In August, let's face it, the desire to cook a little foolish.
On vacation we look for practical solutions, quick recipes, to be prepared possibly in advance, to be able to enjoy our days out, or to be carried out at the moment, in a few minutes.
Here are 5 light, practical and fast recipes with seasonal products from August .
August salad with turmeric
A fresh salad is one of the coldest dishes best suited to the heat of August.
We season it with turmeric to benefit from all the qualities of this miraculous spice, and with pepper, which helps us to better metabolize turmeric.
Ingredients for 4 people :
> 4 cucumbers
> 4 salad tomatoes
> 4 boiled eggs
> 8 walnuts
> a small head of lettuce
> extra virgin olive oil
> salt
> a tablespoon of turmeric
> a sprinkling of pepper
Preparation : the procedure is very simple : wash and cut the vegetables, put them in a large bowl, add the boiled eggs cut into small pieces and the walnuts, season with salt, extra virgin olive oil, pepper and turmeric.
2. Spaghetti with zucchini and red peppers
These spaghetti with zucchini and red peppers are a refreshing dish rich in minerals .
The ingredients for 4 people are:
> a large red pepper
> 3 or 4 zucchini
> 320 grams of spaghetti
> a glass of dry white wine
> a clove of garlic
> extra virgin olive oil
> pepper
> salt
> cacioricotta
> fresh basil
Preparation : wash and cut the vegetables. Sauté a clove of garlic in a little extra virgin olive oil. Remove the garlic and cook the peppers cut into pieces, not too big but not too small. Blend with a glass of dry white wine, cover and cook over low heat.
When the peppers are almost cooked, add the sliced zucchini and season with salt; if the sauce is too dry, add a few tablespoons of water and cook.
Cook the spaghetti in abundant salted water. Drain and sauté in the pan with the vegetables. Finish the dish with a sprinkling of cacioricotta, pepper and a few leaves of fresh basil.
Top vegetable of August: peppers
3. Eggplant rolls stuffed with ricotta
This is an appetizer that can also be prepared in advance because the eggplant rolls are excellent both hot and cold .
The ingredients for 4 people are:
> 2 large aubergines (12 fine slices must be obtained)
> 300 grams of cow's milk ricotta
> 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese
> chives
> a few leaves of fresh basil
> black pepper
> salt
> extra virgin olive oil
Preparation : the procedure is very simple: grill the aubergines, season with salt and extra virgin olive oil, and let them cool. Meanwhile prepare the filling with ricotta, Parmesan, chives and basil, finely chopped, pepper and a pinch of salt.
Place the aubergine slices on a cutting board and spread a spoonful of filling on each one before closing them as a roll. To stop the rolls, they can be tied using a chive thread.
At this point there are two possibilities: if you want a cold dish, put it in the fridge and leave it for at least an hour. If, instead, you want a hot dish, put the rolls on a baking dish, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and bake at 180 ° for 8/10 minutes.
4. Baked courgette omelette
Even the zucchini omelette is a dish that can be prepared in advance and that does not require a lot of work.
The ingredients for 4 people are:
> 6 eggs
> 4 very tender small zucchini (or three, if they are larger)
> 2 tablespoons of pecorino cheese
> 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs
> a cup of milk
> a sprig of parsley
> salt
> extra virgin olive oil
Preparation : wash and cut the courgettes into rather small pieces. In a large bowl put the eggs, a tablespoon of breadcrumbs, the grated cheese, the finely chopped parsley, the milk, a pinch of salt (be careful not to overdo it because the pecorino is already very salty).
Mix everything together with a fork. Grease the bottom of a baking dish with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle the surface with breadcrumbs.
Pour the mixture and finish with another sprinkling of breadcrumbs and pecorino. Bake at 180 degrees for about 18/20 minutes, the omelet should thicken and should be golden.
5. Two-colored popsicles with watermelon and melon
This two-colored popsicle recipe is very simple, natural and refreshing . To obtain it, it is sufficient to choose two fruits of different colors and follow this recipe. In this case, we chose watermelon and melon.
The ingredients are:
> 300 grams of melon pulp
> 300 grams of watermelon pulp
> 2 tablespoons of icing sugar
> the juice of a large lemon
Preparation : blend the melon pulp with a teaspoon of icing sugar and the juice of half a lemon. Separately, blend the watermelon pulp with a tablespoon of icing sugar and the juice of half a lemon.
Fill the popsicle molds halfway with one of the two compounds and place in the freezer. When they are frozen add the other mixture (which you have stored in the refrigerator in the meantime) and put them back in the freezer.
These two-colored popsicles can naturally also be made with syrups or with two differently colored fruit juices, but with fresh fruit they are much more natural and healthy.
