HEATWAVE 2023: BLOGGER'S FAVOURITE NO COOKING MENU

Who wants to cook during a heatwave?  Certainly not me.

I relay on these favourite no-cook dishes.  They may not all be frugal, some being for a special occasion, but they are easy, often  quick and mostly healthy and low-fat.

Some are all or part make-ahead.

STARTERS 

I love this dip because the different smoked salmon flavours and  textures make it very special.  It's also creamy without being calorific.

Skinnier Smoked Salmon Dip

Just 4 inexpensive ingredients: tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber & sherry provide a thrilling cold No-Cook Tomato Gazpacho.  It's ridiculously easy to make, smooth and creamy but dairy free.  And utter ambrosial to consume.  A Slimmers' Delight,  it is served in chilled glasses with vodka or in small bowls.

No-Cook Glorious Tomato Gazpacho

SIDES

So simple, so sensational, so Vegan.  Whenever I've served these 

tomatoes over the years, everyone is stunned by their flavour and demands the recipe.  They are a godsend when budgets are tight,  turning supermarket toms into gourmet treats!  With heritage or high-end toms, add a slosh of red wine vinegar for an even better  taste sensation.

                                   Mediterranean Tomatoes

This fruity crunchy slaw is a favourite because it's so quick and easy but also so pretty.  Slighty sweet, it's loved by kid/ults.  And the ingredients make a perfect  portable lunch.  Served alongside cold roast or poached chicken, it's wonderful.

Apple & Nut Slaw.

MAIN COURSE SALADS

This mouthwatering satisfying combo of protein, fruit and vegetables is one of the first main course salads posted on 67goingon50.  It's basically an assembly job and there will be chopping but getting others involved lightens the workload.  Much can be prepped in advance.  Intended for a crowd, it's many bright flavours and textures are a delight.   

'I'm on Holiday, too' Easy-Peasy Sunshine Salad

I've never been to Mexico but imagine this salad reflects the colours and flavours of the local cuisine.  I adore it,  partly because it contains  things I normally wouldn't serve in a healthy salad: cheese, sweet and particularly heat -- but they are in small quantities.  I like it as a main course, with good bread and butter, OR add lightly cooked cauliflower florets and mange tout plus calamari or prawns.

SWEET SOUR & SPICY CORN AVOCADO SALAD

TREATS

I've always loved chocolate mousse but as a cholesterol-phobe, usually avoid it.  But this recipe was specially created by 67 for slimmers: it has no cream (unless you want it as a garnish) or egg yolks.  It is still rich, dark and fabulous on the tongue.  It proves healthy doesn't mean insipid.  Pastry biscuits and berry cream optional.

Chocolate Raspberry & Brandy Mousse, fat & yolk free

One of my all-time favourite 67 cakes is this indulgent tender Swirl Cake, streaked with plum & cinnamon and dusted with coconut.  It makes wonderful use of a fruit often at bargain prices in supermarkets.  I did notice that bakng is involved...but it is worth it.  Make it ahead, in stages, and cook in the cool of the evening before needed.  Decorate before serving.  Trust me; you won't regret it.

Plum & Cinnamon Swirl Cake

Also try: 

SALADS FOR A SCORCHING WEEKEND : prepare ahead

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These recipes are by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  They may not be reproduced without the author's written permission

CHILL OUT WITH SIMPLE HOME-MADE PICKLES: low salt, sugar & preservatives; Vegan

Home-made pickles straight from the fridge offer a cooling treat during a heatwave.

They taste wonderful, in fact much better than expected, are invigorating & refreshing, provide a 'wow' factor and will be popular  on the buffet table. 

Making your own are easy, economical and healthier than store bought;  the amount of sugar and salt is controlled and there are no nasty preservatives.

Make-your-own pickles take almost no effort.  No jars have to be sterilised, no boiling water baths wrestled with and no storing the pickles for months until they 'ripen'. Just simple prep with basic store cupboard ingredients plus a few hours or days in the fridge and they're done.    

Fuss- free Dill Pickles: low-sugar, salt, Vegan

 

Pickled vegetable Platter at very little cost 

Ready in 10 minutes

No-effort Pickling Brine

for small amounts of vegetable/fruit garnish; just 10 mins for crisp crunchy pickles

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More vegan/vegetarian dishes NavBar/Recipes II  

This recipe has been adapted by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  It may not be reproduced without the author's written permission

Pensioner's Delight: Potluck/Party Muffletta lower-fat multi-layered Italian sarnie, dairy-free opt, vegetarian opt

67goingon50's Pensioners' Muffletta, a multi-layered Italian-style sandwich for the dentally challenged (including toddlers) using soft bread & delcately textured lively fillings ...

It may look like a load of standard fillings but nearly every one has a taste twist that provides stunning flavours

Normal mufflettas use crispy topped panini or ciabatta with chewy interiors and layers of cold Italian charcuterie, olives and salad.  They are, to be sure, fabulous.

But this one was a special treat for 4 delightful senior ladies at a picnic during the intermission of Macbeth at Keats House.  With champers!

Readers, they were thrilled with it!

A small challah loaf big enough for 8, soft but sturdy*, was filled with 6 layers of classic soft fillings but with unexpected twists. 

The muffletta isn't frugul but nor is it extravagant, especially since the portions are loaded and 8 portions is not a small number.

The recipe may seem daunting but as long as you get everything ready (perhaps the previous day?) before you prepare and fill the bread, you will be fine.

