5 Epic SUMMER Recipes to Keep on Repeat

Summer is here and today's recipes are all about taking advantage of the amazing produce we have available. We're kicking things off with what might be my favorite summer appetizer, mango avocado salsa. We start with a half cup of finely chopped red onion. It's giving crunch, it's giving sharpness, just enough to keep things interesting. Next up, cucumbers. These are dainty little Persian cucumbers, but you could also use a half cup of diced English cucumbers. Every salsa needs tomatoes, of course, and these cherry tomatoes from the farmer's market are just too cute to not include, and this is about six ounces. You know it's gonna be good. Look at all these beautiful colors. Likewise, every salsa, at least in my kitchen, needs some heat, so I'm finally chopping two big boy jalapenos. If you're on the baby mouth end of the spectrum, you can slice the jalapenos open and scrape out the membranes, which is where most of the heat lives. All right, mango time. I've got three gorgeous atulful mangoes. Mangoes can be a little tricky to cut because of the large seed in the middle, so cut off a slice on either side of the pit. Two little cheeks. Then slice the cheeks in a crosshatch pattern before scooping it out with a spoon. In India, we just like suck on the part that you can't cut. That sounds weird, but it's delicious. After that, some chopped cilantro to make it even more vibrant and herbaceous. Look at these colors. So pretty. To season, we've got a couple of limes. These were on the dry side, so I rolled them with my palm to coax out a bit more juice, and one navel orange. You want two to three tablespoons of each, depending on how sweet your mangoes are. The lime juice adds a pop of acidity, while the orange juice adds a little sweetness and balances the heat from the jalapenos and the tanginess of the tomatoes. Sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and a big old stir to get everything mingling. I wish you could smell this. It smells so good, so fresh, but we have one final ingredient, and that is avocado, which adds creaminess and just enough heft to make the salsa feel satisfying. I added it at the end so everything stays looking pretty, not sad and brown. An extra pinch of salt and pepper, one last mix, and we are done. To serve, grab a smaller bowl and tuck it into a bigger bowl, add the salsa to the center, and surround it with tortilla chips like a glorious edible wreath for summer. Bonus points if you can enjoy it outside with some sunshine and something bubbly in hand. Our next recipe might just be my favorite rendition of tacos, and they use an ingredient that has become very near and dear to my heart, soy curls. I've only been cooking with soy curls for the last year or so, but I am in love with them. They come in a bag like this, and the only ingredient is whole non-gmo soybeans, so they're high in protein and they take on the flavor of whatever you cook them with. And when you treat them the way we're going to do today, they become so shockingly chicken-esque in texture and flavor. They are dehydrated though, so the first step is to soak them and rehydrate them. Start by adding two cups of water to a sauce pan, and to amp up the flavor, I like to stir in two teaspoons of better than bouillon, no chicken base. You can use vegetable broth instead, but this stuff adds a really delicious umami-heavy flavor. The soy curls are exceptionally dry out of the bag, like fully dehydrated, so you want to let them soak in the hot broth for 10 minutes off the heat before draining them. Get all that liquid out. There's a surprising amount of liquid that you will squeeze out of the soy curls, and it's important to do that so they crisp up. Just to give you a visual, that is a heaping third of a liquid, so you want to make sure you're squeezing it really well. Now this part is technically optional, but if you have a few extra minutes, I recommend slicing the thicker soy curls so they're about a quarter of an inch thick. That's because the thinner they are, the crispier they'll get in the pan. Next up we're doing some flavor layering. So add a half tablespoon of tamari or soy sauce, toss to coat the soy curls, and then repeat twice more. I'm doing it in separate batches just to make sure every piece gets evenly seasoned. Then a few cracks of black pepper and two tablespoons of cornstarch, which is going to help the soy curls crisp up even more. Before we get to cooking, I'm also going to make my quick taco spice blend. This one is a mix of ancho chili powder, cumin, chipotle chili flakes for a smoky kick, garlic powder, oregano, onion powder, and my secret weapon, a touch of brown sugar to balance the smoky heat. You could also use a store-bought taco seasoning, but this stuff is so quick to make. Set it aside and we'll come back to it in a few minutes. Heat up a non-stick frying pan over medium and add two tablespoons of olive oil or whatever oil you prefer. Add the soy curls and make sure they get nicely coated. You want to stir only every two minutes. That way they can get nicely browned and crispy for a total of 10 to 12 minutes. If you feel comfortable multitasking, you can temper the taco spice blend while the soy curls are cooking. To do that, heat up a bit of oil in your smallest saucepan, then add the spices and stir constantly for 30 seconds. Tempering the spices in oil instead of just adding the spices directly to the soy curls ensures they stay moist and don't dry out. Combine the soy curls and the spiced oil. It smells legitimately amazing in here. If someone would bottle this fragrance, I would