It’s 7 million degrees in STL this week.  Especially today and tomorrow.  I was all excited for this new no-cook dinner idea I had.  Felt like a little bolt of lightening struck my brain.  No-Cook Skewers!

Oh, I was so excited.  I thought of all the different combinations I could make based on other flavor profiles: Caprese salad skewer, Greek salad skewer, Salami, cheese & olive skewer, proscuitto & melon skewer, dried fig & goat cheese skewer, lox & cream cheese skewer.  So many ideas!  So excited!

Pros:

Everyone had fun making their own skewers.

We had lots of good options available: salami, proscuitto, speck, smoked salmon, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, basil, spinach, dried figs, cantaloupe, nectarines and so many cheeses.

Cons:

The smallest skewers I could find were 10″ long; I was hoping more for more dainty ones, maybe 5″?

There was stuff all over my kitchen.

We were all in each others way when I started to let people make their own.

We finished making skewers (which takes way longer than throwing all the same stuff on a big platter) then immediately took them off the skewer to eat them.  Stupid.

Tomato, mozzarella and basil really needs some salt, olive oil and balsamic vinegar… which is hard to put on a skewer and then be able to eat it without oil getting all over everything.  I left all that stuff off and it was super bland and just unpleasant.

Feta doesn’t go on a skewer, it just crumbles.  Goat cheese can go on if you mash it together but then it gets all over when you are trying to eat it.

Even though it seems like you could spread cream cheese on a piece of smoked salmon, add some capers, then roll it up and put it on a skewer… you can’t.

I’ve said skewer more since the beginning of this blog than anyone should in their entire life combined.

So, as much as I thought it would be amazing… FAIL.  Not worth it.  Make a big platter instead.  Still a no-cook meal and much less hassle.

Since that didn’t work, we decided on Pork Ragu for tonight (pg. 116 in your cookbook).  No, this is not a natural progression based on 1. it’s summer and 2. as afore mentioned, it is 7 million degrees.  BUT, it’s not as crazy as you think.

Pork Ragu has tomatoes, carrots, celery, onions and garlic in it.  A lot of people are growing gardens right now… not me… but a lot of people.  You can use up some of your summer veggies making this.  Not only that, I love to slice zucchini in half, grill it, then top it with some pork ragu.  I know people are always trying to figure out ways to use their zucchini; this is a great one!

Although I don’t grow veggies, I do grow herbs.  This year, my daughter grew her own little pot of herbs too.  We used my sage and parsley and her rosemary and thyme.  This was the first time we got to use her herbs and she was so excited.

Plus, she wanted to help me cook!  My kids never want to help me cook so I took that as a major mom win.  I will slave over a hot stove in the summer if it gets me some one on one time (because we have air conditioning… I mean, I’m not insane).

Alright, I think we are off to the pool because it is either that or lay in front of the TV all day.  It’s too hot for anything else.  Stay cool!