Recipes  

8 No-Cook Recipes for Hot Summer Days

When summer officially begins, we often have to contend with the inevitable: heat waves. So if you’d like to have a few recipe ideas on hand for when turning on the oven is impossible (or if it’s a moving day and your stove isn’t yet plugged in), these eight sweet and savoury suggestions are here to save the day.

1. Open-Faced Sandwiches with Radish Butter and Ham

Butter and radishes on a baguette is a classic French recipe. So simple to make, we decided to deviate from the original just a little bit by adding horseradish and diced radish right into the butter, and then garnishing with a slice of ham. It’s the perfect no-cook lunch!

2. No-Bake Cream Cheese and Raspberry Layered Dessert

This dessert is not quite a cheesecake, but it has all the flavours of one! Fold fresh raspberries into the sweet and creamy filling and layer ginger cookies in between, and then simply let it set in the freezer. It’s a great dessert for your guests if you happen to be hosting on a hot day.

3. Cucumber Melon Gazpacho

Cold soups are a no-cook essential during summer’s hottest days. This fresh and tasty melon gazpacho with cucumber and mint is sure to cool you down.

4. Raw Asparagus and Zucchini Salad with Pine Nuts and Parmesan

We tend to enjoy vegetables in their raw state during the summer season. In this gorgeous recipe, asparagus and zucchini are thinly sliced and left to marinate in lemon juice and balsamic vinegar. Topped with Parmesan, pine nuts and basil, it is a refined salad for a meal enjoyed on the patio.

5. Nordic Shrimp Croissant Sandwiches

Sandwiches are always an ideal meal option when you don’t feel like cooking, but let’s go beyond cold cuts with white bread, shall we? Pick up a few croissants from your local bakery and a bag of Nordic shrimp from the supermarket, and you’ve got a simple yet elegant lunch!

6. No-Bake Berry Refrigerator Cake

This no-bake cake is so simple, the kids can even make it themselves. Five ingredients are all that’s required (sugar, cream, yogurt, cookies and fresh berries) and you simply layer them in a pan and let the dessert sit in the fridge overnight. Get those spoons ready!

7. Family-Style Appetizer Platter

What could be simpler than combining canned and jarred ingredients on a large serving platter for everyone to enjoy? Be sure to keep these ingredients handy in the pantry for when the next heat wave rolls around!

8. Fennel Salad and Salmon Carpaccio

If you’re looking to avoid turning on the stove, try making this fresh and flavourful salmon carpaccio with fennel salad. It’s much easier to do than you may think, and it’s great if you’re looking to eat more fish.