Today was HOT. As in, 90 degrees and you aint got no air conditioner hot. And you know what they say-- "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Cooking in the summer kind of sucks-- voluntarily increasing the temperature in your kitchen by 350 degrees is a wee bit insane. If you're gonna do it, it better be for something good. So, I invited my friend Eileen over to cook dinner.
She brought snacks...
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| strawberry stems, olive & cherry pits, fig peel |
These pickled green beans were soo good! Have y'all ever pickled anything before?? Would you be interested in seeing us have a go at it?
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| summer food-z |
We both had fish on the brain, so I picked up some Haddock from the grocery store on my way home. I started by slicing up some zucchini and onion, and baking it for about 20 minutes at 350(kill me), with s+p, olive oil and a little dried parsley.
I gave Eileen the task of coming up with a salad... She decided to serve it on top of a roasted portobello cap. Four of them were roasted with our fishy-vegetables at 350.
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| weeeird science |
What made up the salad was another story altogether. We're all about experimentation around here. As is Eileen. So she decided to sauté some corn...
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| bundt pan + corn-on-the-cob = de-cobing made easy |
and onion in a little olive oil.
She bedded it on top of the mushroom cap with a homemade vinaigrette. It was not only beautiful, but incredibly flavorful and scrum-diddly-umptious.
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| sexy salad |
Once the zucchini and onion had about 20 minutes to cook, I added some sliced tomatoes and lemons...
...topped it with fish and a couple pats of butter, baked and then broiled it until fork-tender.
I also picked up some strawberries and avocado, whipped up a light salad and added a little crumbly goat cheese, which turned out to be an excellent edition to an old favorite.
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| almost like dessert |
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| colorful, no? |
Summer eating is so much different up north, because the seasons are much less blurry than in Florida. For this reason, cooking (for me at least) is a lot more thoughtful, keeping in mind whats in season (and what isn't miserable to cook when my kitchen is already millions of degrees).
How about you-- what food screams epitome of summer? What do like to cook when the weather is hot?
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I love summer chicken salad and pasta salad. and salad with fruit in it. and salami sandwiches and tuna sandwiches! and picnics!
ReplyDeletep.s. thanks for the fish recipe! we might cook that tomorrow- i'll let you know!
Yum, those salads look out of control!! In a good way.
ReplyDeletethat fish looks delish and I love the idea for the corn on the cobb/bundt pan. AND the idea of salad on a mushroom cap is genius. Everything looks so good. Oh yeah Katie, I LOVE picnics too (and parades!!)
ReplyDeleteThe fish looks so fresh and delicious! Perfect for summer. I am trying it out on some salmon tonight! Who know how it will go with my cooking skills though. Perhaps since its made in the oven my chances for success are greater?
ReplyDeleteyumyum..hey are those chickpeas in the mushroom salad??
ReplyDeleteThey are! Somehow I forgot to mention them...
ReplyDeletem