Cannelloni is a winter dish. Baked, with béchamel, with minced meat, pulled out of the oven in January. Summer wipes it off the menu because nobody has the will to fire up an oven at thirty-five degrees. The problem is not the dish - it is that everyone assumes cannelloni means oven.

It does not. The pasta is boiled, cooled in ice water, dried with a cloth and filled. Not one degree of oven. And if you want to go further, you do not need the pasta sheet at all - courgette, avocado or mango sliced on a mandoline do the same job and hold together better.

Cold cannelloni with tuna and fresh tomato sauce

The filling is flaked tuna, cream cheese, mayonnaise, lemon juice and spring onion. The sauce is what makes the dish: fresh tomato, Italian green pepper, grated garlic, olive oil and lemon juice, all mixed cold. That is a contrast no béchamel can deliver in July.

Avocado cannelloni with white beans and hazelnuts

Slice the avocado lengthwise on a mandoline, then lay four or five overlapping slices to form a single sheet. Inside go white beans mixed with finely chopped red pepper, spring onion, grated garlic, olive oil and lime juice. Toasted hazelnuts and a little olive oil on top. If you are making these ahead, brush the avocado with lemon juice - otherwise it browns and the whole look goes in the bin.

Courgette cannelloni with lentils and avocado

Slice the courgette thinly, salt it and leave it for ten minutes, then pat it dry. If it is still too firm to roll, dip it in boiling water for twenty seconds and straight into iced water. The filling is cooked brown lentils blended with avocado, spring onion, lime juice, olive oil and coriander or parsley. The sauce is a corn purée with olive oil and lemon. Crushed popcorn goes on top, but only just before serving - a minute early and it softens.

Sweet mango cannelloni with ricotta and blueberries

Slice the mango on a mandoline, and inside goes ricotta mixed with honey, vanilla and grated lemon zest, plus fresh blueberries. Caramelised walnuts on top. Same shape, same plate, but it is dessert. If you have guests and want something that looks like you laboured all day, this is it.

The things that make all four work

The mandoline is not an affectation - without it the slices come out uneven and tear when you roll them. The fruit has to be ripe but firm; an overripe avocado will not hold its shape. The filling must be well drained, otherwise water leaks onto the plate. And the rule that applies to every summer dish: assemble ahead, but add the sauce and anything crunchy at the last moment.

This country has a long tradition of dishes eaten cold, from tarator to Russian salad. Cannelloni has simply joined the family.