RHYS BOWEN: Here in Northern California we have been experiencing an unusual heat wave. Yes, it's climate change for you unbelievers! Our house has no air conditionng. We've lived in it for 40 years and never needed it until now. There are usually a few hot days in September when we use fans and keep blinds closed but nothing like this. One day last week as 103!
One thing we are not doing is cooking. I went out and bought a rotisserie chicken for dinner. I came home to find husband is boiling potatoes and carrots. I pointed out sweetly that it we raised the temperature in the kitchen one more notch the ceiling fan would melt. He didn't get it.
So I've had to be inventive with what we eat. Trader Joe's has some good meals that can be microwaved. We've had the asparagus risotto with some ham added. We've had the scallops and mushrooms. But there are days when I just don't want anything hot, period.
This means salads. When I grew up in England a salad was just something you had for a Sunday high tea. Lettuce, tomato, cucumber, spring onions with a bottle of salad dressing ready and waiting. Husband still has this mentality. He can't picture salad as an actual meal.
I'm trying to convert him. I'm a big fan of arugula, pear, cranberries and gorgonzola. I love beet salad. But neither is filling enough for a man who thinks that every meal should be meat and two veg.
So I'm asking for suggestions:
One thing I do make and love is Asian chicken salad. I usually cheat, buy the Asian kit then added broiled chicken, but that means I have to broil chicken, which I'm not going to do.
So what are some good hearty salads that require no cooking? I'm thinking cooked shrimp, sliced mushrooms, baby greens?
Over to you, brilliant cooks:
Tuna, white beans, fennel, radicchio, arugula with a basil pesto vinaigrette. . . .
ReplyDeleteSounds delicious!
DeleteMarcie, the recipe is really easy . . . two cans cannellini beans, two cans tuna, one-fourth cup basil pesto, one tablespoon olive oil, one teaspoon Dijon mustard, one lemon, one small fennel bulb, one small head radicchio, two cups baby arugula . . .
DeleteZest the lemon; squeeze the juice into a small bowl with the zest; mix with pesto, olive oil, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste.
Trim the end, stalks, fronds off the fennel; cut the bulb in half and then thinly slice crosswise.
Cut the radicchio in half; remove the core; slice into thin strips.
Mix the fennel, radicchio, and arugula in a large bowl; drizzle with pesto vinaigrette; toss; divide among the plates [or place on a large platter].
Put beans and tuna in the bowl; drizzle with pesto vinaigrette; toss. Spoon tuna/bean mixture over the radicchio mixture; drizzle with remaining pesto vinaigrette and serve . . . .
I've watching those NoCal temps, Rhys! My relatives' home in Geyserville is roasting, and the fire danger is way up. It's way too hot in New England, too, and very humid, unlike where you are.
ReplyDeleteI like a curried chicken salad (using leftover rotisserie chicken) with grapes. For the 4th I made a potato salad (cook the potatoes in the microwave) with a vinaigrette and slivered cabbage; you could add a couple of hard boiled eggs for proterin. Leftover corn on the cob cut off pairs perfectly with cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and black beans. I also make an Asian noodle salad with lots of veggies and a slightly sweet soy and vinegar dressing, but you do have to cook the noodles.
NorCal. Haven't had enough coffee yet.
DeleteEdith, I am from NorCal and refer to it as thus. My husband says that if we call it SoCal, it should be NoCal. Nice to see I’m not alone. — Pat S
DeleteThat would be delicious if I had chicken!
DeleteSpinach or romaine lettuce, rotini pasta that was cooked in the morning and marinaded in salad dressing, olives, any other veggie cut small, chick peas, gorgonzola or bleu cheese, chicken....all or some of the above with a favorite dressing, we use Good Seasons Italian.
ReplyDeleteFeeling the heat here, too. It will be in the 90's °F all week, 70% humidity. Ugly air. I recommend a window a/c unit to make one room feel great, if you have the right type windows. We also have standing in-room a/c units. They are better than nothing for our office and guest bedroom. .
