when it's too hot to cook
8 heat-wave reprieves
Tuesday, July 5, 2022
Good afternoon!
Justine Snacks is (nbd!) teaching us how to make mozzarella.
A Guide to Some of Asia’s Magnificent Fried Chicken Styles (Eater)
I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend. Ours was a whirlwind of Jersey Shore and Bed Stuy barbecues then watching the fireworks from our roof, the 6 year-old in pajamas, all of us a little sunburned. I’m ready for a full week to recover, but instead took half a day. Real cooking is pretty far from my mind. Even if it’s not the hottest week of the summer, I’m keenly disinterested in turning the oven on but but am happy to participate in light cooking/assembling some ligh happy to assemble things, like a salad, or use the stovetop. Luckily, with everything delicious in season, I’ve got a few ideas. I hope you’ll find a few worth auditioning so that you, too, can stay cool and rested this week.
Cheers,
Deb
✨ My third cookbook, Smitten Kitchen Keepers, will be out in just over four months and I cannot wait to share it with you. I hope you will consider preordering it so it’s deposited at your doorstep the moment it’s out in the world and you can get cooking from it right away. Details here! ✨
Low- and no-cook hot weather favorites
watermelon cucumber salad
Cucumber, watermelon, salted pepitas, and matchsticks of ricotta salata, plus three more suggested riffs at the end in case you also dream of having your oven off until September.
zucchini carpaccio salad
A ribbony, lemony, salad that's flecked with parmesan, punctuated with arugula, and exactly as refreshing as it looks.
mama canales-garcia’s avocado shrimp salsa
When the heatwave demands nothing but chips and salsa for dinner, who are we to argue?
cold noodles with peanut-lime chicken
A colorful bowl of a heat wave antidote, booming with crunch and flavor, as modest on cooking times and dishes that need to be washed as I could manage.
tomato and fried provolone sandwich
Thick slices of cheese, griddled until crisp. Slide it onto toasted bread with a little mayo, and add big slices of the freshest tomatoes you can find, seasoned with salt and pepper. Repeat until tomato season ends.
frozen coconut limeade
This drink solves everything: cool, creamy, icy, but still bright. It makes the stickiest weather seem bearable; it makes you feel like you’re on vacation even if you’re not.
funnel cake
Knots of barely sweetened doughnut strands absolutely blizzarded with powdered sugar are my favorite thing to eat on a beach boardwalk. It turns out it also takes barely 15 minutes to make at home and tastes exactly as good as you remember it.
best hot fudge sauce
This hot fudge sauce is done in 10 minutes and is, unquestionably, the best thing since ice cream on a hot day.
quick, essential stovetop mac-and-cheese
Quick, stovetop mac-and-for that you can have 15 minutes from now, or when an intense need for pasta with a sauce of salty melted cheese strikes and nothing else will do.
shop my favorites
I've created a page on Smitten Kitchen with links to some of my favorite kitchen items, the ones I'm asked about the most. For each item, I've attempted to provide a range of shopping links so we're not just focusing on one giant retailer. Let me know if there’s anything I’ve left off that you need.
See you next week!
