Don't Cook This Summer!

Every one hates cooking and baking when the temps soar. It makes you hot, crabby and uncomfortable, Yet to have delicious meals and desserts, you do have to use a hot oven, right? Wrong! There's a new cookbook out there that begs to differ.

Matt Kady has written  the perfect summer cookbook - one with stove free recipes.Yup, The No Cook, No Bake Cookbook has dozens of these that feature every meal made without the use of a burner or oven. It's a Ulysses Press book and it's a great one to have, especially if you hate any kind of cooking during the summer months or if you're staying in a summer house. Most of the recipes require all natural ingredients like rolled oats and fresh fruits and veggies (easy to get now with all the farmers markets and farms selling produce). They are easy to whip up and require really no effort.

The recipes are tasty and flavorful. You can start the morning with easy fruit wraps which is kind of like a cold blintz with a fruit coulis.There are also smoothies and even a variation of V-8 juice.Mr. Kady's lunch sandwiches would be  perfect for a beach party or park picnic., There are the colorful sardine sandwiches, chopped sardines with red onions, bell peppers and celery and  pizza stacks , cold made mini pies.You can definitely use some of the recipes such as the tomato cherry bruschetta and chickpea pitas. End with the no bake  almond thumbprint cookies or mango fool.

You don't have to  be tied to your stove to create tasty dishes and treats. Follow Matt Kady's The No Cook No Bake Cookbook and you'll have an entire cornucopia of easy to make foods. They're the perfect dishes to make during these hot, steamy days,

The Versatile Tuna

Tuna is one of the better and tastier foods of summer dining. There's a lot to be done with it . Different types can be grilled or thrown into a salad for easy cooking.Its one of those diverse types like poultry that can be prepared in so many ways.

Tuna can be great grilled on planks in the backyard. Any supermarket or fish market will have yellowfin or ahi tunas They're heartier than the albacore tuna that's sold in cans. These have a pinker meat and a heartier flavor. Ahi tuna can be used in sushi or better yet grilled.Most home chefs usually grill it.It can be marinated in soy or ginger sauceor left plain. Tuna steaks can also just be seasoned with salt and pepper along with  a squirt of lime or lemon juice.You can also bake them as well usually for only ten to fifteen minutes in a 400 degree oven.Some even prefer the easiest method of pan frying or broiling for a few minutes.

Canned tuna or albacore has always been a summer staple. Everyone loves a good tuna salad sandwich loaded with mayo along with chopped celery and onions. It's even good mixed in with plain macaroni ans a quick but filling salad. However albacore is good in any Provencale recipe. Try making a salad Nicoise with  a can of tuna in oil, hard boiled eggs and black olives along with regular salad bowl ingredients.Another Southern French specialty is spreading tuna on split open baguettes. Rub the bread with garlic cloves before adding the fish and sliced beefsteak tomatoes. You can also stuff peppers and tomatoes with tuna too for a fun and different lunch.

Make tuna a summer staple.It's a tasty and versatile fish. Tr y yellowfin or ahi on the grill at a barbecue or have a Provencale inspired sandwich or salad. Either way it's just a nice way of keeping it simple yet delicious during these summery days.

Too Many Cooks

It seems anyone can be cook nowadays.I recently caught both Trisha Yearwood an The Pioneer Woman on their own shows.Maybe we haveThe FoodNetwork to thank for this new wave of anyone can be a chef.The problem is that sometimes the wrong people are showing how to cook. Trisha Yearwood is probably a great singer.She has fans and she tops the country charts.I'm sure like all country gals she loves to cook but to have her own show.That's something beyond belief. even Paula Deene is another matter.She had her own recipe and is well versed in all aspects of the culinary world .She knows food. even Giada DeLaurentus with her Hollywood and Cine Citta connections (her grandfather is the great director Dino DeLaurentus) knows food and how to create it.HeWatching her and reading her books are true learning experiences.Ms.Yearwood,I don't know.I've seen one show and as both a foodie and a home cook was not impressed. Then there's the bloggers gone famous. I also saw an episode of Pioneer Woman cooking.I knew she was famous for her blog and I've even used it for reference for this one.Yet to give her her own show maybe it's pushing it a bit much.Although that said, there are plenty of bloggers out there who also use YouTube to not only show how to cook but also promote themselves themselves.I often wonder. What's happened to just plain writing about food similar to what every newspaper food writer does.Julia Moskin or Jeff Gordonier of the Times probably will never ha e their own show or following on YouTube.There's much to be said about good writing. Are we creating too many celebrity chefs these days? Yes.Maybe it's time to go back to the real chefs and our family recipes instead of all these star ones.

Must See Bake TV

There's yet another reality  competition  show out there and it's actually pretty sweet. It's called The American Baking Competition and it' a great summer diversion. CBS, did well with putting this on the air.All the contestants need to be is savvy  and creative in the kitchen. Best of all, they're not pros, just folks like you and me who just love to create sweet treats in their kitchen.

The show is a take off on a British reality show aptly named The Great British Bake Off which has spawned Comic Relief and wedding cake bake offs in England. One of the judges, Paul Hollywood becomes a judge here on the Yank version as well.He is a top professional baker in the UK and here  on the CBS show alternates between gruff and sweet. The other judge is Marcela  Valladolid who is famous for her show Mexican Made Easy on The Food Network. Not only is she a chef but she trained as a pastry chef at Paris' famed Escoffier School. Rounding this out is the host, surprisingly enough Jeff Foxworthy. He checks in with the contestants,  encouraging them like a folksy Tim Gunn.

