No-Cook Summer Suppers

It's never hot for too long in Montana, but without air conditioning, when it's hot, it's HOT, inside and out. We play games with opening and closing windows, drawing and opening the Venetian blinds, but as I type it is indeed 79 degrees in my kitchen.  One thing we are really loathe to do is turn on the oven or stove when it's hot like this.  When we don't feel like firing up the grill, we go for no-cook suppers.  Here are a few of our favorites:


1.  Bruschetta. Okay, duh, I know! But it really is SO good when tomatoes and basil are at their best.  Our "secret" comes from Cooks Illustrated, which suggests broiling or grilling the bread, then brushing with good olive oil and rubbing with a halved garlic glove while the bread is still warm.  Top with a sliced tomato, a basil leaf and fresh mozzarella.  In that order (ignore the photo) Keeps the basil from falling off, see?


2.  Panzanella.  This is what you do the night after bruschetta when the baguette has gotten a little hard, but you don't want to waste it.  Our recipe comes from The New Southern Garden Cookbook by Sherry Castle, which I have raved about here and here and here.  But this recipe comes from Williams Sonoma's website.  To make it Southern, substitute a small Vidalia onion for the red onion and add some roasted red peppers, cut into strips.


3. Soba Noodles with Ginger Scallion Sauce.  A Pinterest success story(btw, have you seen this funny blog about Pinterest disasters?)! You do have to boil the noodles, but only for 7 minutes or so.



4.  White Bean Salad and Zuchini and Parmasean.  Via Martha Stewart.  Heavy on the lemon/parmasean flavor combination that I love and about which the MM is less enthusiastic.  The man does not like peaches or lemons.  Or yogurt. Weird.  Anyway, this was still a good main course, no-cook salad.

What are your summer no-cook favorites?

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