Temperatures soared around the country this week, calling for cool meals that require little to no cooking. Get away from the stove and out of the kitchen fast with these five recipes—all of which can be made ahead and chilled.
Summer Corn and Edamame Salad with Walnut Miso Dressing
Local sweet corn is ready for the picking or will be soon in most parts of the country. Chef Sherri Thrower makes the most of its crisp texture and summery flavor by tossing it with a sweet Asian-style dressing.
Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza of Barrio Cafe in Phoenix spikes a refreshing lime aguachile sauce with jalapenos and uses it to marinate and “cook” shrimp. The shrimp are then arranged on individual plates with cucumbers, red onion and avocado for service.
Juicy peaches simply scream summer. Chef Zach Walrath of The Florentine in Chicago acknowledges the in-season fruit by grilling the flesh, slicing it up, then tossing it all together in a refreshing salad enhanced with Buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and a housemade Dijon mustard vinaigrette.
Photo courtesy of National Watermelon Promotion Board
Chicken With Watermelon Salsa
At University of Massachusetts, chef Tony Jung creates a salsa from a favorite seasonal fruit: watermelon. The juicy red fruit is combined with bacon, jalapenos, green peppers, cilantro and lime to liven up a basic chicken prep with a refreshing twist.
This recipe from chef Laura Osio spans meal occasions. The rolls can go into a bento box lunch, serve as an appetizer for an al fresco dinner or morph into a healthy snack. If crunched for time, purchased pickled vegetables can stand in for the made-from-scratch ones.
Also in this week’s legislative update: Oklahoma says okay to electronic school meal applications and New Hampshire lawmakers rework a bill that would make a handful of changes to school nutrition programs.