HALLIE EPHRON: As I do not believe I need to remind anyone but I will: It’s HOT out there!! And when dinner time crawls around I’m all in for a salad. Preferably with ingredients in my refrigerator.
Yesterday I posted my recipe for a quick Orzo and tomato, basil, and fetah cheese and salad. It’s my summer’s instant mac and cheese only healthier.
Today it’s over to the Reds to chime in.
What’s your go-to summer don’t-wanna-turn-on-the-stove-or-go-to-the-store meal?
LUCY BURDETTE: since it’s summer and the farmers market is open on the Madison, Connecticut Green on Friday afternoons, I can get the feta cheese that makes a Greek salad worth everything! It’s simple, good lettuce, and arugula. (hopefully from starlight Gardens, another stop at the market), cucumbers, Calamata olives, chickpeas for extra protein, tomatoes, and red onions, if you can handle them!
Whisk up a quick vinaigrette with French mustard, good olive oil and a little vinegar and a sprinkling of oregano. That’s it! I would add a homemade biscuit from the freezer on the side or else some good bread and butter, also from the market.
RHYS BOWEN: Since we don’t have air conditioning in our house and only a few days when it’s too hot we tend to go out to eat on those occasions. But if we stay home it might be crab legs with salad and crusty bread.
Or salmon grilled on the barbecue.
Or, as an easy choice, Trader Joe’s scallops and mushrooms that take six minutes in the microwave.
JENN McKINLAY: Those are sandwich nights around here. When Hub comes home with a loaf of Chompie’s marble rye, I know he’s decided it’s too hot to cook. Thankfully, we both love pastrami and swiss on rye with a pickle and cole slaw on the side!
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: The super easy, “I don’t even want to spend more than ten minute” in the kitchen is one of those salad-in-a-bag kits with sliced cukes, cherry tomatoes and smoked turkey from the deli.
If I’m feeling a little more ambitious, I love tabbouleh. You don’t need anything else beside the chickpeas for protein, and the mint and lemon are SO refreshing.
Of course, there’s always the ultimate cook saver: pizza delivery!
DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have not been cooking much lately, and am all in on Julia’s salad train.
Most days I’m making big salads for lunch with lots of tomatoes and cukes from the farmer’s market. Dinner, some grilling (because at least you don’t heat up the kitchen and there’s not much to clean up,) some delivery, and some ready made things from the farmer’s market.
One vendor does fabulous pizza, one does meal deals with cilantro lime rice, black beans, and sour cream chicken enchiladas, as well as a fabulous chicken tetrazinni with whole wheat spaghetti. Happy to let someone else do the cooking!
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Lucy, that salad sounds amazing! I adore arugula, and love to make chicken cutlets pounded super-thin, then saute with bread crumbs til they are golden brown, then drizzle fabulous balsamic vinegar on the arugula, top weather chicken and halved tiny tomatoes with salt and pepper. Done!
(I can also make the chicken in advance in the sous vide, and it’s perfection, and takes about 30 seconds a side then to sear, but you guys hate the sous vide so I will not keep talking about it. -)
I am a big salad fan, I could eat it every day. Especially if it’s wonderful lettuce with avocados, and red and yellow peppers, and tomatoes and black olives, and bacon bits and parmesan. AND croutons since they are tiny and the carbs don’t count.
HALLIE: So what about your household--when the summer heat's on at dinnertime, are you likely to toss yourself a salad, shop the salad bar, eat out, order in, or sous vide it? (I still don't know what sous vide is.)
Generally we eat in . . . for those too hot to stand at the stove days, I'll put something together for the slow cooker [white chili is a favorite], add a tossed salad, and dinner is done . . . .
ReplyDeleteFrom Diana: We still have a slow cooker from the 1980s, Joan.
DeleteSlow cooker: great solution.
DeleteWe grill a lot in the summer, and I love throwing a few olive-oil rubbed Asian eggplants on with the chicken or fish or steak. The garden is always full of tomatoes and cukes, and sometimes I'll microwave a couple of halved potatoes and then throw together a potato salad to go with it all. That is, until sweet corn comes into the farm stands in a few weeks!
ReplyDeleteOh, and I was SO excited to pick my first Sun Gold tomatoes yesterday!
DeleteSun Gold tomatoes are the best!
DeleteSun Gold tomatoes? Will be looking for them at my farmer's market.
DeleteGold cherry tomatoes, Hallie - I've been growing them since the nineties! Candy masquerading as tomatoes...
DeleteWe grill a lot during most summers, chicken, fish, meat. We have salads almost every night and occasionally it is a dinner salad but usually it is just a side salad. Corn on the cob is a special treat and the Florida corn has been great this year. Native corn is still a month away. . If there is left over corn, I slice it off into the next day's salad. Delicious!
