OK, a stupid question here. As a person who lived the greatest part of her life in two cold countries (Ukraine and Quebec), I know very well what to eat when it’s cold. I have a collection of amazing recipes for the Fall, the winter, the first snow, the biting frost, being snowed in for two weeks, etc.
But what do you eat when it’s +44C (+111F)? I detest cold soups, so any gazpacho-like recipes are out. What else? Salads? That’s great but how many salads can you eat a day? I feel like I have cucumbers growing out of my ears already.
Any suggestions? I have to buy groceries and I have no idea what to get.
And the most important question of all: “Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère”? That’s a question from my favorite playwright Jean-Baptiste Molière and it means, “What possessed you, stupid Clarissa, to move to such an intolerably hot climate, you brainless thing?” Or something of the kind. I read so much Molière as a child that I feel I know his plays by heart.
Clarissa's Blog 
My mother said cold свекольник & окрошка с квасом & turn on AC.
I dislike both those foods, but love cold watermelon from a fridge. And soft drinks (diet coca-cola, etc), even though it isn’t healthy. If you drink water / tea / coffee, then put a huge cup or a bottle/ jar of either in a fridge too.
We have 30C in Israel currently. Despite the heat, I love it more than winter with rains.
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“I dislike both those foods, but love cold watermelon from a fridge. ”
– Me, too!
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Forgot about cold винегрет (or оливье, though it’s considered winter food).
I also like sandwitches with hard cheeses. Not grilled / cooked in any form. Just a thin (relatively) piece of hard cheese on bread. Seems healthier than grilling & definitely colder.
And the question isn’t stupid. I am curious about the answers myself. Too have no ideas, except what said here.
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I live in South Australia and have spent time in South East Asia. You need to add some Thai recipes to your repertoire. Hot spicy food works in hot weather.
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I can’t eat Thai, unfortunately. I tried a couple of times but my body and mind do not perceive it as food.
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Tostadas: You buy these hard tortillas called tostadas, and then you lawyer on top cold mashed beans, shredded chicken, julienned lettuce, queso fresco (or fetta cheese if you can’t find fresco cheese), sour cream and salsa (mild or hot, depending on your preference).
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Interesting! I never tried anything like that.
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Feta cheese wouldn’t work, but shredded cheddar would work, also, olives.
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I need to start getting into olives.
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I eat ice cream and cold cereal when it starts to get really hot, but then I run out of that and start cooking hot food. I don’t have an air conditioner in my apartment, though, so sometimes that makes it worse. On the positive side, I live alone, and tend to make dishes that last me two days to a week. So I might eat cold or mildly warm food regardless.
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Answer to question 1: lots of fruit, chocolate satin pie, ice creams of all kinds, crab, shrimp, lobster salads, hot tea, spicy foods to make you perspire, salt unless you have hyper-tension.
Answer to question 2: wealth and freedom. You do not need to be informed how poor and how unfree you would be in Ukraine, even in Russia at this time. Limited job opportunities in U.S. universities most likely restrict you to the mid-west at this time. California would be much better, year-round, as would Boston, if you like winter cold. At least you do not live in Tornado Alley.
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The area where I live now would be perfect in every way if only it weren’t for these heat waves.
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Do you like pesto? You can make it quickly (use lots of basil, walnuts or pinenuts, garlic, hard cheese, olive oil and whirl in a food processor. I also thrown in spinach or sundried tomatoes sometimes.) Anyway, it’s really wonderful when it’s hot. 🙂
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What do you put it on? Just pasta? Or are there other ways to use it?
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It can be a sandwich spread.
Or you can put it on pasta, to which you add roasted vegetables, e.g. asparagus or red peppers.
Or, another great way is to take a piece of salmon, spread it with 0.5cm pesto layer and bake in the oven at 200C for 30 min. Yummy with boiled fresh potatoes and oven baked veggies (which you can do at the same time as the salmon, on a separate baking sheet covered with oiled baking paper – just pick your favourite vegetable, I like asparagus, peppers, zucchini, aubergine, etc.).
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Like Pika said, it’s great with sandwiches. Over pasta is the classic way. It also tastes good tossed with grilled shrimp and tomatos and served with crusty French bread. 🙂
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Pedro with grilled shrimp and tomatoes sounds perfect.
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Cold fritata? Fish dishes in general. Food from places where they sieast because it’s hot – Greek, Spanish, French Provencal, if you don’t like spicy.
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I love spicy! But not Thai or Vietnamese.
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Try stuff with yogurt in it. A cold salad with yogurt, cucumber and some mild spices. And less meat and more vegetables. I normally love meat, but can’t stand it when its hot.
