We hope that you can still find a few vestiges of good vibes and good times when it comes to those awesome memories from the holidays. Family and friends reconnected and Christmas gatherings that warmed the soul and fed the heart (and belly!), and a much-praised happiness quotient besides.
And then comes January. The thick of winter. Shorter days, longer nights. Sludgy, squishy sidewalks, and more than one bruise caused by misjudging a step, which then caused a quick slide down the road – thank you dark ice.
So if you’re feeling the winter blues a little too much this January, we have a suggestion to rekindle those awesome holiday vibes – get the gang together again for a ‘beginning of the year, summertime-in-the-wintertime dinner party’. That name may need some work.
It starts with good grilling
Now, this could mean that you have to do the grilling inside because if you’re from those states, then you’ll know what I’m talking about. As much as we’re loving the idea of getting the gang together for a good summertime-in-the-wintertime BBQ, not much about a snowstorm says summer, and even the hardiest of the hard will know this – blue looks great in a scarf, not your face.
So move your grilling inside and in no time that salmon, lemon, and sweet potato scent will be filling your home and tempting the tastebuds of everyone present.
Baking for your life!
So this one is actually a bit of a ‘cheat’ because you could just as easily be baking in the winter too, but while winter baking is usually cakes, cookies, and treats, in the summertime we’ve started baking foods to keep them on the healthier side of that deep frier.
Baked ranch chicken thighs, baked steak and salad (with a hearty soup to start), and baked fries (yes, you can).
Go Greek!
There is nothing that we don’t love about Greek food, and because the country and the islands are generally blessed with all-around good weather, this is reflected in their cooking styles too. Fasolada, Greek stuffed cabbages, Spetsofai, and those gorgeous deserts that just make life worth living, all awesome ideas for winter comfort food in their own right, but just smack of summer.
You can find some fabulous recipes, here.
Veggies, Potatoes, and Meat
We know that the new other C-word is carbohydrates, but that’s really not entirely accurate and of late our blessed friends in the bread and potato department have been getting a very unfair report on the scorecard. This is probably down to how you’ve been consuming them – not that you have been consuming. See, with ‘carbs’, you want to eat them separate from a heavy red meat meal (that’s why you always feel so ‘stuffed’ after having a steak dinner at a restaurant with an extra side of baked potato or fries).
The thing about carbs is that you want to have them completely separately from your proteins. So if you’re planning on a steak, serve it with baked or grilled vegetables, a fresh green salad, and a wonderful bottle of wine.
Or if you are planning on serving potatoes or other heavy starches, cut them up into bite-size chunks and bake or grill them along with chunks of vegetables and onions, drizzled with olive oil, sea salt, and coarse black pepper – leave out the steak.
It’s all about the sides
Summertime BBQs come fully loaded with some of the best ‘sides’ around. Salads, nibbly snacky things, oysters, artichokes, and tacos. With a few simple changes, these summertime staples are the perfect accompaniment to winter cooking, while ringing in the summertime nostalgia that we’re hoping for here.
For example, did you know that you can serve oysters and Champagne in the winter? All you need to do is, is put a tiny drop of Tobasco sauce into your Champagne flute. The bubbles will revive you and the heat from the Tobasco will gently warm the cockles of your heart.
In the United States, we’ve seen successive waves of immigration for over a hundred years, and this means that we’re blessed with some of the most diverse and delicious food anywhere on the planet, so don’t be caught down by ‘propriety’, if you’re feeling the winter blues and need al little oomf, get the band together for an entirely delectable summertime spread, while the snow still falls and dream of better days to come!
After all, if summertime bodies are built in the winter, why not the memories too?