Soba noodle salad seasoned with sesame oil, soy sauce.
ReplyDeleteBoiling buckwheat noodles takes less time than traditional pasta. Only 5 minutes. Then rinse & chill the noodles. Add julienned carrots, bell peppers and cucumber for crunch & some veggies. Can add a protein like canned salmon.
After being cooled down with highs in the low 70s (21-22C) by Beryl, we are back in a heat warning until Tuesday. Today's high is 31C/88F feeling like 39C/102F. Like EDITH says, it's the humidity in this part of North America that makes the heat wave worse. Dew points in the 70s/above 20C makes it oppressive, esp overnight.
Love a soba salad!
DeleteI also miss eating zarusoba. When we were in Japan for 6 weeks in the summer, those cold soba noodles with the dipping sauce was my favorite dish. Too bad there are no North American restaurants that serve this with the noodles flowing down the cold water tube foe you to pick up with your chopsticks.
DeleteFrom Celia: talking of childhood salads Rhys, do you remember those Russian salad mixes from childhood. Was it some sort of sandwich sandwiches spread? But no cook no heat meals can be a challenge. I make a cold soup which is a bastardized gazpacho. I use my blender and add low salt V8, or crushed Italian tomatoes together with a little onion, cucumber peeled and deseeded, European ones are my preference, red pepper preferably skinned, spinach, cherry tomatoes, herbs and spice it with Worcestershire sauce or soy plus any veggie lying around which I hope won’t quarrel. Victors fav is a filet of smoked trout with pea shoots if around, they are good in the soup too, cherry tomato’s and sliced cucumber and a slice of buttered bread. We also had rotisserie chick with potato salad one night and sushi/sashimi another. Our go to Japanese restaurant does sushi/sashimi plate for one which fills us up most satisfactorily.
ReplyDeleteCelia I do remember that Russian salad and the fact that we had sandwich spread sandwiches, just the spread with no protein!
DeleteWe aren’t having the heat wave here. Salads are good. Use that rotisserie chicken. We put our house on the market and are dining out a lot in air conditioned restaurants so we don’t mess up the kitchen. This after a month of eating out because the fridge died and it took forever for the new one to get here. Of course you do have to come back out to a hot car, unless you Uber.
ReplyDeleteWe have switched to mostly using the griddle outdoors. Only takes a bit of time and gives a hot meal which we both prefer. I made salads for supper the other day and it took forever to prepare, so that tends to annoy me. Today is transport day, so we are off for a 5 hr drive in a hot car - in spite of several suggestions, 'no-one' fixed the air-conditioning. Apparently it is A&W for lunch (yuck, but the patient wants it) and so far nothing for supper. If anyone suggests something good, made with few ingredients (need to go shopping and garden only has strawberries), I will see when we get home. It might just be fried eggs on the griddle. oh yes - hot and high humidity, and we just got a 8-week old all white kitten - she zooms in spite of the heat!
ReplyDeleteKitten antics! Guaranteed to provide a distraction from transport woes, heat, etc., even if for just a few moments!
DeleteNothing worse than a hot car. Pour water over yourselves!
DeleteHow fun, Margo! You'll have to keep us updated on the kitten antics!
DeleteCold soups are my answer for this weather..they are liquid salads. .Surprisingly, it even suits my husband, who usually thinks a meal needs meat. I try lots of recipes but the favorites around here are two I have been making for our whole marriage. Cucumber,turned into liquid, thoroughly chilled, lemony and tangy with sour cream and plenty of pepper, is perfect right from the fridge. Gazpacho is the other.Cut up tomatoes with cucumber celery, onion,pepper, tabasco. I keep it a little chunky cause it's more filling that way and use Spicy V-8 juice for a tasty shortcut.
ReplyDeleteBread and cheese on the side. (And they are both "prep once, lasts for several meals.")
