The last week of August is the most awkward one in the kitchen. It is still too hot to turn on the oven, and already too late for the same salad a fourth time. The answer is not a new recipe but a cold soup - and all three that follow share one rule: you make them today and eat them tomorrow.

Ajoblanco with apricots and prawns

Almonds, bread and water. That is the entire base, which is exactly why every step counts. You need 180 grams of raw peeled almonds, 80 grams of the soft inside of yesterday's bread, one small garlic clove with the germ removed, 600 millilitres of very cold water, 70 millilitres of mild olive oil and 20 millilitres of apple vinegar.

Soak the bread for ten minutes and squeeze it out. Blend it with the almonds, the garlic and part of the water for a full three minutes - no less, because the creaminess comes from the time, not from the oil. Then add the rest of the water, pour the oil in slowly in a thin stream, then the vinegar and salt. Finally pass it through a fine sieve.

Roast five ripe apricots at 190 degrees for fifteen minutes and puree them with a little oil, a few drops of lemon and a pinch of salt. Sear twelve large prawns briefly. Serve cold, with the prawns on top and dots of the apricot cream.

Watermelon and pink tomato gazpacho

Here the ratio is what makes the difference: 300 grams of watermelon to 700 grams of ripe pink tomatoes. More watermelon and you get juice, not soup.

Add half a cucumber, a quarter of a red pepper, a quarter of a garlic clove, 35 grams of soaked bread, 35 millilitres of olive oil and 10 millilitres of sherry vinegar. Blend it all for two to three minutes, the salt and vinegar go in at the end, and the oil goes in last while the blender is running - that is when the emulsion forms and the soup will not separate in the fridge.

A minimum of two hours chilling. Serve with cubes of cucumber and watermelon and mint leaves.

Cold beetroot and yoghurt cream

The quickest of the three, and the hardest to get the colour right if the beetroot has not been cooked properly. You need 500 grams of cooked beetroot, 300 grams of unsweetened Greek yoghurt, half a cucumber, half a small onion, one garlic clove, two tablespoons of olive oil, the juice of half a lemon and a teaspoon of chopped dill.

Everything goes into the blender for two to three minutes. If it is too thick, add cold water gradually - not all at once, because there is no going back. Two hours in the fridge. On top: spoonfuls of yoghurt, cubes of beetroot and cucumber, toasted pistachios and dill.

The rule that ties all three together

All three are better on the second day. That is not advice about patience - it is chemistry: flavours bind in the cold and the texture thickens. If you are cooking for guests on Saturday, the soup gets made on Friday evening and on Saturday you only take it out and garnish it.

And one more thing. Not one of the three recipes has an ingredient you cannot find in an ordinary shop in August. Tomato, watermelon, beetroot, yoghurt, almonds, cucumber. Nothing exotic, nothing that has to be ordered in. Just cold water, time and a little order in the work.