Hot Weather Cooking Ideas
I'm in the east, but I'm posting this for our friends in the western half of the country. The heat wave sounds very difficult, to say the least.
Years ago when we were undergoing a heat wave, I did some research on ways to enjoy food without heating up the kitchen. I'm copying and pasting my file so that maybe some of these ideas can be used. The ideas are from a readers at a culinary site.
At the end of this post are links to some sites that have articles on cooking without heating up the kitchen too much.
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Bacon-tomato sandwiches, definitely.
Nachos. So unhealthy, but I make them with lots of chopped jalapeno and fresh tomato in addition to the salsa and cheese. Ummmm, jalapenos.
I also will make chilled noodle dishes based on ramen or soba noodles - it only takes two minutes to cook the noodles, i toss some veggies in with the noodles to blanch (bok choy, broccoli) or add fresh at the end (bean sprouts) and then mix with a sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce viniagrette with a little Thai chili sauce added. Requires a minimum of heat to make and is quite refreshing.
Greens (I suggest romaine and lettuce), walnuts, thinly sliced apples, cucumbers, and goat cheese. Put it in a wrap if you want it to be more substantial/convenient. One of my favorites everrr.
Or you could try making your own hummus, or muhammara--more of a dip than a meal, but hey...
Cold meals can be the best:
-homemade sushi rolls
-Tuna salad wraps with spinach and tomatoes.
-mesculun salad with spinach pears and goat cheese
-shrimp cocktail and your favorite soup (hot or cold) ie butternut squash, carrot ginger, mushrool barley.
Break out the grill and the possibilities are endless:
Protein-shrimp, chicken, lean burgers, saugsage, chicken, steak.
Lay out rolls, tortillas, wraps, mixed salad
Sides- deli or homemade potato salad, macaroni salad, cole slaw, cousous, tabbouleh, baked beans, corn on the cob.
Maybe some frozen margaritas to accompany.
Cold meals can be the best:
-homemade sushi rolls
-Tuna salad wraps with spinach and tomatoes.
-mesculun salad with spinach pears and goat cheese
-shrimp cocktail and your favorite soup (hot or cold) ie butternut squash, carrot ginger, mushrool barley.
Break out the grill and the possibilities are endless:
Protein-shrimp, chicken, lean burgers, saugsage, chicken, steak.
Lay out rolls, tortillas, wraps, mixed salad
Sides- deli or homemade potato salad, macaroni salad, cole slaw, cousous, tabbouleh, baked beans, corn on the cob.
Maybe some frozen margaritas to accompany.
Grapes. Sliced oranges. Sliced cantaloupe and watermelon.
Glass of lemon tea or ice water with a slice of lemon and lime.
Buy a rotisserie chicken and tear it apart to make chicken salad with low fat mayo, sliced grapes and chopped walnuts. Layer this over greens or make a sandwich with foccacia and have the greens on the side. Yum...
The tomatoes are starting to arrive at the Farmer's Market...Caprese salad, yum!
Also maybe a cold salad made with a quick cooking grain, like tabbouleh?
rosezilla at 7:27PM on 05/15/08
Vegetables and fruits! Eat anything that's fresh and in season, just wash and chop, and season, and cook lightly if at all. That's what your body needs in the summer to prevent dehydration - lots of food-based water and vitamins.
During hot weather, I eat a lot of frozen yogurt (I make my own with fat-free yogurt and very little sugar) and fruit sorbet. It really helps me stay cool.
butterface at 10:48PM on 05/15/08
in the summers my mom used to make this great salad with just cucumbers, tomatoes, dill, lemon juice and some salt and pepper...so light and refreshing! good by itself or with some cream cheese or yogurt and pita.
billyburgwife at 2:10PM on 05/16/08
gazpacho or ceviche are nice options when it's hot outside...especially if they are a bit spicy. the sweat from the spice will cool you off.
puppychao at 11:04PM on 05/17/08
watermelon, feta and mint salads, cold peanut noodle dishes, grilled jerk chicken, spring rolls, pita and yogurt sauces, greek salads, goat cheese and grape salads, mojitos...
lesliepariseau at 12:14PM on 05/19/08
Pasta Salad - (cook the macaroni in am when it's cooler) - add garbanzo beans, onion/scallion, carrots, green pepper, radishes, etc. - keep it vegetarian, or add pieces of cooked chicken, tuna, cut-up deli ham or salami - whatever you like or have on hand. then add favorite dressing, e.g., lite balsamic vinaigrette, ceasar, or italian. if you make the whole pound (13.25 oz. now), you'll have enough for a couple of days.