Great idea, Triss. I’d forgotten gaspacho
DeleteYes to chunky gazpacho--definitely more filling than a blenderized version. Rotisserie chicken sandwiches with good bread can help fill John's appetite (Or a good cheese with bread). I made a broccoli salad a week or so ago--it had an apple chopped in it, bacon (you can buy precooked bacon), sunflower seeds for added crunch--it was enough of a meal for me, but grilled porkchops for nephew (like John, doesn't regard a salad as a whole meal).
ReplyDeleteMy John asks what goes with it?
DeleteWhenever we have leftover steak, especially if it's not well done, I will save it for steak salad. That is an acceptable meal to Steve, maybe John will feel the same way. You don't need a lot, and it makes a salad feel more substantial.
ReplyDeleteSlice the cold steak thinly. Add heaps of mixed greens, and whatever vegetables take your fancy: Shredded carrots, chunks of red and/or yellow peppers, avocado slices, beets, tomatoes, even a sprinkling of sliced scallions. Add a sour note, like calamata olives, or capers, and some kind of cheese: feta, bleu, parmesan, pecorino, cheddar, gorgonzola, gouda. Then dress it however you like, depending on your salad's ingredients. Crumbled bacon over the whole thing doesn't hurt, and you can make that in the microwave in a couple minutes.
You can substitute tuna for the steak, or rotisserie chicken, even matchsticks of deli ham and cheese will work. A crusty bread and real butter on the side rounds out the meal, along with a glass of your favorite wine. Bon appetit!
I love steak salad but I have a husband who won’t grill and I’m not doing it!
DeleteMy father-in-law was exactly like John. I’m thinking that it may be more a question of presentation than the kind of salad.
ReplyDeleteIn his mind , a good meal was a bit of chicken with some potatoes and some carrots distributed on a plate. What if you put the protein ( being rotisserie’s chicken leftover, bits of ham, canned tuna or salmon, smoked salmon or trout, already cooked shrimps or lobster, anything he likes that doesn’t need cooking) on one side of the plate and then your salad or choice of vegetables and then a piece of good bread. You could sprinkle with lime juice and a good oil. It would look like the meal he wants and it may satisfy him. Just a thought.
Danielle
Tricky! I’ll try it
DeleteI love a good Salade Nicoise. You do have to boil the potatoes, eggs and green beans, but you can do them all sequentially in the same pot first thing in the morning when it's not too hot yet. Make enough eggs to do pan bagnat on another day.
ReplyDeleteI love those salad kits. There are a huge varieties and they are a good base to add those little extras like garbanzo beans, olives, cheese or chicken and more veggies. But right now I'm eating a bland diet after ending up in the ED during the very early hours of July 5th. Thankfully it wasn't a heart attack, just major gastric issues resulting in a couple new meds. Reading all these good salad ideas is killing me. 😉
ReplyDeleteI hope you’re feeling better. Take care of yoursrlf
DeleteFrom Diana: Many wonderful ideas from other commenters.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried Spinach salad, Rhys? It can be very filling. I love Salad.
However, I wonder if men need more food than women do.
Another possibility is Four Bean Salad. Avocado Salad. Caprese Salad with a big buffalo cheese, tomato and basil.
How about Tuna Nicose Salad? I dated a man who loved that salad. He was over six feet tall.
These salad kits are wonderful. At my local organic grocery store, they have Forbidden Salad with grilled chicken, kale salad, beet salad among others.
I love spinach, John doesn’t. And also salad kits are great but I don’t do well with beans
DeleteMany wonderful suggestions here. I buy canned beans, rinse them, put beans in a salad bowl with green onions, onions, and bell peppers. Use olive oil vinaigrette. Put the mix in a jar to marinate overnight. Yummy. It takes practice. Debs’ idea about cold poached salmon sounds good to me.
DeleteMy husband is also a meat and two veg guy, but we lived in Florida for a very long time. Yes, we had a/c, but there are times it doesn't seem to be much comfort.
ReplyDeleteTechnically not salad despite the name, but bring on the tuna salad (which can be served 1960s style in a tomato cut to look like an open flower, or egg salad with the eggs hard boiled in my electric non-heat producing - egg cooker that looks like a big egg. Again, tomato flower optional. If you can stand the heat, poach chicken and serve it cold as a salad with a creamy sundried tomato sauce and extra basil. So many options.
