Hey, Dopers! Now that summer has officially begun, how about a recipe thread to share your favorite summer recipes? All those good ones with fresh tomatoes, garden herbs, or the ubiquitous surplus zucchini. Or your favorites for when it’s too hot and you’re too wilty to turn on the stove.
I’ll start.
Vegetable spring rolls
1 package rice spring roll wrappers
Any or all of the following (how much of each depends on how many you’re serving):
Cilantro and/or basil
Carrots
Cucumbers
Green onions
Yellow squash
Bean sprouts
Tofu (baked or smoked)
Peanut sauce (see below)
Chop the vegetables into matchstick-size pieces. Soak the wrappers in cool water, one or two at a time, until floppy. Then lay them flat and add the ingredients, including the peanut sauce. Roll them up, tucking the sides in to hold everything together. There’s no real right way to do the proportions of veggies, just experiment to find out how you like it best.
Peanut sauce:
¼ c. peanut butter
½ c. coconut milk
¼ c. chopped toasted peanuts
2 Tbsp. fish sauce or 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 tsp. grated ginger
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
Hot chile sauce to taste
Whisk together peanut butter and coconut milk. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well.
And here’s tasty recipe, from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. (A fabulous cookbook that I can’t recommend highly enough.)
Cucumber yogurt soup
1 qt. yogurt, drained for 25 min. (I’m going to try using Greek yogurt next time, but regular works fine)
1/4 C finely chopped parsley
1 1/2 C milk or buttermilk
3 tbsp. finely chopped mint or dill
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
2 cucumbers, peeled if waxed
Combine the yogurt and buttermilk in a bowl. Pound the garlic with 1/2 teaspoon salt in a mortar until smooth. Halve the cucumbers lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, then grate them using the large holes of a grater. Stir the garlic, cucumber, herbs, and oil into the yogurt. Taste for salt and season with pepper and lemon juice. Chill well and serve garnished with mint sprigs. Very cooling and delicious.
I’m sure everyone knows this one, but it’s so tasty and easy.
California Salad
broccoli
carrots
cauliflower
onion
tomato
olives
garlic
Italian dressing or any vinaigrette
Use the above vegetables in any proportion you like. Put them in a lidded bowl or (my preference) a pitcher with a lid. Pour the dressing over the veggies. Shake thoroughly. Refrigerate.
The ones I make have mango slices, bean sprouts, and very thin rice noodles (those have to be cooked, but all you have to do is boil water, pour it over the noodles, wait a little while until they’re soft enough, then drain and rinse in cold water), cilantro, and finely chopped peanuts. I eat them with teriyaki sauce.
I bet adding some tofu would be a good idea for the extra protein.
When it’s really hot, I like to pick up some crab salad from the grocery store (basically crab or faux crab in mayo with onions, spices, and what have you), cook up some pasta and peas, mix it all together, and chill. Easy pasta salad!
We spent the weekend at the Two Bunch Palms spa, where my husband had their “World Famous Gazpacho Soup” and said it was the best he’d ever had in his life. I found the recipe on their website today (scroll down a bit) and made it for him for dinner tonight. Turns out I’d made mine slightly chunkier than they had, and they’d used a bit more Tabasco than the recipe on their site calls for, but he loved it just the same, so I guess it comes highly recommended (I don’t care for it myself, so I couldn’t tell you).
Cut into bite sized chunks any or all of the following:
hard salami
ham
olives
marinated artichokes
other marinated vegetables
tomatoes
red or green peppers
red onion
mozzarella or other cheese
Mix. Eat.