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Being young and adventure-minded, I always like to take a whole watermelon, carve a hole into it, place a funnel over the hole, and infuse the watermelon with vodka (takes two days for it to fully sink in) then have slices of cold vodka watermelon. 🙂
Non-alcoholic versions of my favourite summer foods include a watermelon salad (Spinach, feta, watermelon chunks, mint, lemon juice and a bit of olive oil) any variation on a cherry recipe, oxtail soup, and lumpia (Filipino spring rolls)
Also, sorry to the rest of the nation for this hideous heat wave. It’s lovely and cool (but sunny!) in Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria, everybody must be green (or sweltering red?) with envy.
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Both my grandfathers always had vegetable gardens growing up, so fresh, juicy tomatoes and cucumbers are a summer staple for me. Not in salads, mind you, just cut up and munched on alone, or as a side with sandwiches for lunch, and with anything for dinner. Strawberries are another favorite. I have been craving watermelon ever since this heat wave started, but I see a couple people have already mentioned that. Pasta salads are another favorite of mine. Summer sausage, cheese, and crackers are a great snack. (or lunch. or dinner…) Yum.
I’ll eat anything during the summer really, so long as I have a glass of iced sweet tea or a cold beer.
Damn, Clarissa. Now I really want a tomato.
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Tomatoes are so amazing. The locally grown ones are delicious.
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I like foods that are a combination of hot and cold. I need at least one “hot” meal a day to feel like a real person (no idea why, it just seems like the “proper” thing to do). So for example I’d like tortillas with a hot meat filling but cold salad, guacamole, salsa. Or nachos. (I’m European so fully aware that that’s probably not the “right” way to have tortillas or nachos but it’s the way I can get them here.) Or generally, have a hot piece of meat, like chicken, on a sandwich with salad and cold sauce/dressing.
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” I need at least one “hot” meal a day to feel like a real person (no idea why, it just seems like the “proper” thing to do).”
– I feel exactly the same.
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Poached fish, which you can cook early in the morning when it’s cooler and refrigerate for later (or eat warm!). The cooking time is short and the heat caused by cooking this way remains low! Then couscous or cold boiled baby potatoes with it.
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And of course, middle eastern foods:
couscous, hummus, tabouleh and tzatziki
with pita.
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This is, indeed, amazing food. This thread keeps making me very hungry.
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Fruit salads, cold cuts, pisto, ratatouille.
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I never even tried pisto. I had to google it.
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Easy to make, filling but also light, and good hot or cold, with an egg or poached fish or grated cheese, or on baguette-like bread, alone or with ham.
Also: ceviche, and sangría. (I should make all this stuff, I have not gotten into the cooking rhythm yet.)
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Chilled baby turnips, chilled sliced kohlrabi, chilled radishes (these i like dipped in butter and salt).
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As someone who is tropical born and bred, I suddenly feel like a total expert.
The trick, Clarissa, is not to focus on food that is actually cold, but that which makes you feel light, yet satisfied. Ours is a rice-heavy cuisine, so you might have to modify this a little for yourself, but this is my summer-favourite lunch:
1. Boiled split red lentils (the ‘Mexican’ brand Goya markets them in the US, I know), sautéd in a teaspoon of oil tempered with Indian five-spices, and perhaps a chopped tomato for extra flavour, so the final thing is a nutritious, delicious, simple and slightly-thin lentil soup.
2. Boiled rice drained of all the starchy-water.
3. Eaten with a refreshing salad made sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, onions in a generous cup of lemon juice flavoured with salt.
Doesn’t sound like much, but try it. It. is. awesome.
And if you’re into lentil soup or savoury, citrusy salads, just whip creamy yogurt with a little sugar and sea-salt (we both have hypertension, so table salt’s off for us). You can add any number of fruits to flavour this basic, cooling yogurt drink (which is also very good for digestation). My favourite is the local mango which is both very sweet, but with an undercurrent of the tart. It is deeee.licious.
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*And if you’re NOT into lentil soup or savoury, citrusy salads
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This lunch sounds amazing. I love lentils and rice. Thank you, I will try it!
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Chicken liver pate. Easy to make and addictive. I find it goes on any bread or crackers with variety of veggies, like tomatoes, cucumbers, and of course, homemade marinated mushrooms.
Steak tartare
Ceviche
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I love chicken liver but never made the pate. This is something for me to learn how to make!
Do you marinate mushrooms at home? I so wish I could learn because I love them.
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my chicken liver pate recipe is very easy: sautee livers with onions, (garlic) and spices, then put in the blender (while still hot so it will melt the butter) with ungodly amount of butter. My marinated mushrooms are technically pickled mushrooms: I just boil them in water with vinegar, salt and spices. Sorry about not being specific with spices, this process involves thinking about the final taste and sticking nose in various jars, so it varies greatly. Both go well with thyme, though.
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