the no-cook dinner party

Now is the time of year when our oven goes into hibernation. As much as I love homemade pizza for dinner, I don’t like cranking the entire apartment up to 500 degrees.

And nothing’s worse than going to someone’s house for a dinner party and finding a sweaty, harried cook rushing around a hot kitchen. Don’t be that person. Keep a cold drink close by, wear something breezy that’s made of cotton and use your stove as little as possible. (No roasted chicken unless you have an industrial strength air-conditioner.)

But what should I serve that doesn't require cooking, you ask? I’ve rounded up some heat-free recipes that are more assembled than cooked. All you have to do is mix and match these recipes to put together your own no-cook dinner party menu. These dishes are all on the lighter side, but isn’t that what you want when it’s sweltering outside?

Appetizers
Tuna-stuffed peppadew peppers
Mango with spicy, salty sugar
Pineapple salsa
Spiced yogurt dip
 
Salads
Butter lettuce with oranges, fennel, and olives
Kitchen sink salad
Simple tomato salad
Melon with cucumber, feta and basil

Main dishes
Martha’s chicken salad with herbs (with store-bought rotisserie chicken)
Chicken tacos (with store-bought rotisserie chicken)
Shrimp rolls (use pre-cooked shrimp)
Pan bagnat

Desserts
Mini frozen key lime pies
Framboise ice cream floats
A nice cheese plate
Fresh fruit, cookies and a broken-up chocolate bar
Ice cream!

the rules of salad

As soon as the weather turns warm, my mind turns to salads. (And cute sandals.)

You might not think a salad is special or substantial enough for a dinner party, but I want to change your mind about that. Look at this salad, it served four people generously and isn't it pretty? It made a beautiful centerpiece. Which was handy because I was lazy and didn't buy flowers at the bodega.

A big salad is an excellent thing to serve company, if you keep a few things in mind. After the jump: Lisa's Dinner Party Salad Recommendations. (Aren't you curious?)

chocolate puddle cookies

We all have our strengths in the kitchen, and mine does not involve sugar, flour and butter. Sure, I can make a good batch of brownies and sweet, sturdy quick breads. And I have been known to brag about my Key lime pie (regular and frozen), which is awesome, but I think it's also my birthright as a Floridian. Beyond that, my desserts often fall into the "ugly but tasty" category. And Dan and I eat them anyway.

We had some friends over for lunch about a month ago (more on that later) and I wanted to make something homemade for dessert. In this case, the issue was not my lack of baking skillz, it was that one of the guests was gluten-intolerant. So I decided to pull out my trusty flourless peanut butter cookie recipe, which never, ever fails me. (And is only five ingredients!) Then I decided to make a second cookie in case one of our friends didn't like peanut butter. And because I can't leave well enough alone.

on laura

I don’t have a sister, but if I did, I would choose my friend Laura. I love everything about Laura, her enthusiasm, her smarts, her ability to make people feel at ease, her sense of humor and her lighthearted nature. If we were sisters, I’d get to see her over the holidays, and on family trips and we’d call each other on the regular. Although there would also be the typical in-fighting and tension and rivalries that sisters share, so maybe we wouldn’t even like each other as much.

Laura lives outside of St. Louis and I flew there recently for a girls’ weekend. The timing happened to be almost ten years since we met as interns for a magazine in Birmingham, Alabama. We spent those golden months taking weekend trips, eating Southern food, meeting guys, drinking too much and wondering what we were going to do with our lives post-internship. I had a semester of college left, but Laura had already graduated and quickly scored a job as a business reporter in Arkansas. Which seemed as far away from Florida, where I was living, as the moon.

a note fromm mabel

Mabel heere.

A teep frum me too yu. Wen yur mammee and daddee hav peeple ovr and yu dont wont to hav a partee (be-cus they dont ask yu) fynd a gud plas to hyde lik thee londree bas-kut. No won wil no! And thee kloths smel gud, a boneus.

Sincereely,

Mabel

ps: Mammee ses I hav an arkive now, whutevr that is.

rhubarb upside-down cake

Isn't it pretty? Let me tell you, though, this cake is a shape shifter.

I was expecting the traditional upside-down cake, which usually tastes like a basic yellow (or vanilla) cake with caramelized fruit. Somehow, probably because of some ingredient tinkering on my part, it was dense and moist, like a rhubarb upside-down cheesecake. Which is nothing to complain about!

The rhubarb, which had turned caramel sweet from a mix of brown sugar and butter, was tender but still held its shape. After our spring feast, we ate the cake with plain whipped cream and everyone sang the praises of its weird deliciousness.

The next day, it changed again.

springing forward

In spite of tormenting tree pollen, in spite of the warm-cold-freezing-warm-cold weather, in spite of April showers, I love spring. I can't help it. The leaves on the trees outside of our apartment came back this week and I can't stop looking at the bright tangle of yellow-green filling our front windows. When Dan and I walk Mabel around the neighborhood, I routinely force him to stop and admire a particular patch of tulips that are so deep purple they almost look black. (He humors me.) And at the vegetable market near my office, I squealed over baby artichokes and tiny little carrots as if they were a bin full of puppies. I bought them and a dinner party menu started to take shape.