ReplyDeleteI make chili all year round. A favorite dinner is grilled hot dogs with chili, salad and corn on the cob. Melon, berries and summer fruits in the salads or in the desserts or both.
Local corn on the cob is a month away in Ottawa, too. That and Niagara region peaches & cherries are a tasty sign we''re in the middle of summer!
DeleteCorn makes a great chowder, too. But not what I'm craving on a hot day.
DeleteI am so happy that I can eat nightshade veggies such as tomatoes & eggplants again. But my balcony garden cherry tomatoes and Asian eggplants won't be ready to harvest for another 4-6 weeks. One plus of this cool wet June (we got over 150 mm/6 inches of rain with highs in the low 20Cs/mid 70F, except for that 4-day heat dome event) means my herbs & leafy greens such as arugula, mesculun, leaf lettuce, baby kale, pak choi did not bolt & die off. Instead they are thriving and I am getting multiple harvests.
ReplyDeleteOur weekly outdoor FM have been open from June 1. It's still prime local asparagus and Quebec strawberry season here. I also bought my first garlic scapes . Made my first garlic scape butter this year to freeze. Added a dollop to stir-fried veggies earlier this week. YUM.
Oh, I forgot to add that Quebec pate (e.g. duck with cognac, or rabbit with prunes) on artisan sourdough bread + local cukes and tomatoes is another summer meal I enjoy when it's too hot to cook.
DeleteHi Grace, it’s true that we produce good ducks and sub products in Quebec. Duck’s leftovers are very good in sandwiches and on salads. That’s what I’m having for lunch today.
DeleteDanielle
From Diana: No more Evil Squirrels?
Deletequebec pate? Going to look it up.
DeleteDIANA: It is a constant battle to protect my balcony garden from SATAN the black squirrel & his kids this year!
DeleteDANIELLE: I was sad Brome Lake Ducks had to cull their entire duck flock last spring. I am glad to see Brome Lake duck breast, foie gras and duck confit products back in our Ottawa grocery stores this year.
DeleteHALLIE: Terrine et pates at Marche Atwater in Montreal is my fave place. Here's a photo to get an idea of what their pates, mousse and terrines look like:
Deletehttps://fr.yelp.ca/biz_photos/terrines-and-p%C3%A2t%C3%A9s-montr%C3%A9al-3?select=Mev21LXQrZO1m1840M-AbA
Those salads above all sound so inviting, and thanks for the vinagrette dressing recipe, Lucy, and the reminder of tabbouleh, Julia. I haven't had that in some time, and we both really like it. For our part, when we want a quick meal, we tend to go out. Restaurants are inexpensive here, and quite a number we like are within walking distance. Walking helps us rationalize how often we do this. :-)
ReplyDeleteThese days I usually take home as much as I consume at a restaurant... which makes it slightly more cost effective.
DeleteYou miss one day here, and it could be disastrous!
ReplyDeleteHallie, thanks for mentioning your Orzo Salad recipe was on yesterday's blog. Now I know what we're having tonight.
Q: Do you think chick peas (aka garbanzos) would work with orzo, or only with couscous?
I am so amazed that you all are eating tomatoes from farmers markets already! Up here in the mountains I have tomatoes on my deck and they're just flowering! No fruit for another month or more. We've been having raw wind and rain. Yesterday I was wearing a turtleneck and sweatshirt! So, last night for our "instant dinner" we had chili, which I make in big batches and freeze in meal-size portions, and fresh cornbread, which takes two minutes to make from a mix and 20 minutes in the oven. (Selden)
ReplyDeleteA lot of us buy our tomato plants pre-fruited. Ripe sooner. Smart, freezing chili in individual portions.
DeleteIn the morning cool I've been making a quiche with Trader Joe's rosemary ham, green onions, grated swiss cheese, milk, topped with grated parmesan. I gently warm it for dinner.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds great.
DeleteYesterday, I think I misunderstood Hallie's question about how tomatoes taste in pots vs. the ground. And I agree with Pat S.--growing tomatoes in pots, say on the patio, is a great way, and no, there's no difference, as long as you use good soil. The tomatoes I was talking about came fully grown (well, about 3/5 grown), and had not been exposed to the outdoors yet, so the first tomatoes were a little bland compared to what we're getting now. Sorry for the confusion.
ReplyDeleteIn Nairobi, which is a garden city at 5,500 feet altitude with 12 hours of sun nearly every day, the most common way to grow produce is in canvas buckets filled with soil, which we would call grow bags. There are large to micro urban "farms" wherever there is a bare place to put buckets of dirt, including all along the sides of most roads. That counts as growing in pots, for sure.
