The heat of the Australian summer can sap our energy, the last thing we feel like doing is staying in a hot kitchen to cook hot meals. We need simple, tasty, lazy meals to help us keep cool during hot days.
For a chance to be awarded a Food Challenge Badge, please vote and post below your suggestions, tricks and tips for summer meals.
Go cold (noodle or rice salads with shredded veggies)
Go raw (unprocessed- uncooked food, fruit, nuts, vegetables)
Use appliances that cook quickly and release little or no heat (pressure cooker, microwave)
I suppose I should select āOtherā in the Poll because today, a day of 36 degrees Celsius in Melbourne, I had lunch at a friendās place. They did the cooking!
I guess if I had stayed home, lunch would have been a green salad, soft cheese, nuts and a few of the chocolates Iāve been squirrelling away for the past few weeks
Fortunately tomorrow the temperature will come down and thereās a 90% chance of rain. And Tuesday the max will be 19 degrees Celsius. So Iāll be able to get into the kitchen and cook a hot meal
Modern RC air conditioning plus solar PV provides relief when the temperatures hit either extreme. Some food is best enjoyed cool (oysters, most salads, etc), some just warm (fresh bread rolls) and some steaming hot. Spoilt for choice if one is ready to cook.
It is an individual choice whether we eat raw meat and fish, but thereās many diverse ways of preparing the dishes. Just to name a few: think of Carpaccio (beef, veal, venison) thinly sliced and served with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, a drizzle of Evoo and a little vinegar or lemon juice.
Or Steak Tartare, raw ground beef with flavours including pickled veggies.
Or the Latin American Ceviche: raw fish cured in citrus juice, mixed with sliced red onions and spices.
Or Sushi: raw salmon (or tuna) and rice wrapped in nori.
Iām a big fan of 3 of the 4 options. I prefer my Tuna lightly seared on the outside, and fresh inside.
Beef Carpaccio, Steak Tartare, or an expertly prepared Sashimi Wagyu are all great options.
I can suggest a few more but for a family meal itās always best to find the middle ground.
P.S.
There may be a useful future topic on how to safely select, transport, store and prepare raw meat for any of the above.
If I find a good Lebanese restaurant I am likely to order kibbeh nayeh. Some eat with enjoyment and then wonder when they find out what it is. Life is education.
Certain names for dishes require
translation
kibbeh (patties) nayeh (raw), a popular Lebanese appetiser made of raw lamb or beef meat mixed with onions and grains and formed into balls.
As with any raw protein dish you need to trust the food handling skills of the restaurant, or better DIY. Minced and handled meat in particular need special attention to be safe. If wanting to try it yourself; the meat must remain cold until served, everything (including your hands) must be scrupulously clean and you eat it the day it is made or cook it.
Yes, itās all food but, like different cooking methods, some foods are more appropriate to a certain season/temperature than others.
i.e. In a cold wintry night (and we have our share of those in Vic.) hot soup warms up my kitchen as it cooks and also warms me up with every spoonful I enjoy from my steaming hot bowl.
OTOH on a hot day a bowl of Ice cream just out of the freezer keeps me cool but it doesnāt add to the temperature in my kitchen.
We could also look to a Nobel Prize winning Physicist for ways to reduce the thermal gradient at the cooktop and still enjoy our favourite pasta. Originally intended to save energy and cost it is equally useful in a hot climate.
For those who can prepare ahead and wait patiently itās also possible to save money, energy and heat in the kitchen with the daily coffee. Nobel Prize expertise not required.
P.S.
Iāve only a slight addiction to cold drip coffee. The Capsule style coffee machines are very efficient compared to boiling a kettle for tea or instant. I canāt relate to the second as being coffee, any more.
Today is a very hot day in Melbourne with temperatures in the high 30ās, and will stay in the mid 20ās during the night. But, not to worry, tomorrow will be a lot cooler. Thatās Melbourne!
To keep myself and my kitchen cool Iāve gone ācoldā for my lunch: a chickpea salad dressed with mayo, and a few slices of mozzarella cheese.
As it shows from the poll āAppliancesā lead the way but thereās also a biggish selection of āOtherā. I feel I have failed to offer a wide enough selection on the poll, and Iām curious about what exactly it is that many of you do to keep things cool in your kitchen? So I hope you donāt mind if I ask you to, please, share it with us?
I run the swampy ! Itās usually very dry here so they work really well even well into the 40ās, which is common here in summer. As for foods, I really do just cook what I have a hankering for - a roast when itās 42 in the shade? why not ! I understand thats not to everyones liking though ā¦
As you reiterate, very hot weather doesnāt bother you when cooking or when eating, and thatās understandable as you have acclimatised to the weather conditions you live in.
I apologise for the topic of my challenge being irrelevant to you and possibly to others too.