Gazpacho.
Panzanella--Italian bread salad made with day-old artisan bread, good tomatoes, basil, cukes, red onion, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Get some smoked fish (salmon, trout, whitefish) and make a fish mousse with cream cheese, unsalted butter, shallot, lemon peel and a little dill or parsley. Spread on baguette, pumpernickel or melba toast.
Fruit smoothies -- ripe fruit, yogurt, sugar and ice cubes.
Make farmer salad with chopped raw veggies (cuke, scallion, celery, carrot, radish, tomato), mixed into cottage cheese and yogurt or sour cream. Eat with fresh rye bread.
I've been enjoying good tapenade on crusty, toasted French bread baguette.
I'm not the biggest fan, but Crostini might be good with some fresh tomato, garlic, basil, mozzarella, etc.
Gazpacho. You can throw all the ingredients in a blender and have a dinner/starter in minutes. The texture suffers a little compared to the hand-chopped version, but it's still tasty. You can make croutons in the toaster if you like. Toast bread, rub with garlic, drizzle with oil, cut into bite-sized morsels and sprinkle on soup.
Nicoise Salad: Use solid packed white tuna, in water if your being healthy, or in oil if you're feeling decadent. Steam some new potatoes and green beans. Add a handful of nicoise olives (kalamata olives are a good substitute). Capers are nice in this dish, too. Some people add chopped hardboiled egg. Toss with a classic vinaigrette.
Smoothies: My favorite smoothies have four key elements: dairy, fruit juice, fresh or frozen fruit, frozen banana. Vanilla yogurt and vanilla frozen yogurt work well for the dairy, as does plain old milk. Orange juice is my first choice for most kinds of smoothies because it is relatively tart and doesn't overpower the other flavors. Apple juice can be okay, but it's mostly a sweetener that adds little flavor of its own. I've heard good things about white cranberry juice, but I haven't tried it. Adding one frozen banana to a belnderful of smoothie gives wonderful texture without pronounced banana flavor, add more bananas if you want a banana flavored smoothie.
toss chopped salad greens in oil & vinegar,salt & pepper, add thinly sliced tomato & fresh herbs.
Slice some mozzarella or cheddar onto bread and toast it.
Sandwich your cool salad between the warm toasty cheese bread,and there you have it.
cold soups--cucumber, gazpacho--are a must for me
posted by ValHalla on June 21st 2010 at 12:59pm
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Love the ideas, and spring rolls is a great way to eat cold leftovers (I would never sit down to a bowl of cold left over stir fry, for example, but throw it in a spring roll wrapper and I'll gobble it up).
posted by caliH on June 21st 2010 at 1:08pm
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Love smoothies in the summer! We have trouble finishing bananas anyway, so as soon as they're ripe I sliced them up and freeze them for blender concoctions later on. Left-over pasta dishes straight from the fridge are always nice. So are sandwiches (my latest fave is avocado, tomato, basil, and olive tapenade on baguette). Lately I've been into crackers with organic cheddar cheese and tomato. And juice mixed with water or seltzer and lots of ice is a nice, easy pick-me-up.
posted by Sarita on June 21st 2010 at 1:36pm
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Oh and cold tofu! I learned this easy recipe from my sister: cube drained tofu (not silken) and toss in a sealed container with a little soy sauce and sesame oil and perhaps a bit of chili-garlic sauce. Let marinate in the fridge for a short while and then snack away!
posted by Sarita on June 21st 2010 at 1:42pm
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During the summer my dinner consists of plain yogurt, granola, and berries at least once a week. Satisfying, nutritionally sound, no heat and minimal effort required.
posted by michelleb on June 21st 2010 at 1:45pm
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Frozen peas. There the perfect snack when you want something cold but not sweet.
I prefer mine after they've sat out on the counter and defrosted a bit.
posted by noixtoc on June 21st 2010 at 1:51pm
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put some tajin on that watermelon, some lime (or lemons) and you got 9 & 7 down!
