiest. Buy the best mozzarella you can find and afford. Use a balsamic vinegar you like – a traditional one from Modena is usually a safe bet.

It takes less than 10 minutes to make and is just the thing to have as a late lunch in the garden, after walking in the city and reading in the park. I’d serve this with some good white bread and a glass of Prosecco, but these are both optional.

What do you like to eat when it’s too hot to think properly, let alone cook something elaborate?

PS The salad is pictured without the vinegar, as my food photography skills are extremely mediocre to begin with and adding a brown liquid to the mix is not going to improve things, trust me.