summer food

The romantic food obsessives among us spend hours dreaming of ideal meals to fit the seasons, and the times of day therein. And yet when it comes to summer there are days where it feels too hot to move, let alone cook!

Whilst the summer I have experienced thus far has been wet and mild (relatively speaking), there are a few rules of thumb that I like to follow when the temperature is threatening to hurl itself over 30C.

If it can't be prepared with a charcoal bbq and an electric kettle, it's not suitable for summer!

This sounds a bit arbitrary at first, and there is one major exception to that rule which is the "boiling in advance" rider. Things like pasta, potatoes and couscous that can be cooked in boiling water before the meal, and then have "stuff" tossed through it, sail so close to the electric kettle principle that they are also allowed.

As a case in point dinner from Monday night was bbq lemongrass chicken with rice noodle salad. Too easy...

Over the weekend grab (you should probably buy it if you're in the city) a free range chicken, take it home and joint it before putting it in a ceramic dish to marinate. I used lemongrass, ginger, spring onions, (fresh) coriander root, soy and kecap manis, and i suspect a little palm sugar (as you can see there's no recipe, just throwing some good flavours in together). As we're dealing with a free range chicken, bear in mind that it's used to a life of privilege and get in and give those bits a good massage with the marinade, pushing little bits of herb and spice under the skin and makings sure the liquid is getting under there too. Cover with plastic and leave in a cold fridge.

On Monday, email hubby to ensure he is aware that he is lighting the bbq and, more specifically, ask if there is charcoal (a planned bbq without the fuel is frustrating indeed!).



In the evening there's not much to do. The person with the most amount of cave man instinct lights the bbq whilst the other boils the kettle, soaks some rice noodles until the life comes back into them, drains and then adds tasty crunchy fresh vegies and greens, spring onions and corianderr, before dressing. I used soy, lemon juice, tamarind, chilli, ginger and my new favourite ingredient, macadamia butter, in the dressing for this meal.

The bbq is now ready to cook, the kitchen is clean by the time the chicken is ready, and you sit down and have a lovely meal, without the beads of perspiration dripping down your undergarments, with a cold glass of...

(in my case, it was mineral water)