Taboule with a little extra lime/lemon juice and tomatos. Avocado is good, too. Chill well overnight.

cucumbers and onion in vinegar/oil. Delicious. You can add tomatoes if you like tomatoes. (I do not like raw tomatoes.) Adding some fresh mint is nice, too.

Oh man, I am so going to rock this thread in the morning....

:)

We do a farm-to-city program once a week and get a bunch of fresh veggies we need to go through quickly. Rice paper rolls are a great, tasty way to eat raw veggies.

Among other stuff, we're getting bok choi, spring onions, snap peas, arugula, lettuce, squash, garlic scapes, and lots of pesto and cinnamon basil.

On the side, we buy some cucumber, cilantro and mint, and lightly wok-fry up slices of tempeh in sesame oil. Put aside some peanut sauce, chopped ginger and soy sauce.

Wash and chop up the veggies, prepare the herbs. Put them in separate bowls with the different sauces. Put a big bowl of water in the middle of the table.

Soak the rice paper in the bowl but running it underneath the water. You just want to get it wet and then take it out, put it on your plate. The water will soak in and make the rice paper soft.

Fill the middle of the roll with your veggies, tempeh (if you like), herbs and sauce.

Fold up the roll on the sides, roll it up like a crepe and fold in the middle to tighten up.

Eat. Repeat. It's very light eating, a bit of prep work, but perfect for the summer. And lots of fun with guests over.

Well, it isn't healthy, but when it gets too hot to bake, I make freezer cookies. I just made a batch yesterday. Since you don't need to use the oven and heat up the house, and because they are delicious.

How do you make them, Sass? The recipes I'm seeing just call for freezing the dough before baking.

Hang on while I take off my woolly gloves and think warm thoughts.

Ah, that's better.

Gazpacho (for one)
250g (8oz) Ripe, good quality tomatoes
Half small cucumber
One spring onion (em, eshallot? scallion? like a very little leek, you know the things)
Half small red capsicum (bell pepper? red pepper?)
Clove garlic
15ml (tablespoon) extra virgin olive oil
15ml (tablespoon) sherry vinegar (else a good red wine vinegar, probably not balsamic though)
Small slice day old bread, chopped and soaked in water
200ml (8 fl oz) Passata
Dry sherry (good quality Fino, Manzailla, or Amontillado) to taste

Peel, deseed, and coarsely chop tomatoes
Dice cucumber and pepper
Finely chop spring onion
Crush garlic
Squeeze water out of bread

Reserve some of the veg for garnish
Blend the rest (including the garlic), with some passata, vinegar and sherry
(Take care adding liquid as you will want to get the consistency and flavour balance right; you might not use all the liquid listed above, or you might use it all and still need to add a little water)

Chill (have a glass or two of sangria or sherry while you wait) and serve, garnished with the reserved veggies.

Note: you could roast both the garlic and the pepper before using them, but it's not really necessary.

Ok taz so the major thing to remember is that I never use recipes. But! here is a reasonable sort of recipe, to taste:

First, mix dry ingredients (1/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup confectioners sugar, 3 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 tsp salt) in a big ass bowl. then, add in 3/4 cup peanut butter, 1/4 cup butter or margarine, a couple splashes of vanilla. Mix it all together until it's doughy. If it's too wet, add more confectioners sugar. Too dry (crumbly) add more pb.

Then roll into small balls (ping pong sized). Set aside. Melt in a double boiler 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, splash o vanilla, and a couple of pats of butter. Melt until melty. Add a sprinkle or two of the confectioners sugar. Dip the dough balls into the chocolate melty stuff and then lay them to rest on some parchment paper. They will look like truffles. When they cool, toss them in some more confectioners sugar, throw them in some ziplock baggies, and throw them in the freezer for at least an hour.

They are delicious. They are like a cross between a peanut butter cup, a cookie and a truffle. They last in the freezer forever and don't make your kitchen all hot and sweaty.

