The Coolest Summer Meal.

 The days are going to become unbearably hot,Cooking and even food shopping should be kept to a bare minim um.Yet can a meal and a dessert and a mocktail be made under these skimpy conditions? Yes! A full course meal, light yet filling can be made.

Regular contributor and chef David Tanis wrote about and created recipes that require only a trip to the pantry in today's New York Times  Wednesday section. The salad is as simple mix of charred white beans and seared tuna steak,taken from classic Italian antipasto.The tuna is seasoned with a special mix of sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, coriander and fennel seeds.Cayenne can be added for some heat if desired. The tuna is seared in a cast iron skillet and the interior will be rare. A vinaigrette always makes a salad and Mr. Tanis gives a great one. This is a mix of red wine vinegar and olive oil along with a finely diced red onion and two tablespoons of Dijon  mustard.Everything is mixed with the vinegar first, left to stand and then the olive oil  is added in.Thembeans are marinated inthe dressing for twenty minutes while the tuna is being seared. Keep in mind to have the rare steak each one is only seared for two minutes on each side or until lightly browned.It's then cut crosswise into half inch thick pieces, The veggies and beans are assembled fist with the tuna piece being artfully arranged on the sides

Dessert is a refreshing  lemon ricotta cake. This is a very lemony and moist cake that Mr. Tanis bakes the night before.It can be baked the morning of the dinner.It is a very buttery cake using twelve tablespoons of butter.It is also very creamy thanks to the addition of one pound of whole milk ricotta. Two lemons, their juice and zest are needed along with almond extract for more flavoring. Four eggs are also added for body.The whole mix is whipped in a standing mixer.It's baked in a Springform pan and the finished cake is brush with warm apricot jam . The dinner deserves a palate cleansing mocktail too. This is blended cucumber ,green apple and grated fresh gingerThis is blended in a blender with  two and a half cups of ice water.One teaspoon of sugar is added to emphasize the other flavors.Once, thoroughly blended add only a speck of cayenne for some zing along with the juice from two limes. Salt and peer is added to taste as well as a shot of seltzer for fizz. Ice cubes should be tossed in to give it a refreshing chill.

A summer meal should be both delicious and easy.Try these three recipes to achieve just tha.tThey are perfect on a hot day.