Cooking in the Summer

I have lived all over the United States, and as much as I love the east coast, Phoenix, Arizona is where I call home. It’s the fifth largest city in the country (who knew!), our quality of life is pretty exceptional (hello, Spring Training), we can fly pretty much anywhere nonstop (looking at you, London!), and we have the option for dining al fresco 8 months out of the year.

But, every October we all are conflicted with the same thing – weather amnesia.

We make no pretenses about how hot it gets here in the summer. It’s true, the temperatures get above 110° throughout the summer – ah, but it’s a dry heat! Yet, once October hits, and cooler nights make an appearance, it is as if we have all collectively forgotten just how hot it actually does get here.

So, in the summertime, the idea of cooking can be, well, awful. Think about it, we are cooling our homes to temperatures 20 to 30 degrees cooler than it is outside. The very idea of turning on a stove or oven is plain cruel. Comfort food for Phoenicians is anything crisp and refreshing. Heavy meals can be on standby until cooler temps return, thankyouverymuch.

This means ordering copious amounts of takeout and resorting to a few summer recipe standbys that can be made in a flash. One such recipe for me is what my husband has aptly named, the summer salad. I mean, the name itself sounds refreshing, right?

I have made this salad for so many summers, and it is fun to mix it up and change it depending on what is in season or what we are in the mood for. The base is simple: fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow peppers, garlic salt and a creamy balsamic dressing of your choice. Chop as you see fit, mix and chill, et voila, a refreshing summer salad.

Now, the fun part, is adding things in to make it your own (like corn or avocado), err, or to completely copycat what your favorite restaurants have done. Recently we went to Mora Italian for an Aperol Spritz cocktail class, and they had something similar on the menu! Except they had added the tiniest slivers of red onion (which I normally can only handle in tiny slivers) and snippets of goat cheese.

Naturally, we incorporated these additions in the next time we made the salad, and it was just as refreshing at home (of course, the Spritzes helped, too!). But after visiting our favorite local spot Nico Heirloom Kitchen, we were inspired by their heirloom tomato caprese salad, which we added freshly shaved prosciutto too, because, why not?

We recreated this perfect summer alternative at home the next week, picking up heirloom tomatoes from our local Sprouts, adding in slices of mozzarella, and freshly picked basil from the backyard, and a drizzle of balsamic and a sprinkle of fleur de sel to finish it off. And of course, with a pile of shaved prosciutto on the side.

When the temps are high, and activity is low, these refreshing refreshing salads hit the spot!