Finely chopped garlic, finely chopped shallots, loosely chopped cucumber, cubed tomatoes, crushed pepper, sea salt, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Marinate the cucumbers in the balsamic and then salt the tomatoes. Mix pepper with the shallots and toss lightly with some olive oil. Let all sit for an hour.

Drain balsamic from the cucumbers and the excess juice and salt from the tomatoes and mix both with the shallots. Yummy.

For variety use rice, red wine, white wine, or cider vinegar in place of the balsamic. Finely sliced strips of sweet peppers are also a nice addition.

Thanks, Sassy; those sound so delicious. I'm dieting at the moment, but I might treat us to a wild weekend when mr. taz is back in town for a couple of days. :)

These are all fantastic ideas, kids. I was getting in a greek salad/chickpea soup/veggie pasta rut, so I really need this. also, I yellow-dotted my own post! Hee!

I like this with a hunk of bread:

Mediterranean White Bean Salad

4 Cups cooked or canned white beans
2 ripe tomatoes
1/2 Cup slivered red onion
1 yellow bell pepper in 2-inch strips
2 Cups torn up lettuces

Dressing: 1/4 C. olive oil, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 large garlic clove, pressed, 1/4 tsp salt, pepper

Combine veggies and beans. Combine dressing ingredients, whisking until blended. Pour dressing on veggie-bean mix, toss, and let sit 4 hours to marinate. Serve on a bed of lettuce.

This is the perfect summer lunch, and also makes a nice first course at dinner.

Insalata Caprese

You will need:

Tomatoes, preferably Romas, but whatever you have that is fresh will do in a pinch.
Fresh mozzarella – not the plastic stuff that’s indistinguishable from its wrapping, but the stuff that comes in little balls that are kept in water. (I have a theory that this recipe would also probably work with goat cheese or feta, but I’ve yet to try it.)
Fresh basil – if you’re not growing you own, you really should. DO NOT USE DRIED BASIL IN THIS RECIPE.
Extra virgin olive oil. Don’t scrimp here – get the best you can afford. Trust me.
Salt – I like kosher salt for the extra crunch it provides, but table salt will work.
Pepper – fresh ground, black.

Here’s the deal:

Slice the tomatoes into little round wheel-like slices. (If you don't have Roma tomatoes, wedges will do nicely.) Slice the mozzarella into similar rounds. On a plate (one for each person being served), alternate a slice of tomato, a slice of mozzarella, and a basil leaf. I have also seen this served with the basil scattered over the top of the tomato/mozzarella alternation; make your own call here, but I like the idea of a leaf per t/m unit. Now, drizzle the whole thing with the olive oil. Do not drench it – just a nice, light coating is what we’re shooting for here. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Serve with some nice crusty bread, maybe a few kalamata if you have them on hand, and a glass of white wine – nothing says summer like Vinho Verde. I’m partial to Arca Nova, myself. Really, though, any relatively dry white would be good.

Recipe? You mean the instructions on the back of the box that tell me how many minutes to microwave it for, right?

I'd love to learn to cook, but I'm terribly picky about what goes into my food and I don't have a well-furnished kitchen. But I don't like being one of those helpless-in-the-kitchen men! Equality goes both ways and stuff. But I cook up the best damn scrambled eggs and bacon there are on this earth, so I'm confident that if I just learned how, I'd be a culinary genius unlike any other (for better or for worse). I'm clever to the point of deviousness about flavor, cooking conditions, and just the love that goes into every dish.

Also: Hello bmarkey!

Hey bmarkey, long time no see. Nice recipe too.

Oh, oh, I almost forgot. Socca!

I'll give metric measures only because it took me ages to get it just right. If I give imperial eqivalents, you'd just have to go through the trial and error yourselves to get it right.