I like this show. The contestants are real and don't come with the usual drama and tears that other realty show contestants have. They';re also not as backstabbing too. Another fun thing are the competitions. There are three within each show , focusing on on theme (the first was pies, this last week was cookies). Whoever gets the highest marks in all three is the winner, the one who gets the lowest sadly does have to go home.It should be interesting as the weeks go by to see who will survive or not. Hopefully there will also be recipe book too with this and a long life like Project Runway.

The summer TV season is usually lackluster with very few hits. CBS , however has definitely a full baked idea with The American Bake Off. This is must see TV at its' best.

A Hot Summer Soup

Even though we're gliding towards summer, we can still enjoy some cold weather dishes. That includes a minestrone.This is not one , made for snowy days  but one that's a nice repast after a hot day , whether at work or at the beach. Like Tuesday's column all it takes is updating it to make a dish perfect for now.

This was the premise of David Tanis column A City Kitchen in yesterday's New York Times Dining section. He takes one of the heaviest soups , minestrone and lightens up for hearty summer dining. How does he do so? By subbing in fish broth for beef or chicken stock. Making fish stock is easy Take the bones from any meaty white fish  and rinse them well. You should have two pounds of bones by now and then cook them for half an hour with eight cups of water. Mr. Tanis recommend add ing an onion for more flavor. After cooking then just strain the soup through a fine mesh strainer.

As with minestrone, you can use more onions , celery and carrots. Mr. Tanis also  has saffron and garlic cloves for  flavor  and spice. The meat are littleneck clams and squid to re emphasize the brininess,Beans are a must here too and Mr. Tanis uses cannellini and fava beans. Instead of topping the finished bowls with cheese , he returns to the garden , employing a dollop of fresh pesto.He keeps this simple too , using only parsley , basil and garlic and avoiding the heavily invasive cheese and pine nuts. The end result is a hot satisfying soup, but one that is incredibly light.

There's nothing better than a hot soup for lunch or dinner. Even though it's summer , you can still make a delicious, smelling and tasting minestrone,Sub in lighter ingredients and you have this the perfect summer soup.

Frying On The Grill

Everyone us enamored with their grills. After all this method of cooking has always been the most satisfying. Yet any barbecue chef can explore a new way - frying of creating delicious dishes on an outdoor stove. Not only that , frying is also healthier too in this case. There's a wide range of foods that can be easily pan fried too, increasing a grill's versatility.

This was the subject of an article in today's New York Times Wednesday Dining section. The piece, cowritten by  regular contributors, John Willoughby and  Chris Schlesinger explore frying as an alternative to  grilling, especially on the larger grills.The technique works the best of you have a propane fueled stove . It should have in or about 30,000 BTUs enough to heat up a frying pan full of oil. As far as frying pans, don't use your regular kitchen one. Try an outdoor one from such brands as Sportmans Outdoor Skillet and or Camp Chef LumberJack Skillet.These are heavier and can stand up to the intense heat.

What fries well outside? Both writers Willoughby and Schlesinger recommend fish thanks to an eccentric named Captain Ned. This barbecue guest brought fish along with  his skillet as well as the ingredients for a fish fry. It turned out to be one of the best fried fishes that the authors had.. Frying  in th e great outdoors proved a crispy exterior and and  melt in your mouth tender inside. They also recommend scallops which prove to be perfectly tender. However don;t limit outdoor frying to just fish. You can make paella as well as schnitzel and of course chicken. The last will be better than indoor and you won't have the messy kitchen to deal with afterwards

Think about frying this grilling season. Doing so will add variety to your barbecue.  You can have a tasty fish fry or enjoy a seafood or chicken paella. This is a lot better than the average grill fare.

Cooking Through Summer

Summer comes and our favorite winter meals and recipes disappear. It is hard , however, with sweltering temps and the lethargy that comes with muggy days to create elaborate dishes and sides. Plus it's just hard to commit to an hour or two of prep time when you and the family would rather be at the beach.Luckily there are short cuts to take to create those tasty cold weather dishes we  all love so well..

One of the most favorites that we all miss is the holiday dinner. Who doesn't enjoy a roast complete with homemade gravy and a savory stuffing? You can more or less have the same thing now. Instead of a roast, buy freshly sliced London Broil,  or turkey  at your supermarket's deli counter. Have ready  made gravy and Stove Top Stuffing. These last two only take five minutes each to create and heat up. Serve the already sliced meat with these , toss in a nice salad and voila, a summery version of a holiday meal. For veggies, get the steamed in the microwave kind. You can drizzle melted butter or heated cheddar cheese on them for that tasty holiday meal flavor.

Spaghetti is another cold weather dish that everyone misses now. Luckily pasta is easy to heat up, Just toss it  in a pot of boiling water, sprinkle in some sea salt and boil. However it's the sauce that's always considered labor intensive. You can add jarred sauces. Many do have that homemade flavor however they do have  a lot of preservatives in them. Another is putting an al fresco spin on your sauce..Ccreate a quick one by sauteing fresh plum tomatoes (these are the best and are used in longer cooking sauces) and  olive oil. Add garlic and oregano for flavor.  If you want to add meatballs buy them pre made , so it's less work for you.

Even though the temps are high, you can still have a tasty winter dish.  All you have to do is take short cuts to get that special taste you crave. It's easy, when you can use either your deli, or quick to make  dishes. and sides.