It's Hotter Than Hell

[Basilgirl]

Besides the obvious antipasto platters, salads (vegetable, tuna, etc.), deli meats & cheeses - what do you make for dinner when it's really really hot and you don't want to turn on the stove/oven?

[RSincere]

I have a lot of dinners like this because I am alone at night, and don't often feel like cooking for just me. You probably won't want to do what I do, but I have bagels with cheesecake flavor cream cheese, or Ritz crackers with cheese spread, or chips and salsa, or fruit and yogurt. Save all the calories for ice cream or a bomb pop later!

[Basilgirl]

I've been looking everywhere for that cheesecake cream cheese! I had it at my Mom's but she couldn't remember where she got it. It's SO GOOD

[irodguy]

So is grilling outside an option?

Are you totally against cooking anything or could you at least do some quick pasta?

Pasta salad with Rotini, olives, tomato, herbs and proscutto

Salad of Cucumbers, Lemon, Tomato, Red onions, EVOO & Feta (greek country salad)

[Laksa]

Sashimi. Sushi if you have some left-over rice.

Vegetarian nachos with sour cream, salsa or guacamole. Melt the cheese in the microwave instead of the oven to generate less heat.

[petite tête de chou]

I nuke a plate of tortilla chips n- cheese and serve with home-made salsa, sour cream and beer. Sometimes, late at night after it has cooled down, Ill throw together a chicken and vegetable pasta salad to serve chilled with wine and fruit the next day.

[RSincere]

I've been looking everywhere for that cheesecake cream cheese! I had it at my Mom's but she couldn't remember where she got it. It's SO GOOD

Philadelphia makes it. I find it at Super Walmart here in Wisconsin, Woodman's, and Pick 'n' Save.

I forgot another one. Microwave a potato with some broccoli, topped with (a lot of) cheddar cheese and Lawry's seasoned salt.

[mjr_inthegardens]

one of my favorite dishes is a quinoa mango red-bell-pepper curry that I found on epicurious

It's great cold and is still filling with great taste peaks from the mango, mint and curry

-MJR

[Toliver]

Taco Salad.

Or buy a rotisserie chicken from the store (better the store heats their oven than you heat yours). There a million and one things you can do with the meat.

[oneidaone]

when I know it is going to be hot very early I will boil eggs and fry some pepper bacon up (Dailey's

from Canada) and make an awesome egg salad, slice up some Hauula tomato and toast some

wheat bread or pita pocket (toasting doesn't make that much heat). Another thing I make is

Alan Wong's cold tomato soup recipe early in the day as you need to roast the tomatoes for 10

minutes but the kitchen doesn't heat up that much from that, then follow the recipe using the

blender and let it meld all day. Today is such a day!!!!!!!! Aloha and a hui ho...............

[FL Heat]

Cucumbers, feta, red onion, dill, bulgur wheat, chickpeas, olive oil, white wine vinegar.

Sliced tomatoes topped with cheese o' choice and set in the oven under the broiler just until the cheese melts.

BLT & Cheese sandwiches (bacon cooked in the microwave)

Roasted corn chowder from the freezer (we like it, so we make a bunch at a time and then just have to pull it out and re-heat in the microwave)

Smoothies (mine are frozen fruit, yogurt or ice cream, and milk)

A cheese & fruit tray is always nice when it's too hot out, but my appetite goes down quite a bit in the summer, too, so small nibbly stuff is enough for me.

Diana

[Varmint]

I'll be making something comparable to Mario Batali's recipe for grilled pork chops, grilled peaches and aged balsamico on some form of semi-bitter green. Very simple.

[KatieM]

I made a huge pile of cold sesame noodles the other day when it was raining (so I didn't mind boiling the water, not that they cook that long anyway). I've been eating them all week long. Otherwise, tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, etc.

[spoonbread]

Any leafy salads, tabboulleh, cold shrimp, sushi, sandwiches.

[Susan G]

Blender gazpacho! With toast points!

