It looks like it’s been a bit since the last good recipe thread, so how about we share some good hot weather meals. I need some new ideas.
I absolutely crave ceviche when the weather gets too hot to heat up the house. On some saltines with tapatio and cold beer.
Lobster rolls. Pretty basic, big chunks of lobster meat, whole claws and split tails if you can, just enough mayo to barely hold it together, celery salt, chopped fresh parsley, and a sprinkle of red pepper on top. Traditionally served on a buttered and grilled New England hot dog roll. But I prefer it on a bed of romaine and a more substantial roll. Don’t overseason it, enjoy the taste of lobster.
And of course charcoal grilled burgers. Does anyone really need the recipe for that?
One of my favorite summertime salads- chickpeas and tuna.
2 cans of tuna
2 cans of chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans)
diced onion (red, white, yellow, green- whatever)
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs lemon juice or any kind of vinegar
salt and pepper
Mix and chill. That’s the basic recipe- you can also add pasta or diced tomatoes or cucumbers or parmesan cheese or whatever else you like. So good.
Some of what we’ve had the last few weeks (it’s been REALLY REALLY hot):
Gazpacho.
Tuna melts (it doesn’t significantly heat the house up when I run the oven for that short of a time.)
Beer brats on the grill.
ANYTHING on the grill - we’ve done hamburgers, chicken breasts made into shishkabobs, italian sausage and hot dogs.
Salads (husband made a chef’s salad, I did a wilted lettuce one)
Various sandwiches (lunchmeat, bacon and various produce was on sale at our good grocery store/deli - we got a bunch of stuff and some good bread and just made sandwiches a couple of days)
Tuna Casserole (I know - not a particularly “hot weather” food - I just had a craving.)
Breakfast for dinner (scrambled eggs and bacon, sausage and french toast, toaster waffles - that kind of thing)
Those frozen Green Giant vegetables and sauce thingies that you microwave (I had the broccoli and cheese, he had brussels sprouts with butter sauce.)
I also roasted a chicken with stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy but that’s cause it was his birthday. So that probably shouldn’t count. Besides, I really HATE chicken cooked that way. I’m SO SICK OF IT! Shishkabobs are ok cause they’re slathered with teriyaki sauce. Or BBQ sauce. But roasted chiicken and gravy - blech. Sorry - I know - Shut Up Missy.
Basically, stuff that’s kind of “light” I guess. Husband did have a brainstorm (only rain we’re GETTING around here - GRRRR) one day and we went to Subway one morning around 10 before it got real hot and got two foot long subs, got condiments on the side, threw 'em in the fridge when we got home and had dinner hours later and we missed the big part of the heat. He’s a genius, that man!
PS - let me know if you want an actual recipe for the Gazpacho or for the Tuna Casserole. Or french toast. Or directions to Subway.
Meh - here it is anyway.
Gazpacho
Gazpacho
2 lbs tomatoes roughly chopped
½ cucumber seeds removed roughly chopped
½ red onion roughly chopped
½ green pepper roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
1 serano chili roughly chopped
1 ½ t kosher salt
Put all together in strainer and let sit an hour.
Use other half of green pepper, red onion, cucumber and cut in ¼” dice and 1 lb of tomatoes in 1/4" dice – leave seeds in (these vegetables are for garnish) add ½ t kosher salt, put in strainer, let sit for an hour.
Take slice of bread and soak in the juices that was drained (garnish strainer). Add soaked bread to the roughly chopped vegetables. Put half of vegetable bread mixture in blender – use ½ cup olive oil (half in first batch, half in second batch) blend till creamy (two minutes) strain into a bowl. Do second batch of vegetables in the blender and blend 2 minutes.
Add half of the diced vegetables (garnish vegetables), 2 T Sherry Vinegar, 2T Parsley, 2T Chives. The rest of the diced vegetables can be sprinkled on top.
Refrigerate two hours.
I made that exact recipe 2 weeks ago and it fucking rocked. Gazpacho Andaluz, right?
Delicious.
This one’s easy:
1 glass
4 ice cubes
Bourbon of your choice
Actually, a good macaroni salad with chilled cucumber chunks and chunks of white cheddar cheese always goes good on a hot day.
Coctail de Cameron. Basically the gazpacho recipe mentioned above plus avocado and shrimp. Mmmm.
Hazle and Missy That sounds awesome!
sparky! Bah, we have that all the time. I’m looking for new recipes.
TriPolar, that also sounds doable.
And to the others who have replied - I love salads, tabouli, macaroni salads, etc. and canned or packaged tuna, but TheElf does not, so I have to balance what I find yummy with what he will eat. I know there are substitutions (canned chicken instead of tuna, for instance) and I am a pretty creative cook when I put my mind to it. I’m just in a cooking rut.
Keep them coming folks! I’m sure lots of us are having the same food rut.
Aha! You want TriPolar’s fantastic chicken salad.
Use canned chicken meat. Add mayo to your liking, very finely chopped celery, parsley, onion if you like, celery salt, black pepper, and the top secret ingredients Craisins and walnuts. That’s right Craisins, the dried cranberries. Use walnuts as coarsely chopped as you like, but add some really finely chopped ones to get the flavor
But don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret.
Fish Salad - the spouse likes tuna, I like using canned salmon. Also works with leftover grilled fish of any sort.
6-8 oz shredded fish (canned or grilled)
2-3 stalks celery finely diced
2-3 finely diced green onions
1/2 finely diced bell pepper (optional)
Lots of dill weed
Mayo or Miracle Whip dressing (your choice)
Best when chilled for a couple hours.
Serve on crackers
Serve on toast with lettuce and other condiments for a sandwhich
Add macaroni or other small pasta for another variation.
I made these two over the weekend. Both were good. Cholesterol city, though.
Pea Salad: Can or bag of cooked peas, sweet relish, mayo to taste. May add diced onions, mild cheese, celery, pimento, or whatever you fancy. Mix together, best if refrigerated a few hours, serve. Good, easy, quick and cool!
Making this today (we just had a pow-wow, the husband and I) and here’s how:
1 lb. small pasta shells (make the whole box)
Finely chopped celery
Finely chopped green pepper
Grated carrot
Finely chopped onions
Those tiny salad shriimp thawed
Mix it all up with mayo and ranch dressing (more Ranch than mayo). If you want, you could put some bacon bits in it too.
It’s basically the “Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad Bacon and Ranch” but with green pepper, celery, onion, and shrimp.
Mooch - I saw it on America’s Test Kitchen - I just typed as they did the show to get the recipe - I don’t know WHAT it’s official name is. 
Any of these salads will taste great stuffed into a tomato.
You just reminded me of one I used to get when I worked at my old employer - shrimp salad in a tomato. (Salad shrimp, diced onion and celery, combined wtih mayo.)
My old employer had a pretty good cafeteria.