The temperature’s rising! Part of your perfect summer meal must be fresh and fruity! Naomi gathers 7 excellent recipes for your feast. Image via vintagedept
Did you ever feel like you were running out of options for summer meals? When it comes to meal time in the summer, it is always a challenge to balance the desire to eat something delicious and filling, with the need for something light and refreshing. Well here we have several mouth-watering summer treats, perfect for the humid heat of the Middle East.
(1) Pea Pod Soup: Winter nearly always means starting a meal with a nice hot bowl of soup, well there’s no reason not to transfer this tradition to summer – just replace it with a bowl of chilled pea pod soup.
Instead of shelling peas and throwing away the pods, you can use them to make a fantastic, nourishing cold soup with this simple pea pod soup recipe.
(2) Homemade sourdough bread: To accompany your soup, the best thing is a thick piece of toast and if you want to give your taste buds an extra treat, try out this recipe for home made sourdough. One of the advantages of eating sour dough, is that it controls your blood sugar levels, as well as helping with digestion.
Try having a slice in the morning, with (3) home made baba ghanoush, a classic Middle Eastern eggplant spread, and experience for yourself the long-lasting benefits of home-made sourdough.
(4) To continue a summer feast, it is always interesting to try something a little different, like a zucchini blossom frittata. This is not something you will find in the supermarket, but you might luck into some at a farmer’s market – or try growing some yourself. Turning them into a frittata balances your meal perfectly, with a combination of all the important parts of the food pyramid; vegetables, protein and calcium.
(5) Fava bean salad. Of course no meal would be complete without a tasty salad or two on the side, but we have some salad suggestions that are worthy of a central place at your table. Many salads combine multiple ingredients, but the fava bean salad is extremely simple, in fact it is so delicious, that you decide to try it as main course.
(6) Pomegranate salad: If you are looking for a slightly sweet take on the salad scenario, you can always try out pomegranate-nut-salad. While it uses ingredients which are traditional for Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year, it can quickly become a welcome addition to your summer table since it is such a light and festive treat.
(7) Plum buckle: Going from slightly sweet salad, the next step has to be dessert. With the season of stone fruit upon us, there can be no better choice than a plum buckle.
This unusual name is one you won’t want to forget once you have tried and tasted this dessert, which is basically a simple fruit flan and easy to bake.
Your summer feast is now set, all light easy dishes, simple and quick to whip up. With the long days of heat ahead, you now don’t have to dread hours in front of a hot stove!
Read more about choices of summer desserts:
Indulgence, Locavore Style: Homemade Strawberry Jam
RECIPE: Home Made Ice-Cream
Author: Naomi Ben-David
Naomi interned at Green Prophet during the summer of 2010. She grew up in Australia with a chiropractor mom who introduced her to various forms of alternative medicine. Her mother was forever pointing out the healthy food choices in the supermarket, or attempted to make it from scratch at home in order to avoid the preservatives and additives in the food. Naomi’s mother’s influence has stayed with her, impacting the food and medical choices she makes to this day. She is currently pursuing a career in writing.