Back to today's topic. I'm having girlfriends over for lunch today, so I'm making a light salad of greens, corn, black beans, and an avocado dressing, topped with cooked shrimp (bought cooked), and a chilled cherry soup. The cherries came from Traverse City, where they are now celebrating their status as the Cherry Capital of the World. My daughter brings me bags of frozen cherries to keep in the freezer. Yum.
Chilled cherry soup? I'm very intrigued, Karen.
DeletePlease, please...give us the recipe for Chilled Cherry Soup. 🍒
DeleteCherries this year have been fantastic! I know I will make it!
Chilled cherry soup!
DeleteIt's a cherry gazpacho, the recipe was on the Washington Post website last week.
DeleteAbsolute WINNER. It got rave reviews, and so did the salad. Eight of my best local girlfriends came, and they brought tasty appetizers, and sinfully good desserts.
More than likely, if it is that hot, we will just head out to Culver’s where I will order a salad and some frozen custard for dessert.
ReplyDeleteWhen a heat wave is announced, I cook a couple of potatoes and boil a couple of eggs that I keep in the fridge . On a hot day or for a picnic, I’ll prepare a good potato salad with lots of mince celery and green onion and an egg to add protein. Then I add some homemade relish, a little mayo, S&P. Miam!
ReplyDeleteIn the summer, especially on hot days, I eat salad of various vegetables like those mentioned above to which I add a bit of protein like cheese, nuts, seeds, nutritional yeast or grain like quinoa. Add a piece of multigrain bread and it completes a good meal.
Danielle
I love nutritional yeast on my salad but often forget to add it!
DeleteMaybe add a little mustard to the potato salad dressing?
DeleteI’m not a big fan of mustard. It’s the relish that gives just the acidity that it needs and the little oumph :)
DeleteDanielle
You probably don’t want to hear this but I am freezing! It is 14C (57F), and raining with a stiff wind blowing. Last night it was so cold going to bed that I got out the winter blanket and tried everything to get the dog to sleep with me!
ReplyDeleteSo absolutely no wish for a salad – brrrr! Making tomato soup and cheese sandwiches for lunch, and trying a sous vide prime rib for supper (first time for this meat cut, but it annoyed Harrumper as he set the machine that it had to swirl for 10 hrs for rare…). Several people to entertain as we huddle around candles to keep warm! Someone else is making the potatoes and another the salad, and if I was smart, I would get up and mix some yorkshire’s in the blender. Fresh rhubarb and strawberry pie for dessert.
So, all you too hot people in the eastern states, go outside, take a deep breath and blow some of that hot air up north! (lobsters tomorrow for Canada Day – quite probably in the rain again…) Maybe I will put on a fire before I make the yorkshire’s…
I can definitely send you some hot air from California. Everyday in June was above 95 degrees and at least half those days reached 100. I only live ten miles inland, in the middle of the state. We will reach 110 next week. Our normal summer temperatures previously were the low nineties. The last five years there have been many more days above 100 degrees.
DeleteLast year (or maybe the year before) it seemed like it rain every single weekend... Tough on businesses on cape cod.
DeleteHallie, it rained all summer last year. I needed to paint the porch and it was never dry long enough. Margo, we had the same weather yesterday... raw, wet, and windy... we actually sat in front of the fire for a while in the evening! Today the mugginess is back and 76°... not bad at all, especially since there is still a stiff breeze. (Selden)
DeleteI wrote about the dump salad I make for large groups yesterday. Julia: I love those salad kits and have just found single serving ones. Now if I could find small cans of garbanzo beans. Used to find them all the time but so much now. I'm going to Jenn's for pastrami on rye, just don't tell her, I want it to be a surprise.
ReplyDeleteBut most often, if it's too hot, I don't want to eat, so I'll out for a sandwich and take the leftovers home or order pizza.
I agree - excess heat does take away the appetite. Uness there's shrimp cocktail and watermelon on offer.
DeleteOnce upon a hurricane about 2 years ago, when we were powerless for about a week, my son came to ‘help’ and with him he brought a griddle barbecue – I don’t know what else to call it. ‘Blackstone’ if you want the name and I am allowed to say it. Wow! What a revolution, because now in spite of having no power, we could cook something not on the barbecue! He gave us one that year for Christmas, and I will say that it is an all season great thing. Obviously for the oh-too-frequent power outages, but all spring and summer. Just a flip of a switch and you can cook up a single hamburger, hot dog, or piece of chicken. It also means if you are feeding the 5000, that you can easily do a full English breakfast, chicken legs or any kind of steak. It comes highly recommended from me, and it is not as hot and time consuming as a barbecue. It is especially good if you live with a Harrummper who’s only capability with the barbecue is to change the tank (he has to be useful for something…)
ReplyDeleteBlackstone griddle? Needs propane/gas?
