Humidity hitting 60? Temps over 90? Just turn around. Nobody wants to sweat in their kitchen. Not now.
Ina Garten agrees. She hates cooking in this heat. She wrote it plainly in her recent Substack post. “I hate cooking when it is so hot.” Simple statement. But she sees the light at the end of the tunnel. Farmstands. Seafood shops. Grocery stores are bursting with food that barely needs cooking.
She shared three go-tos for these days.
The Salad That Doesn’t Taste Like Sad Lettuce
Start with heirloom tomatoes and blue cheese. Just five ingredients total if you ignore salt pepper and olive oil.
Most people make Caprese. Garden goes bold. Blue cheese cuts through the delicate sweetness of the tomato. It is tangy. Loud almost.
Use summer ingredients that do not need much cooking.
No roasting required. Just assemble. Eat. Breathe.
Get the recipe from Barefoot Contessa.
Corn Sausage Clams
Next is the skillet. Corn is sweet. Sausage is salty. Clams are briny. It works.
Garten calls this a “beginner” dish. Which means even if you have burnt toast before you can make this. The corn brings the sweetness forward while the seafood keeps things light.
It feels like a complete meal. One pan.
Get the recipe from Barefoot Conterra.
Drink This Instead Of Water
You cannot finish an Ina menu without a drink.
Limoncello vodka collins.
Think about it. Lemon is the only flavor that matters in August. The recipe uses things you likely have in your cabinet. It tastes fancy but takes two minutes to throw together.
Refreshing doesn’t cover it.
Get the recipe from Barefoot Contezza.
We stand by our air conditioning units and we eat cold salads. It is fine