Socca
180g Chick Pea Flour*
250ml Water
90ml Good quality olive oil (+ a little more for the tin)
Tsp salt
2-4 sprigs fresh rosemary

Mix the oil and water in a bowl
Sift in the dry ingredients**
Whisk to the consistency of a firm batter
Preheat oven to 425°F / 220°C
Let mixture stand for an hour or two

Take two pizza tins (thin, NY style)
Grease pizza tins with olive oil
Pour in batter
Sprinkle rosemary over mixture
Bake until golden brown (about 20-30 mins)

Serve with green salad, Greek salad, or similar. IT wouldn't hurt to drizzle a little more olive oil over it.

* AKA Gram flour, Besan, Garbanzo flour. Try Indian shops if you can't find it

** There are regional variations. Some include ground cumin seeds (a dry ingredient obviously) instead of rosemary. Others use different flours.
A mix (about 50/50) of chick pea flour and buckwheat flour is traditional somewhere (Corsica?). Once you get the hang of it you can experiment.

Our pseudo-Mediterranean salad of the moment...

Boil: 400g small new potatoes
Hard-boil 3 eggs
Boil/steam 100g-ish green beans

Halve the potatoes, slice the eggs & put in a bowl with the beans and:

1 red onion, finely sliced.
A half dozen ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
A good handful of pitted black olives
50g-ish feta, cubed.

Then, for the dressing, mix:

1 small clove of fresh garlic, chopped/crushed
2 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp lime juice
5 tbsp x. virgin olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Some basil leaves, chopped
1 smidgeon honey
Salt, pepper

Combine Let it stand for a half hour or so & voilà, Bob’s your uncle. Some avocado goes nicely in there too, otherwise customise as predilection dictates.

Wow! Yummy, yummy things.

So, guess what! I found rice paper wraps a la Alex (amazing), and even... (drum roll) tofu! (Forget tempeh - I nearly fell over that I found tofu.) Mad-expensive though, so I guess I won't be tofu-ing it up too often.

Hi, bmarkey!

Saga cheese and watermelon cubes. Saga is a cross between mild blue cheese and brie. Take a small bite of the saga and follow it with a bite of watermelon. I was going to do this as an appetizer but it ended up being dinner!

Oh this makes me hope that the floody rains have not completely destroyed my veggie garden. It all sounds so awesome.

My constant summer lunch is garlic hummus and whole wheat pita with a side of canteloupe and a dollop of vanilla yogurt to dip the fruit in. It's pretty much all I want to eat when the weather gets warm, healthy as hell and diet-friendly.

I am big on the tostada made with corn tortillas, grilled, and piles of greens dressed with lime juice and olive oil, topped with beans, tomatoes, cukes, grilled chicken, red onion, and the like.

Many people have heard of my grilled corn with lime and tabasco butter. It's killer. That's pretty much all it is: Grill corn with the husk off, melt some butter, squeeze some lime juice into it, pour some tabasco into it, and brush on the corn as it grills. Serve extra with the finished corn. Do be careful not to over-lime the butter; they need to be in balance.

More with limes: pickled peppers with limes. Slice up red, green, yellow, and orange peppers, limes, and red onions into thin rings. Put them in a plastic container and squeeze lime juice generously over them. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Add jalepeno slices from a jar. Let all this sit for a day or so and then you'll have the tangiest, most delicious thing ever; it's a good fajita topping, but I can eat it as a sort of cold salad just as happily.

I like limes so much that i have recently crossed over into being able to eat them like an orange, sprinkled with a teeny bit of salt. I attribute this penchant to having had one too many margaritas in life.

Finally, last night LT reminded me that I often prepare something people call my 'famous' strawberry shortcake. What's ridiculous is that it's so super basic that it should not be at all famous -- but most people don't make strawberry shortcake any more, so it seems great to them. Basically, you make a recipe of bisquick biscuits, but instead of separate biscuits you make one giant biscuit and bake it. Slice your berries, sprinkle with just a little sugar to macerate, let them have a couple hours to get happy. Then take your giant biscuit and cut the top off. Pour the berries over the biscuit, top with unsweetened whip cream, and serve in pie slices. Aw yeah babe.

