Too Hot to Cook,..What do you cook in the summertime??

Mimosas and fruit salads.....with cream-cheese dip.....

The "spoils of the season" always make the best, and most affordable meals.

Around here (Boston), the summer offers alot of fresh greens, young vegetables, herbs , tomatoes,..so many delicious things.

One of my favorite dinners this season is a simple salad topped with some grilled beef tenderloin.

This is a combination of a few salads, a "take" on the Italian panzanella (a tomato and bread salad,.served over lightly dressed greens with basil and ricotta salata, topped with grilled beef and a bit of garlic aioli.
I love this dish!

To make two servings:

2 cups of mixed baby greens (heavy on the arugula)
1 cup of good croutons (make your own with some day old french or italian bread, cube the bread, toss with some minced garlic, olive oil and salt,..toast in the oven til golden)
1 cup of grape tomatoes, halved
2/3 cup of grated ricotta salata
3/4lb beef tenderloin, thinly sliced marinated in olive oil, minced garlic and a bit of dried oregano)
salt and pepper
fresh basil to garnish

Vinaigrette
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbls. dijon mustard
2 tbls. minced garlic
1 tbls minced shallot or red onion
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper

Aioli
1 egg yolk
1/2-2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper

Wash and dry the greens. Toss the sliced tomatoes in a bowl with some salt to start the juices running, add the croutons,.toss and let sit. The easiest way to make the vinaigette is to take all of the ingredients (except the basil) and put them in a tupperware container and shake the "bejeesus" out of it,stir in the basil, taste for salt and pepper. add half of the dressing to the tomato mixture, (the croutons will start to get a bit soggy,..its best a bit soggy on the outside with a bit of crunch still in the middle.To make the aioli, put the egg yolk, garlic and mustard in your food processor or blender, turn it on, add the oil in a slow, steady stream till all is incorporated and the mixture is quite thick. Thin with the lemon juice, taste for salt and pepper.

Dress the greens with as much of the remaining vinaigrette as suits your taste. Toss, then divide to two serving plates. Toss half of the ricotta with the tomato mixture, then top the greens on each plate with half of the mixture. Salt and pepper the beef, Grill, or saute to your liking, split between the two salads. Drizzle as much of the aioli as you'd like on to each of the salads. Garnish with some basil and serve.

MMM, Rae!!

I love fresh fruit salad!!

And mimosas,...hmmm where's that plane ticket???

Funky veg and nut salads, with sardines or tuna dumped on top.

fruit, fruit and more fruit.
cherry soup. mmmmmmmm.

i just bought some ricotta to make dip for the fruit. i've been getting lots of cherries, and strawberries, and blueberries. today, plums got added to the mix.

the only hot food i eat in this season is from the food court at work, at lunch. for the last month it's been roast chicken with 2 side salads, green and romaine.

Hi Sofia!

I love sardines!!

Just had some fresh grilled ones the other day,...MMMMMM!!

ooooohhhhhh, pretty avatar, sofia! well, maybe not pretty. beautiful.

Hiya ehBeth,

I'm with ya on the fruit!!

I had to cook everyday this week, for parties I was catering,...the house has been hotter than heck!!

Hello, dearie.
LOVE the Hot Crab and Artichoke recipe. Thanks for all the great ideas!

Thanks, ehBeth!

I like tuna fish salad with boiled eggs and chopped apple, of course along with the light mayonaise or salad dressing and large can of the very best tuna.

Chicken salad with salad dressing, chopped onion and celery and with grapes or chopped pineapple, and whatever else.

Shrimp salad, swordfish steak, salmon. Grilled with vegs.

For lack of a proper BBQ, did up a BBQ-rubbed slow-cooked brisket at a slack heat the other day. Some corn, and fresh salads filled out the plate.

My summer fair consists mostly of fruit smoothies, pasta (a quick boil with a microwaved tomato-based sauce or veggie pot-stickers) and raw veggies and fruit.

Ah, the Mexican salad.

Corn kernels off the cob (or from a small can and well-drained; they're fine)
Canned black beans, well-drained
Canned chopped tomatoes (don't drain these)
Cubed avocado
Salsa to taste
Strips of chicken breast or chunks of tofu
Bed o' greens
Tortilla chips
Dressing is optional (for the salad, not for you! Well, maybe ... :wink:)

Mix
Serve
Eat

Jes--
That sounds great. I'm gonna try it today. Thanks.

Even though it's still too bloody hot.....I've seen twenty too many Chile's commercials today.

Their newest one is the Hawaiin steak.

Guess what I had for supper? Yep. A nice piece of steak, served over two slices of pineapple with green onions and Mrs. Dash (Garlic & Herb) seasoning.

I could cook at Chile's.

Providing, however, that I learn to spell their name right. Ahem.....Chili's.

I love preparing food, even in the summer; I go for elaborate salads; potato salads, pasta salads, rice salads, mixed salads, topped with toasted pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. My whole plate must be filled with two, preferably three, different salads. At the moment, I have fresh salad leaves, spring onions, radish pods( first time growing them; they grow tall!! The pods look like little chillies and taste of - you guessed it - radish!) and sugar snap peas in the garden, cucumbers in the greenhouse - and the tomatoes are ripening too, yum! I love summer food. As far as hot food goes in hot weather, I can take it or leave it, but I can never leave new potatoes, freshly boiled in their skins, dripping with butter, mm, mm, mm!! :p

were cookin outside alot . We have a nice cooking area that is a satellite kitchen to our RV and it allows us to steam lobsters and clams and cook without having a steam fight with the AC inside.

I have a recreation license for lobbstering and I checked my traps and caught 4 today(in a pea soup fog) so we had em for supper,
Had them with boiled potatoes and a nice red beet greens salad.

Rae- LOL about the Chili's thing!!!

Thinkzinc- I love to cook all year long too!!

Farmerman- Love Lobster,..a good friend has a bunch of traps in Maine,..I get a lot from her!!!


Over the weekend I made a really great lobster and potato salad with fresh aioli, scallions and a bit of truffle oil,...YUMMMMY!!!!!