There's a recipe in the NYT today that sounds good--spaghetti with fresh tomatoes, basil, prociutto, and a dollop of ricotta. It would require cooking the noodles, though.
ReplyDeleteI cooked noodles last night with salmon and asparagus. Good but heated up the kitchen
DeleteWhat about cold poached salmon, Rhys? Again, you have to poach the salmon, but it's so quick.
ReplyDeleteYou reminded me of how dreadful salads used to be in the UK--some limp lettuce with mealy tomatoes and "salad cream." No other dressing offered! Thank goodness that has changed!
In the early 1970s, when I was living in Alaska, there were folks who poached salmon in their dishwasher, recipes passed hand to hand. No memory of exactly how, but this might be a method to beat the heat! Elisabeth
DeleteI think you can poach in the microwave. I've seen recipes but haven't tried it.
DeleteI’ll try this. I have salmon
DeleteFrom Diana: cold poached salmon is so good. I had that for lunch with a friend in London, England
DeleteI mix fake crab meat with mayo and dillweed and eat as is or make it a sandwich with croissants. Of course you could use real crab meat!
ReplyDeleteI make pasta salad with bowties, which cook very fast. Add lots of vegetables cut small, oil and vinegar or lemon juice, a can of chickpeas (drained), and three pieces of bacon crumbled. Then it tastes like meat and has lots of protein from the chickpeas. I realize this involves cooking pasta AND bacon, so it's not idea, but it's very good.
ReplyDeleteBacon in the microwave!
DeleteSandwiches! Hub and I are in AZ and summer is sandwich season :) Like Deb's tomato sandwich! Yum!
ReplyDeleteJohn would ask what the main course was going to be!
DeleteI want to try Grace's zarusoba, please. Also Pat's fake crab salad (I add ketchup and a little cider vinegar to the mayo and serve it on a really good roll.)
ReplyDeleteZarusoba & dipping sauce is easy to make. I should make it at home. I just bought a pack of buckwheat noodles this afternoon!
Deletehttps://www.japanesecooking101.com/zaru-soba-recipe/
Grace K - Blogger is playing games so i can't log on.
I'll have to try that, Hallie!
DeleteIt's hot. It's humid. I have zero interest in cooking, although, to be truthful, I've gotten to where that's a norm for me. The problem is that I'm not a big salad fan, or rather I'm not a fan of fixing them myself. Hmm, I feel a theme of laziness running through my comments. Really, since Kevin's passing, I haven't been very interested in or concerned with "what's for supper." Unfortunately, my husband starts thinking early in the day what we'll have for supper. Fortunately, he's willing to do the fixing now. Unfortunately, we don't necessarily like the same things. I have gotten to where I would just as soon have a sandwich. We have one of those Chicken Salad Chick restaurants where I can get yummy chicken salad and a broccoli salad I'm fond of. I do like to go with those salad kits when I do fix a salad and maybe add a couple of things. I think the salads from McAlister's Deli are good, and they have a nice variety. Of course, in eating salads out, there's a beet salad a Biaggi's in Evansville (about 40 minutes away) that I love. There's a local farm produce store that also makes its own candy and has a deli department, and they have some sandwiches that aren't the same old thing I like. Their turkey sandwich with apple slices is a favorite. And, this may sound like going as low as you can go to most of you, but sometimes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is just right for me.
ReplyDeleteKathy, make sure you take care of yourself and tempt yourself with food you love!
DeleteKathy I hope this is a comfort : peanut butter is always my "go to" when I can't think what to have. On toast. On a half bagel. A quick sandwich. A spicy sauce on vegs or noodles. You go, and enjoy it!
DeleteBack home – still hot. Asked why the air-conditioner in the car worked and was told to shush – good luck, not good management. Stopped on the way home for some cream (for the strawberries) and some chicken – on sale half-price, so bought it, and some coleslaw in a bag – supper accomplished. Am currently reading the recipe file and saving them.
