Summer Dinners That Don’t Heat the Kitchen
Today I wanted to share a few of my favorite fresh summer meals that don’t heat up the kitchen. These have lots of fresh ingredients that can be straight from the garden and incorporate lots of your favorite summer flavors.
Avocado Toast with Smoked Salmon
Avocado toast isn’t just for breakfast anymore when you add lots of other toppings like smoked salmon. It’s actually a really filling summer meal. Serious Eats has a really great recipe that is inspired by the lox bagel that is an open-faced sandwich that combines avocado, smoked salmon, sliced tomatoes, capers and thinly sliced red onion.
Pasta Salad
Making your favorite pasta salad on repeat all summer is never a bad idea. And there are so many options! I love Greek pasta salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and kalamata olives and I also love to make my mother-in-law’s famous pasta salad with olives, cubed cheddar and mozzarella, tomatoes, bacon bits, and cubed chicken. While you do have to cook the pasta, you could opt to cook it in an Instant Pot to keep the heat contained and not have to have a boiling pot of hot water for several minutes on the stovetop.
No-Cook Shrimp Salad
Buy pre-cooked shrimp, add chopped celery and green onions and slather it in mayo, sour cream, fresh lemon juice and fresh chopped dill and chives. It is so delicious and light and is great on brioche buns, Boston leaf lettuce, or served with salty, crispy kettle potato chips.
Shrimp or Tilapia Ceviche
Ceviche is a Peruvian dish that is usually served as an appetizer but would be perfect for a light summer meal served with salty tortilla chips that is a seafood dish where diced cubes of raw fish (or shrimp) are marinated in a lemon or lime juice mixture and other seasonings. The fish reacts with the citrus juices to “cure” the fish and it becomes opaque and firm and absorbs lots of flavor. My favorite recipes is from Natasha's Kitchen and is loaded with shrimp, avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, jalapeno, and cilantro.
Summer Sweet Corn Gazpacho
This is a delicious cold, summer soup with all the fresh and bright flavors of fresh garden produce. I’ve really got to talk my parents into making this soup when all their produce is ripe for picking. I am just sure they would love it! The easiest part is all you have to do is prep the ingredients and blend away. The recipe calls for sweet corn, yellow bell peppers and yellow tomatoes to maintain the bright yellow color. This sounded so good it was the one recipe I had to include below because it just sounded too good to not try this summer when all the fresh produce is in season. So don’t forget to save that recipe at the bottom and try it this summer!
What are some of your favorite no-cook recipes for those summer months when you want to beat the heat?
4 ears sweet corn
1 small cucumber, peeled and deseeded
1 yellow bell pepper
1 cup yellow cherry tomatoes es, or 1 large yellow tomato
1 small shallot
2 cloves garlic
1 small jalapeno, optional
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
basil oil, optional
fresh sweet corn, optional
heirloom cherry tomato, sliced
fresh basil
flaky sea salt
Directions:
Add Recipe to Cook'n
Avocado Toast with Smoked Salmon
Avocado toast isn’t just for breakfast anymore when you add lots of other toppings like smoked salmon. It’s actually a really filling summer meal. Serious Eats has a really great recipe that is inspired by the lox bagel that is an open-faced sandwich that combines avocado, smoked salmon, sliced tomatoes, capers and thinly sliced red onion.
Pasta Salad
Making your favorite pasta salad on repeat all summer is never a bad idea. And there are so many options! I love Greek pasta salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and kalamata olives and I also love to make my mother-in-law’s famous pasta salad with olives, cubed cheddar and mozzarella, tomatoes, bacon bits, and cubed chicken. While you do have to cook the pasta, you could opt to cook it in an Instant Pot to keep the heat contained and not have to have a boiling pot of hot water for several minutes on the stovetop.
No-Cook Shrimp Salad
Buy pre-cooked shrimp, add chopped celery and green onions and slather it in mayo, sour cream, fresh lemon juice and fresh chopped dill and chives. It is so delicious and light and is great on brioche buns, Boston leaf lettuce, or served with salty, crispy kettle potato chips.
