As temperatures rise outside Richard Fox looks at how chefs need to turn down the heat and rustle up lighter dishes. With a laid-back approach you can't go wrong
Here Comes the Sun, Bring me Sunshine, In the Summertime, Seasons in the Sun. Clearly this season makes us all want to sing and make merry. No other season has inspired so many sing-along classics. In short, we love it: there's a spring and a zing in our step and a glow of health to our newly trimmed-down figures. And we're not going to let something as trivial as food get in our way of the full summer vibe. So, chefs beware.
As our appetites decrease, our calorie counting increases. Add a fear of afternoon lethargy brought on by lunch, and before you can say "pass the salt", entire meals are skipped, ignored and generally shunned.
So, as the temperatures soar outside, it's a case of turning down the heat in the kitchen if you want to keep pace and maximise what trade there is. There should be a certain laid-back ease to summer food prep. I'm not suggesting a lackadaisical approach and allowing your kitchen to look and smell like a landfill site. No, what I mean is allowing the ingredients to do all the talking with a perfunctory heat injection here and a marinade there.
It's time to swap the fryer for the chargrill, the hot cupboard for the chiller cabinet, and turn every square foot of outside space into alfresco dining heaven. You can certainly do away with those labour-intensive stocks and cream sauces. Instantly made herb and tomato-laden oils - with the oil just gently warmed and the herbs and tomato dice thrown in just before serving, are the stuff of summer saucing.
Fresh herbs are in abundance at this time of year, and this should be reflected in the price - the same with tomatoes. With a simple mis-en-place of some chopped tomatoes and herbs, a delicious olive oil sauce - as an accompaniment to seared salmon, swordfish or tuna - can be produced in seconds. The resulting "sauce" is vibrant and fresh in colour; tastes delicious and costs pence. There are a fabulous variety of flavourful waxy salad potatoes, which can simply be boiled (in heavily salted water), and then lightly crushed with some olive oil and a handful of chopped spring onions.
A decent olive oil can form the base for all manner of instantly-prepared sauces and dressings. A squeeze of lemon juice here, a spoonful of crème fraîche there, and you've got enough runny stuff to give moisture and texture contrast to everything from a crunchy cos based Caesar to a char-grilled, marinated, moroccan lamb kebab. The great thing about Caesar salads is that you've got real menu versatility with just a few ingredients.
Talking of the kebabs, marinades are to summer what pastry is to winter. Cubes of lamb, chicken and pork can become the stuff of holiday dreamland with a few hours' relaxing in an oil, citrus and honeybased bath. Alternate with pieces of onion for added flavour and bulk, thread on to soaked wooden skewers, and you've got a summer serving that's as at home on an outside barbecue as it is on the searing heat of the kitchen char-grill plate.
A simple garnish of rice or couscous is more than enough for these Continental classics. There's no veg prep involved, and the principle of buying by weight and selling by volume (look at the level of expansion as they cook), mean healthy bottom lines as well as healthy eating.
While the heat is intensifying outside, it can be quietly tempered on the plate. Substitute the piping hot mash for warm crushed new potatoes, ambient tuna niçoise and warm duck salads. Niçoise is a great way to double up on ingredients from other dishes, helping to keep stock levels to a minimum, while offering maximum menu variety. Green beans served as a vegetable side dish can be thrown into this classic salad as well as using up those new potatoes you haven't needed to crush. Quartered hard-boiled eggs give it a finishing flurry, and the whole "shebang" should come but at under 30p a serving - excluding the fish. If you don't want to go to the expense of fresh tuna, flake in some poached salmon, and serve with a lemon infused crème fraîche. Once again offer these items as either a starter, or main course. This is a particularly good summer principle, as eating patterns become smaller and lighter.
Not only does what we eat change over the summer period, but how we eat. Grazing like grass-fed cattle becomes a national pastime, and this should be reflected on the menu. We can afford greater flexibility with our menus as they become less defined than the traditional starter, main course and dessert. On the subject of desserts, summer puddings, lemon tarts and plenty of fresh seasonal fruit - which, of course, plummets in price as it becomes abundant - are obvious choices. For a little indulgent luxury, you can always throw in a crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle meringue, served with some whipped cream and fresh strawberries.
For those of us unlucky enough not to be languishing on Mediterranean beaches, or diving off the rocks of Acapulco, we can at least provide food that, with closed eyes, enable us to imagine being there. Bring on the dips and the salsas, and use up all manner of leftovers to act as edible utensils. Guacamole - with a dash of Tabasco, chopped red or spring onion, and a healthy squeeze of lime juice - is a perennial favourite.
For a spot of Middle Eastern exoticism, try combining mashed-up aubergine with a parsley and lemon-flavoured hummus. To get the authentic Lebanese smoked flavour from the aubergine, simply put it in an open gas flame until the skin goes black and blisters, allow to cool slightly and then scrape away the charred skin. You'll be left with soft, tan-coloured flesh - now there's a summer image to make your eyes water!