favorite hot weather foods?

What do people like to eat when it gets hot outside?
Suggestions? I am always interested in adding to my personal list, especially if it turns out to be a long hot summer!

I always tend to go for:

all kinds of vietnamese and thai food
cold korean and japanese noodles
ice cream, of course
watermelon sprinkled with sea salt and a squeeze lemon or line juice
bubble tea and asian-shaved ice treats
BBQ
sushi
pizza - i can't explain that one
shrimp
burgers
middle eastern food
tapas
grilled calamari
corn on the cob

that's all off the top of my head. As you can see my list is pretty generic - no one will have to try very hard to come up with more exciting suggestions.

Hikari

Gazpacho, obviously. Cold seafood preps, cured ham, there are plenty of room temperature ideas in Spanish cuisine.

Oranges.

In the summer, I devote a full drawer of my fridge to oranges. I eat 'em for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's probably one of those things I picked up from my dad.

Scurvy be damned,
Zee

BARBEQUE!!!!

Fresh, ripe, DELICIOUS tomatoes with salt, and corn on the cob with tons of butter and salt..

Raw oysters or clams with a twist of lemon and cold cocktail sauce!!

My Mom's taco salad recipe with iceberg, cooked and drained cold ground beef, tomatoes, green onions, cheddar cheese, and nacho(not taco)-flavored Doritos, with plenty of Thousand Island dressing.

Also, seven layer salad and jicama slaw, broccoli salad with the raisins, sunflower seeds and red onions.

I'm a nut for the "old church" cookbook recipes, so....

Under the category of "asian shaved-ice treats:"

halo halo. yum!

Nuea nam tok: Thai grilled beef salad. Takes only a few minutes to prepare, and is a great cooling way to enjoy steak.

Most things are already listed, so I'll add just this one. Slightly counterintuitive, and it should be eaten in the heat of the afternoon sun (obviously):
hot of the griddle crisp stuffed aloo (potato) or gobi (cauliflower) paratha (steaming and spicy hot filling) with pickled chile peppers; dabbed in a bit of yogurt when the sweat starts getting in your eyes. Top off the meal with a thick salt lassi - in a steel glass (feel the cold steel on your forehead, you must)
may be more nostalgic/yearning than favorite, although the yearning would be for the food and not the weather.

One of the best sounds of a hot Summer afternoon has to be the pop and tinkle of the cap coming off a cooold beer and the fizzzzz.
Closest I could find

Chilled canned red sockeye salmon with lottsa lemon, potato salad, fresh corn on the cob and tomatoes out of the back yard. Hmmmm, heaven and fond memories.

Melon wrapped with prosciutto on a sunny day picnicking in the park. A bottle of prosecco too, of course.

A few of my favourites previously discussed...

Pa amb tomàquet:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=9512#9512

Simply grilled meats with a Western Mediterranean late summer vegetable stew:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t= ... hlight=amb


Simple plates of raw vegetables with olives, fresh cheeses, bread and wine:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=32973#32973

Antonius

Raw oysters or clams with a twist of lemon and cold cocktail sauce!!

I'm not a connoisseur of raw oysters, but isn't there an old saw about never eating them in months that lack an "r"?

jbw wrote:

Raw oysters or clams with a twist of lemon and cold cocktail sauce!!

I'm not a connoisseur of raw oysters, but isn't there an old saw about never eating them in months that lack an "r"?

Most people generally shy away from raw oysters in warm months because that's when they start spawning. Their appearance and taste take a significant hit, in my opinion, during the spawning season. It is also said that their bacteria count goes way up while they spawn, but that's not why I avoid them--they just start to taste "not so great" as the weather gets warmer.

Now, if you change the statement to "Raw southern hemisphere oysters", then you might have an excellent summer treat.

Best,
Michael / EC

Tempura soba. Balls of coiled cold soba noodles topped with long rectangular pieces of roasted nori served on a wooden tray, a small shallow bowl of a shoyu based dipping sauce and a plate of lukewarm tempura shrimp and veggies. Hiyayako. A sliced cube of cold white tofu topped with thinly sliced raw green onion and flakes of bonito in a glass bowl with ice cubes served with a grated daikon and shoyu dipping sauce. Oolongcha. Italian grapefruit soda. Watemelon.

Hi,

Temperatures of 90+ does not inspire BBQ in my household.

This evening dinner was cold sesame noodles. Since I had to boil water for those noodles, I boiled a second batch in the same water. I made a tuna noodle salad using a vinaigrette, lots of green olives, pickled pimentos and whatever was green.

Last night, I made corn pancakes for dinner. It used corn I needed to get rid of. Griddling pancakes creates nominal amounts of heat.

I bought last week rice paper to make Vietnamese spring rolls. I hope to get the dipping sauce down right.

Wish I had a spare Baylor watermelon in the house. I introduced my family last week to watermelon salad with Feta cheese and fresh ground pepper. An entire $13 watermelon was consumed this way. I thought people would want to have it as-is. They waited until I made more salad.