[NulloModo]

When it is super hot outside, it is the perfect time for hot as hell cuisine as well. The capsicum really gets the sweat glands working, which makes you feel much cooler overall. So chile loaded salsas with tortilla chips, vindaloo, chili, buffalo wings, etc are all great ideas.

[Jinmyo]

Strip loins seared crusty but blue, sliced thinly with fleur de sel and perhaps a few sauces to swirl the slices through; gaspacho with grape tomatoes and paneer cubes; frisee salad with halves of cooled hard cooked eggs with still soft yolks; crostini.

Soba-zushi with shoyu and chile dipping sauce; seaweed salad with blanched asparagus; hiyayako-tofu with a thin borscht; sauteed scallops with wilted spinach.

Those kinds of things.

[therdogg]

We did scallops tonight- make a hearty salad as well, and it's dinner.

[Sleepy_Dragon]

On especially lazy days, my dinner = fruit + cheese + bread + nuts + olive oil for dipping the bread. That's it.

If feeling a little more ambitious, maki rolls and cold tofu cubes in ponzu sauce topped with minced ginger, scallion and daikon, and maybe a salad.

Pat

[Susan in FL]

To be perfectly honest... there is rarely a time for me that, even though scorching hot, I don't want to turn on the stove or oven. I guess I'm used to it, and used to having the air conditioning set accordingly. Using the stove or oven doesn't make that much of a difference in our house. We've been having quite a heat wave, and were talking about this at dinner tonight. We cook according to the season, more than according to the weather. Right now we're doing lots of grilling, which is actually hotter than cooking in the house. We're often fixing salsas as part of our meals, and using the fresh vegetables, tropical fruits, and seafood that's readily available, but also grilling or roasting chicken, grilling steaks or chops, and the like. Tonight we had an avocado and melon salsa with grilled mahimahi.

Another seasonal difference for us is that now we're having many more cold soups and uncooked pasta sauces than usual.

It's quite infrequent that we don't use the stove for something that's part of our dinner. Then again, it's even more infrequent that I don't feel like cooking.

Still, it's nice to hear the ideas... Good topic!

[suzilightning]

reservations?

in an air conditioned restaurant

this happens to me. temps over a certain level and high humidity and it kills my appetite.

i'll quickly cook shrimps and make a remoulade sauce then over baby greens.

the tomatoes are coming in now so blt's with cheese and gazpacho.

many times i will cook early in the morning when i first get up - 6am or so. chicken to pull apart for chicken waldorf or curried chicken salad. i have a recipe for poached tuna that i can serve nicoise or chunk up with elbow macaroni and mayo or flaked into a pita.

course i'm always happy to grill up a burger or steak

[Susan in FL]

...temps over a certain level and high humidity and it kills my appetite.

I wish that would happen to me sometimes.

[TJHarris]

Thee is a great little market around the corner from home so if it is too hot to cook, we have a picnic. My wife and I will pick up a couple pcs. of cheese, some country bread and fruit. We will grab a bttle from the cellar. Even better than not having to cook, this replicates our first date from 11 years ago.

[viva]

I live in Phoenix, and there is no way on God's green earth that I am turning on the oven or stove anytime in the next 2 months. I live on wraps, pitas, and tortillas with any combination of the following:

- The outdoor grill gets a workout - grilled chicken, shrimp & pork that I can cool & keep in the refrigerator. I like them hot spice-wise (jerk chicken, jalapeno shrimp, chipotle pork), but cold temperature-wise. Hear-hear to NulloModo on spicy food in hot weather! There's a reason most hot-temperature countries are bastions of spicy cooking.

- Lots of homemade fruit salsas (mango, papaya, strawberry, pineapple, whatever) with a little bit of serrano or habanero for some heat. The mango is also fantastic grilled on kebabs with shrimp.

- Fresh guacamole (also like this with fruit - grapes, mango, raspberries)

- Chopped jicama, cucumber, cherry tomatoes

- Creamy cole slaw

- Buffalo mozzarella

- Spinach & artichoke dip

And, to top it all off, frozen margaritas with fruit of any kind.

[neep]

Curried Avocado soup. Soba. Cucumbers. Gin and Tonic.