Aaron Hutcherson
THE WASHINGTON POST – While I love summer – and all the delicious pumpkins, stone fruits, watermelons, and other products that the season brings with it – I hate how my humble apartment kitchen turns into a makeshift sauna during these months, and me too means spending as little time as possible in one’s own four walls.
Going outside and lighting up the grill is one way to escape the kitchen, but that requires standing in front of a burning fire, which doesn’t really help in the heat.
For those looking to stay cool during the hottest time of year, here are seven tips on how to feed yourself and your family without breaking a sweat (too much).
PARTS OF MEAL DELIVERED
While there’s a time and place to bake bread from scratch or make your own gnocchi, summer doesn’t have to be.
Go the Sandra Lee, semi-homemade route and let someone else do at least some of the cooking for you. Grab a fried chicken or a bucket of fried chicken with a simple side dish for a full meal, or grab something that’s already in your freezer if you don’t feel like defying the outdoors.
And on evenings when you really want to take it easy, there is always take away or delivery.
Get something to take away to make it easier for you Prepare your ingredients
MAKE LOW AND NON-COOKING DISHES
Limiting the use of your stove is an easy way to keep your kitchen cool. Gazpacho is probably one of the first dishes that comes to mind – it’s a great option, but there’s only so much cold soup I can make.
No-cook dishes can also be prepared from ceviche, hearty salads and dips such as Le Grand Aioli or hummus.
When you’re ready to heat water, you can add rice noodle dishes (which just need to be soaked in warm water) or instant couscous (which come to life after pouring boiling water over them and let them soften for some time) in a few minutes and then fluffed up with it
a fork).
Every experienced cook knows the concept of mise en place, which means that at the beginning you put together everything you need for a recipe.
However, knowing and doing are not always the same as when working on a recipe I tend to cook and cook at the same time. The benefit of having all of the ingredients measured, diced, and sliced as needed before the actual cooking begins is that you can spend less time on the stove and heat up your kitchen while you pause the recipe to go after Look for a can of coconut milk or a potato, peel and dice.
HUG THE TOASTER OVEN (AND OTHER SMALL APPLIANCES)
I tend not to turn my stove on in the summer so I don’t melt like the bad witch or get an astronomical electricity bill for keeping the air conditioning on all the time to cool my apartment down.
However, you can get the same (or at least very similar) results with countertop appliances, including toaster ovens, microwaves, and of course, multicookers (aka
Instant pots).
As an added bonus, these appliances use less energy than your traditional oven, which makes them more environmentally friendly.
SHIFT YOUR SCHEDULE.
Sometimes timing is everything. Try moving your cooking chores early in the morning or late at night when it’s cooler outside, and then just warm your food or take it straight out of the refrigerator when it’s mealtime. (Related: Keeping the kitchen curtains closed can keep some of the sun and heat away.)
DO ADDITIONALLY
If you choose to cook, prepare enough to eat at least one more meal or two.
Doubling the yield of a recipe doesn’t necessarily require twice the effort, which means that each serving will use less energy overall for larger batches.
And if you’re worried about eating the same leftovers over and over, put some of them in the freezer to eat a few weeks later and the dish will feel like new.
BUT DO NOT BE EXTRA
Summer is there to relax, so follow the United States (US) Navy KISS design principle, which stands for “keep it simple, stupid” because sometimes just is best. Especially at this time of year when the products are so beautiful, you don’t have to do a lot to make them shine.
Just pick a ripe tomato and you are well on your way to a delicious tomato sandwich. And if you don’t have a lot of fresh produce available, there are always pantry recipes that come together in 20 minutes, such as jackfruit tacos or spicy
Peanut noodles.
