It’s late July in Washington, D.C., which means we’re in the thick of the city’s hot-and-humid summer stretch — daily temperatures in the 90s, despairing battles with heat, and a constant mission to find shade. Over the past couple of months, we’ve found ourselves not only adjusting our running schedules (trying to start out as early as possible in the morning to sneak in some cooler temps) and relishing the A/C in our apartment, but also just generally craving cooler meals and drinks. While the wintertime evokes warm and hearty oven-based casseroles and pot roasts, the summertime has us yearning for cool, crisp salads, and plenty of fresh fruit and veggies. As a result, we’ve been experimenting with different kinds of refreshing and fun salads, cool fish and pasta dishes, and creative charcuterie boards.

Above: A fresh salmon poke bowl with avocado, edamame, carrots, cucumbers, radishes, and roe.

Above: A light and lovely cold crab, celery, and shallot pasta dish, with a side of homemade olive focaccia bread, and fun refreshing cocktails.

When it comes to salads, we’ve been experimenting with using different fruits and veggies as the base. Though we often imagine a green leafy bowl when we think of salad, a lot of the new recipes we’ve been trying this summer use an alternative veggie or fruit as the base (i.e. watermelon, feta, and mint salad; celery salad with dates, almonds, and parmesan; creamy dill cucumber salad; and crunchy Asian slaw, to name a handful). It’s a great way to try out new combinations and make good use of the variety of fresh produce this time of year. A lot of these salads also combine some element of sweet with savory (i.e. watermelon with feta) and add extra crunch with nuts and seeds. The end product is a fresh, flavorful, and fun dish with good texture and taste.

Above: Watermelon, feta, and mint salad, with homemade French gougère cheese puffs.

Above: A summer salad of peaches, arugula, proscuitto, pecans, and mozzarella.

As far as charcuterie boards, the best thing is that there is no set recipe or structure to follow — you can use whatever you have on hand in your fridge (i.e. sliced meats, cheeses, olives, nuts, fruits, etc.) and whatever suits your tastes that day. Charcuterie boards also take very little time to put together, and make for a fun « choose your own adventure » meal. I usually like to incorporate whatever fresh bread or baked good I made that week (i.e. homemade bread, or cheese puffs).

Hope this gives you all some inspiration for meals to stay cool and refreshed this summer. For more, check out my What I’ve Cooked page.

Happy eating, stay cool, and enjoy!

Ash