DeleteOurs takes propane (in the tanks) but probably it can be wired/piped with either if you have the function. We do not have gas, and no access to piped propane, so small cans it is. Last year they were carried in Home Depot in Canada - ours was shipped from the US. Child has more money than brains - but it is nice!
DeleteI have to put in a plug for a quick and fun lunch that works if you're feeding a crowd: homemade ham and cheese sliders. I had this at author Jessica Ellicott's place; it was tasty, fast and only in the oven for a few minutes.
ReplyDeleteFill a baking sheet with halved bakery dinner rolls. Schmear the bottom halves with a half-mustard/ half mayo mix. Layer on ham (or the deli meat of your choice) and cheese. Swipe the mustard/mayo mix on the top half of the buns, then drizzle browned butter over all.
Bake until the tops are golden brown. You don't have to separate the buns until after they're baked, which speeds the whole thing up. I can imagine this with lots of variations; maybe some relish on the cheese, or a horseradish/mayo mix for roast beef. I think it could also be a fun addition if you're hosting a brunch.
Oooh that sounds good - except for the part where you turn on the oven.
DeleteOrdering in is not an option in my end of the swamp. No place delivers, and we don't have Doordash or Instacart. My go tos are gazpacho and tabbouleh. So good.
ReplyDeleteOmg, poor Kait - you really must live in the outback. I'm 5 blocks or less from a half dozen restaurants.
DeleteI join you Kait - if you don't cook it yourself - you don't eat. Last week I was in town - hospital visit again - and while waiting I had a slice of pizza - what a treat! Even for all you people who just pop down and get a barbecue chicken or whatever for your salad - here it means, take the chicken out of the freezer, thaw it, cook it in the oven or the air-fryer, and then either eat it hot, or chill it for later. Another way of life.
DeleteThat is exactly the way we live! Tell you what, I wouldn't trade it. Much healthier, I think. I always have a few poached chicken breasts in the fridge this time of year for salad add-ons.
DeleteKait, I highly recommend the cherry gazpacho I made today. Recipe in the Washington Post a few days ago.
DeleteFrom Diana: Thought I answered this but looks like it went to the post from yesterday, Hallie! Your orzo salad looks yummy.
ReplyDeleteFavorite go to summer salads:
Avocado salad
Bean salad
Caprese salad - Basil, dairy free mozzarella and tomato salad with olive oil dressing
And as Jenn said, it is also sandwich days. At University, we had cold cuts instead of cooked meals. We could make our own sandwiches. And I still do that. They offered cheese, ham, salami, tomatoes, turkey and salad vegetables. There were sour dough bread, white bread, and whole wheat bread.
Before we knew about the connection between BBQ and climate change, I remember the days when we had BBQ outside and our boyfriends would join us for BBQ. It is funny recalling my surprise at the young men getting two of everything and I wondered if men had two stomachs because they could eat that much when we could barely finish one hamburger or one hot dog. We young women did not seem to have as big appetite as the young men did.
Whoa... dairy free mozzarella??
DeleteFrom Diana : Cashew milk mozzarella
DeleteI’m getting so many good ideas from this!
ReplyDeleteMy husband has pretty much been in charge of supper for the last year, but he usually wants to have a full meal, as in a meat, vegetable, potatoes, and his bagged cole slaw (which he adds to). It's too much for me, but I try to eat a little, except for the cole slaw (don't like it, never will). Even though it's using the oven for bacon, which I will arrange on the cooking sheets, on hot days or days I can talk him into something simple, I love a bacon and tomato sandwich. Growing up it was a BLT, with the lettuce added. I might go back to that. We often do every-man-for-himself nights, or a variation of that. Last night Philip fixed some easy pre-seasoned salmon. I had half of one plus the Savannah Chopped Salad from McAlister's (mixed greens with a nice amount of argula, cranberries, honey roasted almonds, cucumber, tomato, and not a large amount of grilled chicken) with ranch dressing, but the Sherry Shallot dressing is yummy, too. I bought a chef salad to have tonight. McAlister's has nine big salads from which to choose, and they're all good. Philip had his salmon, baked potato, some kind of beans, and cole slaw. I am grateful to him for taking over the cooking duties, but, after all, I did it for many years.
ReplyDeleteIt's a brave man who steps up... I"m impressed. Big fan of BLTs here, too.
DeleteMy husband and I live in a warren of small rooms New Yorkers call an apartment. (That’s not a closet. It’s a bedroom!) Our kitchen is not air conditioned. I would rather take a pilates class in Dante's "Inferno" than cook in summer. Fortunately for us, our local market has homemade gazpacho!
ReplyDeleteYum! So perfect...
DeleteI read this while hungry...now I want all of the suggestions. ALL. OF. THEM.
ReplyDelete