Shrimp or Tilapia Ceviche
Ceviche is a Peruvian dish that is usually served as an appetizer but would be perfect for a light summer meal served with salty tortilla chips that is a seafood dish where diced cubes of raw fish (or shrimp) are marinated in a lemon or lime juice mixture and other seasonings. The fish reacts with the citrus juices to “cure” the fish and it becomes opaque and firm and absorbs lots of flavor. My favorite recipes is from Natasha's Kitchen and is loaded with shrimp, avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, jalapeno, and cilantro.
Summer Sweet Corn Gazpacho
This is a delicious cold, summer soup with all the fresh and bright flavors of fresh garden produce. I’ve really got to talk my parents into making this soup when all their produce is ripe for picking. I am just sure they would love it! The easiest part is all you have to do is prep the ingredients and blend away. The recipe calls for sweet corn, yellow bell peppers and yellow tomatoes to maintain the bright yellow color. This sounded so good it was the one recipe I had to include below because it just sounded too good to not try this summer when all the fresh produce is in season. So don’t forget to save that recipe at the bottom and try it this summer!
What are some of your favorite no-cook recipes for those summer months when you want to beat the heat?
Summer Sweet Corn Gazpacho
This summer sweet corn gazpacho is a creamy, cold soup full of flavor from fresh summer vegetables! It's light, fresh, and perfect for enjoying on a hot summer day!
Prep time:
Serving size: 6
Calories per serving: 132
Ingredients:
Serving size: 6
Calories per serving: 132
4 ears sweet corn
1 small cucumber, peeled and deseeded
1 yellow bell pepper
1 cup yellow cherry tomatoes es, or 1 large yellow tomato
1 small shallot
2 cloves garlic
1 small jalapeno, optional
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
basil oil, optional
fresh sweet corn, optional
heirloom cherry tomato, sliced
fresh basil
flaky sea salt
Directions:
This corn gazpacho really only has 2 steps! Prep the veggies, then blend!
Slice the corn kernels off the cob. Then take each ear of corn and use the back of your knife so scrape any remaining pulp into a bowl. This helps add an even more creamy texture to the gazpacho. If desired, reserve about 1/4 cup of the kernels for garnish.
Peel and de-seed the cucumber (this helps keep the gazpacho from turning green).
Peel the shallot and garlic, then de-seed both the yellow bell pepper and jalapeno.
In a blender combine the corn, cucumber, yellow bell pepper, tomatoes, shallot, garlic, jalapeno, olive oil, lemon juice, sherry vinegar, and salt. Then blend until completely smooth.
If the gazpacho is too thick, you can blend in a little extra olive oil or a couple tablespoons of water until your desired consistency is reached.
Taste and adjust the seasonings as desired!
To let the flavors develop even more, chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.
Then garnish with the reserved corn kernels, sliced cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, and a drizzle of pesto oil and flaky sea salt.
Notes:
This sweet corn gazpacho will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Source: barleyandsage.com
Slice the corn kernels off the cob. Then take each ear of corn and use the back of your knife so scrape any remaining pulp into a bowl. This helps add an even more creamy texture to the gazpacho. If desired, reserve about 1/4 cup of the kernels for garnish.
Peel and de-seed the cucumber (this helps keep the gazpacho from turning green).
Peel the shallot and garlic, then de-seed both the yellow bell pepper and jalapeno.
In a blender combine the corn, cucumber, yellow bell pepper, tomatoes, shallot, garlic, jalapeno, olive oil, lemon juice, sherry vinegar, and salt. Then blend until completely smooth.
If the gazpacho is too thick, you can blend in a little extra olive oil or a couple tablespoons of water until your desired consistency is reached.
Taste and adjust the seasonings as desired!
To let the flavors develop even more, chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.
Then garnish with the reserved corn kernels, sliced cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, and a drizzle of pesto oil and flaky sea salt.
Notes:
This sweet corn gazpacho will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Source: barleyandsage.com
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
Mary Richardson
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
Email the author! mary@dvo.com
