Heatwave Recipe Recommendations
The heat’s been brutal this summer but we still gotta eat! If you’re like me, heat might suppress your appetite, and the last thing any of us want is to sweat over a hot stove and oven when it’s already boiling outside. Here are some of my favorite hot-weather recipes to keep hydrated and fed with when the weather is unbearable! (All recipes should be un-paywalled).
NYT’s best gazpacho (lives up to its name!!)
Persian cold cucumber soup (if you like tzatziki you will like this!)
Eric Kim’s cold noodles with tomato (infinitely riffable Korean flavor profile — for a creamier and less brothy take, try these cold sesame noodles too)
Vietnamese chicken and herb salad (this is an excellent time to get a rotisserie chicken so you don’t have to turn the oven on)
Radish sandwiches with butter and salt (and in a similar vein, if you dig this flavor combo you should try this Polish cottage cheese dip on some good rye bread or even crackers)
It’s still a little early in the season, but you can never go wrong with a BLT (or, if you don’t eat bacon, try this tomato furikake sandwich in its place)
Infinite iterations of pasta salad! You can use anything you got but here is a template I like.
Assorted dense bean salads. This back pocket canned salad is a weird combo of jarred ingredients but it slaps, this hoagie-inspired one is super satisfying, and cowboy caviar is a classic for a reason.
Poke bowls! Canned tuna mixed with some kewpie mayo and sriracha is a budget-friendly riff on the usual ahi and makes everything taste like a spicy tuna roll, but use whatever proteins you like, this is more of a loose template.
Please feel free to add some of your own favorite summer recipes in the replies and comments! We’ll get through this together. 🤝🤝🤝
If you can buy pre cooked or canned beets at the store, chłodnik (beet yogurt soup) is a great choice. You can leave out the radishes if you can’t get them.
I also love sardines on fresh bread and butter with assorted vegetables. Buy the fanciest canned sardines you can afford but even regular ones are pretty good. Plus, very healthy!
This requires cooking some of its ingredients but here's another eastern European cold soup that I like:
Cold summer soup Okroshka is made with boiled and fresh vegetables, eggs, fresh summer herbs, and meat. Perfect option for hot summer days
I make it vegetarian by leaving out the meat and adding some white beans + upping the seasoning
Korean icy cold noodles are so savory and refreshing, they are an awesome way to cool down in the summer but I eat them all year round. Why?
its a bit elaborate, but im a big fan of mul-naengmyeon! its a cold noodle soup :] maangchi has a cute video for it here
https://thewoksoflife.com/spicy-cold-tofu-liangban-dofu/
i always try to have at least one block of shelf-stable silken tofu on hand so i can make this
