Thursday, June 12, 2008

The start of no cook season

In the summer, the last thing I want to do is turn on the oven, and thus begins my season of "I don't want to cook" season. I still want to eat well, and don't mind preparing food, but turn on the oven and roast veggies, I don't think so. The oven makes the house too flippin hot, even with AC. This is TN afterall.

So, my posts may be a little bit more infrequent because you don't want to hear about chopping up some veggies and tossing them with a nice vinegar and salt. Last night, for example, we used tomatoes and cucumbers from our CSA to make a salad with some nice, expensive Greek sheep / goat milk feta along with some pita bread and hummus. A good dinner, yes, but not exactly a recipe.

I assume many of you feel the same way I do about turning on the oven in 95 degree heat. So, here is an awesome Bittman minimalist article from last summer on some quick summer meal ideas. I hope it inspires you the way it has inspired me.

5 comments:

Nate M. said...

I hear you on not wanting to turn on the oven in this weather. Ugh. It's too damn hot.

michael, claudia and sierra said...

that bittman article was the best - i made and blogged about #3? - i can't recall - and kept the section cut out on y desk for ages - now i just have it bookmarked.

Natalie said...

Scallops are now out of my repertoire. There was an incident. I made lemon shallot scallops one night. They didn't taste right to me, so I didn't really eat mine. My husband decided they were fine and paid for it all night. No more scallops for a couple of years.

Unknown said...

I hear you about the oven. But, to get back to the beets idea I gave you in "prove me wrong", I did that recipe in a bbq grill pan (pan with small holes at the bottom) over hickory wood outside on the grill. I added Smoked Spanish Paprika, a lot of garlic, chunks of onion, salt, pepper and excellent olive oil to my diced veggies, and put them on the grill. Would that help keep the oven off inside, and the beets on your table? And if your CSA left the beet greens on, you can use them just like kale or chard. mmmm, sauteed beet greens in garlic is yummy for my tummy.

Anyway, so what have you decided about your beets? Eat or compost?

Natalie said...

Thanks lannae. Not roasting the beets will help immensely. I did actually eat the beet greens, and I enjoyed them quite a bit. I ended up giving away the actual first set of beets. But I didn't chicken out, mind you, I was just not wanting to turn the oven on and try something experimental with my husband while he was recovering. He is chewing a little bit better now, so I will try your grill method with next week's delivery. With all that follic acid, I've got to eat them.