Speck’s spicy Thai noodles:

1 package buckwheat soba noodles
1 large red bell pepper
5-6 green onions (white and green parts)
large handful sugar snap peas
optional: small handful Thai basil leaves
optional: broiled chicken breast or tofu

Sauce:
6 T smooth peanut butter
1 T cider vinegar
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
cayenne to taste (lots)

-Cook noodles, rinse with cold water.
-Chop pepper and onions (I like to leave the pea pods whole), add to noodles.
-Mix all sauce ingredients thoroughly, adding HOT water by the tsp until sauce turns light tan and milky.
-Toss and enjoy! Better the second day, after the garlic mellows.

P.S. I guessed at the amounts on the sauce; I don't really use recipies. Adjust accordingly.

I just made this recipe a couple nights ago--super quick and way tasty. The mint gives it a cool hint that makes it great for summer.

Green Bean and Tomato Salad
1lb green beans, cut into 1" lengths
1lb cherry or grape tomatoes
2 oz crumbled feta cheese
4 leaves fresh basil, minced
3 leaves fresh mint, minced
2T lemon juice
Sprinkle salt

Microwave steamer

In the base of the steamer, combine the lemon juice and an appropriate amount of water. Layer the beans on the top rack, cover, and microwave for 4 minutes, or until crisp-tender. Allow to cool slightly.

Combine the green beans, tomatoes, basil, and mint in a bowl, sprinkle with salt, and stir/toss to distribute. Sprinkle the feta cheese on top.
-------
I'm also a big fan of packet-fish and chicken, which is great for a single person.

Basically, take a big sheet of aluminum foil and fold it in half to get a square. Put a piece of parchment paper on top. Put a chicken breast or fish filet (sole works really well) in the middle.

Now get creative! I've done roma tomatoes, lemon juice, ginger, and cayenne (mix the wets, pour on top, add diced tomatoes); I've done granny smith apple slices and rosemary; squashes and green beans/snow peas can work well (but not too many as they take a while to cook). Citrus is great. Pop in the oven at 400F for about half an hour (depends how thick it is), let sit for a few minutes, then open (be careful of the steam).

REALLY nice to do is a takeoff on the Panera Fuji Apple Chicken Salad--do a packet chicken with granny smiths and rosemary. Let it cool. Chop up a couple of apples, a red onion, wash some lettuce, combine. Add chicken, a handful of pecans, and some cheese (I don't personally care for gorgonzola that much and would probably go for feta instead.) Try a citrus variation with mandarin oranges and lemon juice/orange juice on the chicken.

Fuzzbean, it's an eponysterical recipe!

Cold sour cherry soup. That's not exactly how I do it, but whatever. I don't consider sour cream "optional", either.

Has the Mecha recipes blog been dormant? This stuff should go on there for posterity.

I'll update it when I get home from work tonight

One of my favorite summer dishes is an orzo pasta salad. It may be served warm or cold. Here's a general guideline to the recipe. I usually just eyeball everything.

1-1/2 C uncooked orzo pasta
1 C frozen peas, thawed
1/2 C crumbled feta cheese
2 teaspoons lemon juice (fresh is best)
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Italian dressing to coat
Black pepper and oregano to taste

Boil the pasta for about 9 minutes and then add the frozen peas to thaw out in the pot as well, for 1 additional minute. Drain. Toss orzo and peas with Italian dressing. Stir in cheese, lemon juice, zest, and pepper.

Mmm I need to make some. It's delicious.

Well, it wasn't when I got home from work, but I've updated the cooking blog.

I have learned from Mexican cooking that there are many, many things that can be made extra-delicious with a squeeze of tart citrus juice, a sprinkling of salt and a dash of cayenne pepper. My favorite is jicama, but it works with lots of things (including seafood of course). Mmmmm ceviche.