Summer is a time for fresh, healthy dishes, and not all of them are in the sweaty local café. Alright, so you can save yourself some time and effort eating out, alfresco in the summer sunshine. But the summer season also makes cooking a bit easier in a lot of different ways. Grilling gets trendy, cold food is refreshing, and the heat makes you want lighter meals, which all adds up to some pretty simple recipes…
So we’ve made it a bit easier on you and listed our top recipes. We looked through various sources for some of the most tempting, delicious sounding, and simple summer recipes that even those who’ve had to call the fire brigade can handle. Have a spy at these tasty fellas and get ready to impress friends, family, dates and mates with minimum effort…
English Summer Salad
Salad’s almost too easy, but the English Summer Salad outlined in BBC’s Good Food section at least acts like something a bit more complex. Boil peas and broad beans for 2 minutes max, dress them in oil, and lay them out over thinly sliced spring onions. Then dress your lettuce in oil and lemon juice, put it all together and add herbs and seasoning. Simple salad, a few filling ingredients, and just 5-10 minutes of prep time? Yes please.
Summer Kebabs
Truth be told, nothing really makes it a “summer kebab,” except for that no one seems to eat kebabs in any other season. This is one of the simplest meals in the book – just skewer whatever ingredients you want (chunks of meat, mushrooms, veggies, and even hunks of fruit if you want to be adventurous) onto stakes and throw them on the grill, and your job’s done. Throw in a nice bottle of summer wine from M&S and you’ve got yourself a ready-made warm weather cookout.
Eggplant Stacks
Eating Well notes a good way to upgrade a caprese salad to something a bit more filling. Grill up eggplant slices and simply “stack” tomato and mozzarella on top, then cover in basil, balsamic vinegar, and/or pesto. It’s not quite a meal, but you’ve gotta keep that beach body looking sharp anyway – healthy snacks are all the rage in the summer.
Fish Tacos
California went global with fish tacos, and now they’re a summer favourite all over the place. This one doesn’t take a lot of explaining: grill up some fish, stick it into soft taco shells, and accompany with anything from grilled veggies to cheeses and sauces, and you’ve got a summer meal in no time. Most people like to squeeze a little bit of citrus into the taco also. Somehow citrus makes things summery.