Shopska salad with cucumber, tomatoes, green peppers, parsley, green onions and red onion are seasoned with red wine vinegar, olive oil and lots of pepper. We finely grate Feta cheese over it. This can be dinner alone or with grilled meats.

What is your cool cooking strategy in hot weather?

Regards,

1) Hiyashi Chuka is made for hot days - I've tried to order it in the winter and Japanese people look at me like I've lost my mind.

2) Cold Soba

3) Vodka (I keep a bottle of Grey Goose in the freezer)

Simple raw veggies, cheese and crackers, home made Mediterranean olive salad, Caprese salad. Whatever simple things we just pull from the fridge and don't need to do anything to. I should make some tabbouleh, that always gets better as it chills and ages.

Salads, cold noodle dishes, grilled foods, anything with fresh lemon and lime, I do understand pizza. I think there is a way to make a very fresh summery pizza.
What I don't have a taste for in the summer is Chinese food. Somehow I crave that in winter with pots of hot tea, egg rolls, etc. but not now.

When I grill, I try to have something else ready to go on once my dinner is done, so I don't waste the coals. Last weekend's leftover cold grilled chicken, steak, etc. is dinner tonight chopped up over salad greens, or alongside them, or something. If I end up with a lot, I'll freeze it and pull it out on a hot day like today.

I eat a lot of veggie sandwiches--favorite of the moment: almond, green garlic and basil pesto on toasted bread with fresh picked tomato and arugula, a half of a small avocado and a slice of good cheddar cheese. Just ate one for lunch. May eat another for dinner (still have a half an avocado to use up!!)

I should pick up some bread today at Marketplace on Oakton, and treat myself to a tomato sammich w/mayo and coarse salt & black pepper. Bought a ton of Evanston-grown tomatoes at the West End/Evanston farmers market on Saturday, and the one I gobbled up Monday night was fabulous. Worth a visit!

When it's this hot, ice cream melts too fast, as I was reminded during an interesting trip to Dairy Star this afternoon. Never get the medium when it's 100 degrees. This is more malt weather.

Add me to the corn on the cob crew. When summer comes, I forget you can buy it canned and frozen.

Im lovin' the hot weather, I smoked all day Saturday, & grilled Sunday afternoon, nice hot/steamy days. Rather be on the deck cooking than inside over a stove or oven.

Items I especially crave in hot weather:

- tequila
- habaneros/hot peppers
- rice
- grilled sausages
- finger foods(tacos, burgers, ribs, etc.)
- Vietnamese food

My standard menu the last few weeks appears to be consisting of the following:

Baltimore pit beef (or at least what I think a pit beef is supposed to be. Haven't been to Baltimore myself.)
Coronation chicken salad (the soon-to-be Mrs. Binko especially likes this one. In fact, that's what she requested for her Ph.D. celebration dinner tonight.)
Grilled chicken, mostly riffs on or straight-up Cornell chicken

Also, barbecue when I have the time (did a brisket and shoulder together a couple weeks ago.)

Any excuse to be outside and not have to cook indoors is good enough for me. I've been doing a lot on the WSM with the water pan out and been enjoying the results, but have only done it with the beef, chicken, and ribs. In fact, I actually prefer the fat-in-the-fire flavor this method gives you, almost a cross between direct grilling and smoking.

Beyond that, I also like cold beet soup (chlodnik) and Thai basil chicken made with chilis and basil from the backyard, are also summertime staples.

Food Nut wrote:My Mom's taco salad recipe with iceberg, cooked and drained cold ground beef, tomatoes, green onions, cheddar cheese, and nacho(not taco)-flavored Doritos, with plenty of Thousand Island dressing.

Hi,

Your Mom's taco salad tickled my thoughts as the summer equivalent of winter's tuna noodle casserole.

Thursday night I could not postpone grocery shopping. I made sure to get some ground beef and nacho flavored Doritos. I was a bit surprised at the Dorito's price at over $4. for a less than 14 ounce bag. I rarely buy these, so I wasn't acquainted with how much to expect.

Earlier today, I could not find this post. I looked and I didn't see after combing through this thread a few times. I did find a parallel recipe Taco salad by Paula Deen. The only thing I didn't have was Catalina dressing, though I found a recipe using:

1 tablespoon ketchup
2 tablespoons mustard
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil

I liked this dressing far more than bottled Catalina dressing.

We skipped the salsa sauce suggested on every serving.

My Dad liked the Doritos in the salad, though not on their own. This was well enough received, we'll make it on another no-cook night.

Regards,

The naengmyun kits you can get at H-Mart are awesome for hot weather! Boil a small saucepan of water, dump noodles in for 20-40 secs, then drain, pour on chilled broth (included) and ta-da!

The kits have saved me a few times this week!

BLTs with thick tomato slices and lots of mayo.

Something I think of as 'cottage cheese hash': container of cottage cheese, diced tomatoes, diced cucumbers [kirby or english], something from the onion family [diced vidalia onion, chopped scallion, chopped chives]. Salt or vulcan fire salt or freshly-ground black pepper to taste.

Cool, light, tasty. With freezer-cold vodka as an aperitif if you like.

Giovanna