And if you can't find tajin at your grocery store, pico de gallo chili powder packs more punch and less sweetness than tajin
posted by powwlita on June 21st 2010 at 2:13pm
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You missed the whole salad category! We've been living on caprese salad for the last few weeks - it never, ever gets old.
And we've been making taco salad at once a week.
posted by tasterspoon on June 21st 2010 at 2:42pm
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once a week.
(We often make it using vegetarian bean chili.)
posted by tasterspoon on June 21st 2010 at 2:44pm
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My fixes come out worse than my original comments. "At least" once a week. I'm done now.
posted by tasterspoon on June 21st 2010 at 2:45pm
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Hot one today here, my cold plate supper was perfect:
Hummus, pita bits, melon balls from a c'lope, slice of deli tukey rolled up finger-food style, and sliced cukes. Just a couple bites of each, perfecto.
posted by 1790_house on June 21st 2010 at 8:55pm
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I'm going to make a gazpacho sorbet when the tomatoes come in. Because I am awesome.
Ceviche is great for hot weather. Hurrah for cooking with acid!
Spring rolls and lettuce wraps are a summer staple for me and now salads too since I've got so many leafies in the garden. In summer I'm happy to subsist on raw crisp moist wonders fresh from our little patch of dirt or the farmers market.
Ah the bounty of summer...
posted by MaryWynn on June 21st 2010 at 8:55pm
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Watermelon watermelon watermelon! I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday for the rest of my life. There is NOTHING more satisfying than eating a slice of watermelon ... or two ... or the whole thing!
posted by goje on June 22nd 2010 at 3:29pm
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There is NO such thing as too hot to eat! 
or if there is, I wish I had it. Summer eating could be a new style of diet... I like to drink hot tea on a hot day -- I think it is more refreshing than an iced drink! Yeah, I know, crazy!!
posted by emel3srk on June 22nd 2010 at 3:45pm
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Cherries! And the great mint ice cream sandwiches from Trader Joe's. Popsicles from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Lots of watermelon.
posted by Sydney on June 22nd 2010 at 10:46pm
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Tabouleh!
posted by magzeen on June 23rd 2010 at 2:03pm
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homemade popsicles are the best, and if you use your smoothie recipe they can be awesomely healthy, too.
posted by kahlil19107 on June 24th 2010 at 1:26pm
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I agree with a comment above-- chilled soups!
This week I have been living off cucumber-feta-mint salad, as well as avocado-tomato-cheddar melt sandwiches, which requires only a few minutes in the toaster just to melt the cheese on the bread. Then add avo and tom, salt and pepper and bada bing.
posted by Miss Bucky C on June 24th 2010 at 5:03pm
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Cold marinated baby eggplant with fresh herbs; Greek-style yogurt with honey or olive oil and herbs; Caprese salad; butter pecan ice cream; iced coffee; chardonnay spritzer with strawberries; yellow fin tuna in olive oil with cannellini bean salad...
posted by aychihuahua on June 24th 2010 at 5:29pm
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watermelon ice cream ..... hmm yummy, very fresh for the summer
posted by samberinger82 on June 24th 2010 at 9:38pm
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i also vote for gazpacho! make a big batch and keep it in the fridge, pure pleasure when it's hot.
another summer fave is melon with raw ham (e.g. cantaloupe and parma ham). and carpaccio... if you can buy it sliced from the butcher, it's quick and easy.
one other thing - cold ratatouille. in the south of france, people eat it cold in summer with a quarter lemon on the side as an appetizer, it's delish.
posted by juliadevi on June 25th 2010 at 5:10pm
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What about cold sandwiches and wraps, pasta salads, and slaws?
Links:
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/recipe-roundup/beat-the-heat-7-recipes-for-right-now-121360
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/summer/10-things-to-eat-even-when-its-too-hot-to-do-so-120032
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/salad/cool-summer-recipe-soba-noodles-with-wilted-bok-choy-118882
Cher
= new reply since forum marked as read
I love cold soups. Also sliced tomatoes just with salt.
And always try to keep a jug of lemonade around. We pour the extra tea in there and have ready made Arnold Palmer's available.
Stay cool, my friend!
