Summer Cooking with Lou Robbie of Little Lou Cooks
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How can you elevate weeknight dinners in the summer?
Well, for many of us, a bit of warm weather is a pleasant novelty until dinner time comes around. And the last thing anyone wants to do is spend ages over a hot oven or hob making a meal. So how can you elevate your weeknight dinners without breaking a sweat? Author and chef Lou Robbie has some tips. She's with me now in studio. Morning, Lou. Morning, David. Thanks so much for joining us. Before we get into that, right, we were talking about 99s earlier and we've loaded texts in about them. Our favourite place has always been Teddy's original shop in Dun Laoghaire. Memories of Dad and me handing the 599s through the windows of the car at the seafront, having licked all the drips off said cones. Not very hygienic.
And doing the same with my own children in the 90s. Blissful memories. Are you partial to a 99?
Oh, I love a 99. Yeah, it's a real treat. I think it's great for the kids. Yeah.
Yeah. As a treat. Do you make your own ice cream?
I do. I have one of the Ninja, you know, the Ninja Creamy machines. So, yeah, they're brilliant. We do kind of a healthy twist on it. So I add fruit and yogurt and you add it to a little pot and put it in the freezer. And then you take it out and put it in the machine and it whips it up and you can make your own ice cream pudding. Yeah, on the cones and everything.
Okay, and you can stick a flake in there should you be so minded. Now, dinner when it's hot. Our approach to food changes when the weather changes.
It does, it does. I think everybody wants light and they want fresh and they want zingy. And, you know, we have harsh winters here, I think. Which is the time for your soups. Yeah, exactly. We've had it where we're sick of the stews and the heavy food. So I think it's a lovely time to pull out the salads, light things. But generally, like the best idea is to start with the protein, maybe fish or chicken or beef and maybe do a nice little marinade and then add some salad on the side and maybe some other few bits as well.
Yeah. Do you think, do people's appetites change in the heat as well?
They do. I think people have less appetite for cooking as well. They maybe want to eat outside. So whether you're making your food at home inside or making it on the barbecue and sitting outside and enjoying it, it kind of definitely does change. You want stuff that's hydrating as well. I think salads and... tomatoes and cucumbers, those kind of fruits and veg that are full of water. People are more keen for as well.
Absolutely.
What are some tips for making homemade ice cream?
Yeah. And we want to use seasonal produce as well. So what sort of fruit and veg should you be looking at?
Totally. Yeah. And again, you know, we've we've had loads of carrots and parsnips during the winter. So it's lovely to have the likes of the really ripe and fresh tomatoes or courgettes or aubergines and peppers and And those kind of, you know, more summer Mediterranean vegetables as well. And some of them like courgettes are really easy to grow in your own garden. I've even grown a few myself. But yeah, so there's a lot of Irish farmers growing tomatoes and the likes of courgettes as well. So they're definitely the ones you want to and they're in season. They're at their best and then they need very little work as well.
Right. OK, so I don't want to turn on the oven because it's too hot and I don't want to add to the heat in the kitchen. What is my zero heat alternative that still feels like a proper dinner?
Yeah, again, I'd be I'd start kind of with the protein and maybe have some poached chicken or some nice cured meats or something like smoked salmon. And then you're just adding to that. So it could be a potato salad or a nice coleslaw. I like to do kind of a healthy twist on the coleslaw and set a load of mayonnaise, maybe just add a dressing through it. And that's like shaved white or red cabbage and a bit of red onion and some fresh herbs. Herbs are brilliant in the summer, too. And lemons and limes just add a little bit of zest to kind of lift it to delicious.
OK, a lot of people listening, I can imagine, are saying, well, a salad is not a proper meal.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
How can you elevate weeknight dinners in the summer?
0:00–2:29
2
What are some tips for making homemade ice cream?
2:29–3:56
3
What changes in cooking styles during hot weather?
3:56–8:36
4
How do you choose seasonal produce for summer meals?
8:36–10:53
5
What are zero-heat dinner alternatives?
10:53–12:47