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Hot weather food...


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What is everybody eating in this hot weather?

So, salads could be dodgy and, in any case, are a bit predictable and same-y, what then to put on the table that will tempt appetites and not leave the cook in a state of hot-and-botheredness?

I know that in tropical countries, India par exemple, they eat curries.  But, lacking servants to cook for me, I don't think I can face the faff of preparing curries.

Do say what you are eating and give me some ideas, please, please?

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I had guests yesterday and made a cold vegetable lasagne pressé. Sounds complicated but it's really a doddle:

Line an oiled bread tin with plastic wrap in both directions.

Preparation: Boil three or four lasagne sheets until cooked and keep them in the water;

Take three roasted peeled red peppers and cut into quarters;

Slice and fry thinish slices of green and yellow courgettes;

Assembly: Lay slices of roasted pepper inthe bottom of the prepared tin;

Cover with a slice of cooked lasagne;

Cover with a layer of ricotta cheese and sprinkle with lots of chopped dried tomatoes

Next add a layer of courgettes, then repeat the process until you finish with a layer of lasagne.

Close the lasagne tightly with the cling film . Lay a piece of heavy cardboard wrapped in foil on top of the lasagne and put it in the  fridge weighted with an o.j. carton or whatever in order to press it.

After 24hours remove the lasagne from the tin, unwrap and slice in 1cm slices (any thinner and the slice will fall apart). It looks very pretty with all the colours.

Very important... Season well as it can end up a bit 'fade'. I have fiddled around with the basic recipe and added olives, anchovies and I always serve it with a liquid pesto or a balsamic vinaigrette.

Yum, yum, I'm having the leftovers from yesterday for lunch[:D]

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I make salads based on grains, such as couscous, rice, lentils, bulgar wheat etc. add a dressing and bits of finely chopped veg.

Then have it with cold meat or fish, cheese or eggs.

Kedgeree is also nice on a hot day.

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[quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"]I'm loving Thai and Mexican foods at the moment. The spicier the better.[/quote]

Not me !!  I really can't have hot food.  I must be very French from that point of view. To me, it hides the taste of food, and transforms me into a dragon , spitting fire.

I recently bought a " salsa" for fajitas, too hot for us, we added some crème fraiche, then it was perfect to our taste .

We're all different !

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[quote user="cooperlola"]

[quote user="Gemonimo"]I just edited the recipe..... I should have posted lcm (min) not 5cm!![/quote]D*mn because I thought for a moment you might be adding the missing meat.[Www]

(Sorry, Gem.  [:)]  Bad carnivore joke.)

[/quote]

[:D][:D][:D] I'd love to know how it turns out when anyone makes it.

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[quote user="Gemonimo"]

I had guests yesterday and made a cold vegetable lasagne pressé. Sounds complicated but it's really a doddle:

Line an oiled bread tin with plastic wrap in both directions.

Preparation: Boil three or four lasagne sheets until cooked and keep them in the water;

Take three roasted peeled red peppers and cut into quarters;

Slice and fry thinish slices of green and yellow courgettes;

Assembly: Lay slices of roasted pepper inthe bottom of the prepared tin;

Cover with a slice of cooked lasagne;

Cover with a layer of ricotta cheese and sprinkle with lots of chopped dried tomatoes

Next add a layer of courgettes, then repeat the process until you finish with a layer of lasagne.

Close the lasagne tightly with the cling film . Lay a piece of heavy cardboard wrapped in foil on top of the lasagne and put it in the  fridge weighted with an o.j. carton or whatever in order to press it.

After 24hours remove the lasagne from the tin, unwrap and slice in 1cm slices (any thinner and the slice will fall apart). It looks very pretty with all the colours.

Very important... Season well as it can end up a bit 'fade'. I have fiddled around with the basic recipe and added olives, anchovies and I always serve it with a liquid pesto or a balsamic vinaigrette.

Yum, yum, I'm having the leftovers from yesterday for lunch[:D]

[/quote]

 

Where do you get your 'dried' tomatoes from. I have never seen or used them.  I am very curious.  Especially as friends in France, with family from near Bari in Italy didn't know what they were either. They do know fields and endless fields of tomatoes.

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Where do you get your 'dried' tomatoes from. I have never seen or used them.  I am very curious.  Especially as friends in France, with family from near Bari in Italy didn't know what they were either. They do know fields and endless fields of tomatoes.

I dry my own.  I always seem to have futures in tomatoes and living alone I can't eat them all and there is no point in giving them away - everyone else has tons, too.

I take out the 'tail' then cut them in half vertically. I then put them face down on an oven tray which I have oiled and covered with herbes de provence, pepper and sea salt. I then turn them over and put the tray in the oven at 120degrees and let them dry out for a few hours.  It's worth keeping your eye on them as they can go from nearly done to overdone in a matter of minutes. I like mine not too dry but chewy.  In the autumn when I'm drowning in a sea of tomatoes I dry them and freeze them in bags of 200g and use them all winter - a bit of sunshine on a cold day.  I preserve red peppers this way, too.

 

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Where I used to live had old italian connections and so our surfeit of tomatoes was always made up into italian tomatoe sauce, I'd freeze mine in useable batches, but most neighbours put them in bocaux. All the surfeits of fruit and veg seemed to go into bocaux.

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[quote user="Judith"]Cold pasta - no way .... horrible.  Nothing wrong with a spot of salad, tomatoes, cold meats, cheese, bread, wine etc ... Why make it difficult ?
[/quote]

But, Judith, do you not like pasta salad?  For example, made with tuna, sweetcorn, good mayonnaise, some chopped onions and a fistful of fresh herbs?

I make this for picnics.

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I make pasta salad, but I have to say that it is not something I 'like', just penny pinching and using up left overs usually. I like lots of the other things that can be made salady including rice, and will boil up rice for a salad.

In France two of my neighbours had a right barny one day. One said that they had their cold pasta heated up with milk and sugar, which actually sounded fine to me, and the other neighbour nearly had a fit and swore that if they ever ever offered him that that he would never speak to them again, he was livid. As things turned out, I really wish that they had offered him that dish.......... but helas they did not.

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Hey, ericd, I made the dressing you recommended today.  Yes, I make it more than my old viniagrette these days because I prefer it.

Lashings of olive oil, some good, hot moutarde de Dijon and a few fat cloves of garlic..............

Also, I put some sprigs of lavendar in the tomato salad as they look pretty and summery and add a touch of that je ne sais quoi (whatever that is![:P][:D])

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