ReplyDeleteDog said he did a good job babysitting Prue (the kitten,) but he might have done something else because obviously he feels guilty and is following me around head down. I have not discovered it yet. Kitten says wahoo-off to run again. Met a deer and 2 fawns, so good day.
Read 2 car books (we read 1 with patient and transfer to other with just the 2 of us – that way we get to read the entire plot.) New patient book is The Marlow Murders. For just the 2 of us it is Graves on the Fens. There were two good perfectly British words in it – canoodoling, and something else that I currently forget, but as it went by, I thought – that is just British!
Rhys, do you have an air-fryer - doesn't get all that hot and cooks a huge variety of good things. I have a Kalorik, and it even does a rotisserie chicken. I will be a minute, but I will look up a recipe for cooking a chicken, which after bringing to a boil does not require much heat. Will be back...
ReplyDeleteRhys, we don't have an air fryer but have a good toaster oven and use it much more than the big oven. Most pizzas will even fit in it and it doesn't heat up the kitchen nearly as much.
DeleteI do. Good idea
DeleteI live in SW Florida and my A/C bill is outrageous. If it physically fits in the toaster over, it gets cooked/baked in the toaster oven.
DeleteBack again. Here is the chicken recipe. For anytime it is delicious, and for supper, it is perfect for cold chicken to keep in the fridge.
ReplyDeleteThere was a Unicef cookbook put out post Covid, I think. It involves all storeis about Immigrant Canadians and some of their food. I don’t know how to link you to the recipe book, as I downloaded it to my computer. The recipe that follows is from Adrienne Clarkson, a former Governor General, whose family came to Canada from China, and is as follows. I have made it, and it is delicious.
Poached Chicken
with Ginger and Green Onion Sauce
SERVES
4 to 6 people
INGREDIENTS
• 1 whole chicken of approximately
2.5–3 pounds
• 3 whole green onions, trimmed
and cut into fine strips
• 1/3 cup of peanut oil or olive oil
• ½ cup of fresh ginger, finely
chopped
• ¼ cup of vermouth or Chinese
wine
• 4 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons of sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
DIRECTIONS
1 Place the chicken in a large pot filled with
enough water to cover it.
2 Over high heat, bring to a boil and then lower to
simmer with bubbles just breaking the surface for
20 minutes.
3 Turn off the heat and put a cover on the pot. Let
the chicken stand in the cooking liquid until warm
(about four to five hours).
4 Drain the chicken and keep the broth to boil down
for soup.
5 Pat the chicken dry and rub lightly with the toasted
sesame oil.
6 Cut the chicken into serving pieces—this is where
your skills with a chopper will come in handy! You
will see that the chicken is cooked through but
there is still blood inside of the marrow. In place
of a chopper, you can carve the chicken nicely in
generous pieces and lay out prettily on a platter.
7 Heat the peanut or olive oil in a saucepan and
when it is hot, add the ginger and green onions.
8 Cook for about 30 seconds.
9 Drain and keep the oil aside.
10 Scatter the ginger and the green onions over
the chicken evenly.
11 Add the remaining ingredients—soy sauce, sugar
and wine to the oil. Bring it quickly to a boil.
12 To serve, pour the oil mixture over the chicken.
Best served at room temperature.
There was a similar recipe years ago in a Jeff Smith cookbook--I think it was the first one, The Frugal Gourmet, but it may have been the second one. I used to make this often but had forgotten about it. (although I would shred the chicken rather than cutting in serving pieces.)
DeleteRhys, years ago we felt the same about AC. Back around the mid 1990's, we were in the process of a major home remodel when the contractor said I can put in an AC unit for the same price as the new heating. Well dumb-ie us we said it only gets hot for short periods of time during the Santa Ana's in late Aug thru early Oct. We are fine with the ocean breeze and fans. Hahaha well after 20+ years of brutal heat due to climate change (yes it's real) we finally made the decision to put in AC. Money well spent.
ReplyDelete