Cost: £10'ish depending on fridge contents (6/23)

Feeds: 8 hungry people

Ingredients:

1 medium cholla or soft wholemeal loaf, plain or seeded (enough for 8 regular portions)

5-6 tbsp very soft dairy or plant butter OR for those worried about fat, soft lettuce leaves washed & throughly dried OR both

at least 8 lettuce leaves, washed and thoroughtly dried

Filling 1

dairy or plant butter and well-dried lettuce leaves

Filling 2

1/2 cup thinly sliced chicken breast

Dressing: 1 tbsp mayo

               2 tbsp thick plain dairy or plant yoghurt

               1.5 tbsp cranberry sauce or piccalilly

Filling 3

Dairy or plant brie, thinly sliced (no need to remove rind)

Filling 4

2 large thin slices ham or pastrami or spiced beef

smear of Dijon mustard

Filling 5

single layer lettuce leaves covering the meat & half way up sides

Filling 6

1 tin tuna steak (or very good quality flakes, drained & coarsely broken up)

grated zest of lemon

juice of half a lemon

2 sping onions, green & white, both finely sliced 

lots of coarsely grated black pepper

Dressing: 1.5tb olive oil; 1 tsp balsamic vinegar; half clove grated garlic (opt but adds punch); 1/2 tsp mustard (wholegrain or Dijon); salt; pinch of sugar

Filling 7

layer of thinly sliced cucumber (opt)

Filling 8

egg mayo (supermarket OR your own: eggs, hardboiled, coarsely grated & moistened with just enough yoghurt mayo to hold together OR Chinese Egg Salad

1/3 recipe supermarket or make-your-own sunblush tomato bombs, finely chopped

 

Filling 9

half a tub supermarket hummous or 67's singletons's easy skinny hummous

handful toasted sunflower seeds (opt)

Filling 10

single layer soft butter lettuce

Method:

Equipment needed: 2 small trays, a small heavy book

1. Prepare ingredient fillings the night before; cover; refrigerate till needed
2. At least 2 hours before serving:
3. Slice the top off the cholla bread about 1 inch/2cm in depth
4. About 1.5 inches from the edges and the bottom, cut an inner ring of soft bread; remove all but 1 inch/2cnm off the side and 1.5 inches/3m off the  bottom (there should be a circular flat base in the bottom of the loaf-see photo above)
5. lightly butter bottom and sides of loaf
6. Thoroughly dry lettuce leaves; line the base and half way up the sides with 2-3 pieces of lettuce, folding or tearing to fit
7. Separate chicken pieces to prevent clumping; add only enough dressing to hold the contents together generously but not wet
8. Cover with thinly sliced brie, leaving spaces if necessary to reach the edges 
9. Cover the brie layer entirely with slices of ham/pastrami; smear lightly with Dijon mustard
10. Cover with a layer of lettuce 
11. Pour ingredients for tuna dressing into a small jar with tight lid; shake until mixture thickens, set aside; lightly stir tuna with rest of tuna layer ingredients until well mixed; pour over dressing...the fish will be a little dry which is as it should be. Spread evenly over lettuce; cover with cucumber slices if using 
12. Mix egg mayo with finely chopped sunblush tomato, adding a little of the juices if you like; spread egg over tuna
13. Cover egg with hummous; scatter over sunflower seeds
14. Cover with soft dry lettuce; top with cholla lid
15. Wrap tightly twice in clingfilm; place on a tray
16. Cover with second small tray; place a good sized book on top
17. Refrigerate a few hours...no more than 4
18. Slice into wedges on site

Comments from the feisty group of mature ladies/early feminists:

'This is really really nice!'

'Could I have a bigger piece? Oh, alright, I'll have two!'

'Very tasty.'

'Yes, I would love to take home the leftovers!!'

'Think it's going to be bunch of boring old fillings? Think again.  Nearly every layer has an unexpected and unusual flavour.  Fabulous!'

Tips:

Vegetarian option: 

• replace chicken with tofu 'chicken' gougons
• replace ham with vegan deli ham (M&S/Waitrose) OR thinly sliced vegetarian frankfurthers (Tivali: Waitrose, Mr Mistry South End Green) 

* small cholla loaf £4+, Roni's Hampstead & Belsize Village, Panzers, Waitrose 

Notes:  The muffletta is an Italian sandwich originating in New Orleans.  It's always been hefty despite - in the early days - having only three components: bread, spicy olive salad and Italian charcuterie.  Nowadays there is a wide choice of fillings including soft cheeses, cooked and raw vegetables, deli meats and rich dressings.

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This recipe has been developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced without the author's written permission

SOFT, FLUFFY PUFFY FLATBREADS: no yeast, 30 mins prep

When it comes to bread, sometimes only the fluffy white stuff will do...

Courtesy of Inspired Taste and licensed for reuse 
under this Creative Commons Licence

(67goingon50 Photo on the way)

You can get that easily from supermarkets and artisans bakeries but they usually contain yeast and supermarkets often include additives.

Making your own white bread, while admirable, can be a bit of a faff...especially if life is busy.  

Here's a an alternative -- soft fluffy puffy flatbreads.  

They are the most bread-like flatbreads 67goingon50 has encountered. so far.  And they're cooked on a stovetop - no oven required.

They're easy and quick-- a  simple 1-bowl wonder that's ready in 30 mins, including resting & cooking time.

The recipe comes from Inspired Taste.

Ingredients

260g/9.17 oz flour (any kind but part wholemeal makes denser flatbreads) 
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon maple syrup or sugar.
175 mil cold water

1-2 tablespoons of oil (generous oil softens the flatbread)

Method: