Does anyone have any suggestions?
Ice cream and cold beer.
Gazpacho or a cold cucumber soup.
As soon as the tomatoes ripen it will be gazpacho with all the raw vegetables from the garden chopped and added.
Any day now.
Had taboulé with cold hard-boiled eggs this evening. Quick . . and cold.
Any kind of salad as well, especially if none of the ingredients need cooking.
Here’s one we borrowed from a restaurant in Carcassonne a few years ago, the fresh mint makes it more cooling. Watermelon, black olive and cheese salad.
I don’t have precise quantities but for two of us, half a reasonable sized watermelon cut into bite-sized chunks is enough.
Add about 10 black olives per person and at least a dozen fresh mint leaves, cut into thinnish strips. I tear off the leaves, make a pile of them and use scissors.
Add a very small handful of pumpkin seeds for texture. This is for two people, otherwise add more.
Mix together. I don’t add dressing or seasoning but obviously you can.
Decorate with goat’s cheese or blue cheese or a combination of both. A sharp goat’s cheese works well if the blue cheese is creamier or a bit sweeter.
I am making right now:
Tarka Dahl. Very spicy and for tomorrow
Homemade Paneer with fresh milk and lemon juice for a Palak Paneer (for tomorrow too).
Just made pizza dough for Thurs or Friday.
Tonight: Udon noodle soup with some leftover chicken in a ginger and soy sauce marinade plus a bottle of Vhino Verde.
Lunchtime:…generally homemade salad and homemade bread with hummus (homemade of course) and anything else sorta Turkish salad type thing….
Loads of black tea and water to drink.
A crate of cold beer..
Generally, we don’t vary too much and also very happy to eat a plate of pasta in the evening on the basis that cold things might warm you up because your body uses energy to warm the stuff up you swallow.
You’re a better man than I am, cooking things just makes me feel hot atm.
Interesting that you think cold food warms you up because as I understand it, French government advice is to eat cold things.
Put courgettes,peppers , onions and cerise tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and balsamic out in home made solar cooker at 11.30 am and had them with cous cous at 6.30 pm. No cooking, no heat in the kitchen and harnessing the power of the sun, no cost.
I think the advice is also warm showers, I guess because evaporation takes the heat away and cold water won’t take the heat away.. Or have I misunderstood the science?
….well, I remember well my Chinese mum always giving me warm tea when it was hot. Hated it, but it works to cool you down….
Colder water will still evaporate from your body, and it will take more heat energy from your skin to evaporate and cool you more. It should take longer to evaporate though. I always thought warm drinks promoted sweating which removes heat from the body whereas cold drinks, even though they provide temporary relief, inhibit sweating and make you hotter. Sort of counter intuitive.
Edit: Should have read @MikeyPotts post.
My English mum did the same ![]()
…and another thing I still do when hot is to take a like warm shower…..
…I also can’t go to bed unless I have washed my feet too…..
Weird but also from growing up….
..it’s works huh.?…I think back in the day, before sweet soft drinks, a tad of sugar was also added but I long ago stopped adding sugar to builder’s tea…
…another lovely drink to have when it is hot is sweet lassi….but at the moment, difficult to find yogurt in the supermarchés?
I made meatballs with pasta tonight, and they seemed just right. Lots of flavour but not heavy or challenging to eat.
500g 5% fat beef mince
Half a red pepper, very finely diced.
A sprinkle of crispy salad onions
1/3 teaspoon of salt.
Finely chopped coriander leaves
1 tablespoon crushed coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon BBQ sauce
1/2 tablespoon olive oil.
Mix by hand until all ingredients thoroughly combined.
Get the pasta going, assuming it takes 12-15min
Put a small splash of olive oil into a 20cm pan & put on medium heat. Form the meat mixture into 16 small round balls and fry approx 5min/side. Add about 200ml of passata plus a sprinkle of thyme and a few drops of soy sauce (a splash of red wine if you have some handy is nice too) to the frying pan, turn down the heat and stir to make the sauce. Leave simmering very gently.
Drain the pasta, add a splash of olive oil and sprinkle on some grated grana padano or similar cheese, stir in well & serve.
Here, homemade yogurt in my veranda, which has currently been converted into a solar oven ![]()
Nom!…perfect for hot weather!
Nice. I did something similar with sausage meat and gnocchi.