absolutely wear it as a perfume. We'll call it Oh! De Taco Tuesday. These are incredible on their own. They're super meaty and a little crispy and savory, but they're even better with tacos, which we're going to make now. But first I need to whip up a quick guacamole. You'll see why in a minute, but I'm keeping this guac intentionally very simple and lazy. All you need is perfectly ripe avocados, of course, lime juice, grated garlic, some cilantro, cumin, freshly cracked pepper, and salt. Then give everything a mash and taste to see if it needs anything else. Heat up your tortillas of choice in a skillet because cold tortillas from the fridge are nonsense. If you're using flour tortillas, they should puff up after a little while and get these nice brown spots. Assembly time. Start by smearing on some guac. This will act as a glue and hold everything together. A generous scoop of the soy curls plus any salsa you like. The reason I went simple on the guac is because I'm getting so much flavor from this homemade mango salsa. I probably didn't need avocado in the mango salsa since we already have guac, but I'm also not mad about it. So excited. Might've overstuffed these, but they look so good. I couldn't help myself. Now that is a taco. It has got so many great flavors and textures. Those soy curls with the mango, so good. And if you want to make this recipe yourself, I've got full instructions linked in the description box below. How to cook soy curls, including this recipe. Next up, we're making what I think is the most underrated summer vegetable, green beans. I feel like green beans are always kind of just there, but today we're making them the star of the show. We're going to char them in a hot pan and then pair them with a super summery herby lemon salsa. That salsa, by the way, starts with a diced shallot and Fresno pepper. To meld the vibe a bit, we'll give them a quick bath in a couple of tablespoons of champagne vinegar, though red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar would also work. I'm adding a tablespoon of sumac for that bright citrusy kick, plus a pinch of salt. And we'll let that hang out on the side while we prepare all the other salsa ingredients. We're going to grab more of those delightful cherry tomatoes from the farmer's market, about a half pound, and add them to your tiniest, cutest food processor. A regular food processor also works, but I like to root for the little guy. You can do it little fella. I believe in you. We want them to be chopped finely, but not completely pureed. It's my first time using this, so I don't really know how to get this off. Add the tomatoes to a sieve, set over a bowl, and add a little bit of salt. This is going to draw some of the water from the tomatoes, which really concentrates the tomato essence. Another fragrance I would absolutely wear. Let the tomatoes drain, and meanwhile we'll do a bit more prep. This is about 12 ounces of fresh green beans. Go ahead and trim those pointy ends, and then you'll finely chop four garlic cloves. I forgot to mention that this is a preserved lemon salsa, so we're going to use some preserved lemon peel. I've got a whole video on how you can make preserved lemons at home, but if you don't want to wait three weeks for them to ferment, a store-bought like this works just fine. Or you can sub in a tablespoon of fresh lemon zest, though you'll miss out on some of that complex umami flavor. A good salsa needs fresh herbs, but unlike a traditional Mexican salsa with cilantro, we're using basil from this bountiful basil plant. About a cup of the leaves, go ahead and give it a nice chiffonade. If you don't have basil, by the way, you can just use some flat leaf parsley. Our last bit of prep work is to toast a third of a cup of pine nuts, which you're going to add a delightfully buttery crunch on top of the green beans. Of course, if you want something a bit cheaper, you can always sub with roasted almonds. Okay, time to combine our salsa ingredients. We've got our marinated shallot mixture, the drained tomatoes, preserved lemon peel, and the slivered basil. It smells like the perfect summer day in one bowl. A couple tablespoons of your best extra virgin olive oil. This is going to add some much-needed richness and bring all the flavors together. And some flaky sea salt and pepper to make everything pop. And now we just need to quickly cook our green beans. To char the green beans, I'm going to use my wok, but if you don't have one, you can totally use another heavy bottom skillet. If you've never used a wok before, the key to not having the food stick is to heat up your pan dry first over high or medium high. Wait until you see light wisps of smoke, then it's time to add the oil. Let that heat up briefly and you can add your food and it won't stick. Once you spread the beans out, let them cook undisturbed for a minute or so, that way they can start to char. And then stir or shake the pan every minute or so for about five minutes total. By the way, if you want to double the green beans, you definitely can. You should have enough salsa. Just be sure to cook them in two batches so the beans don't steam. Once the green beans are almost done, in goes the garlic, only for the last 30 seconds or so. You want it to be fragrant, not burnt. To serve, add the green beans to a bowl, then some of that delicious salsa, followed by the toasted pine nuts and any leftover basil you might have. You could also toss this with some cooked pasta or chickpeas and vegan feta to make it a complete meal. That is summer in a bowl. This is such a fun way to use green beans and to really elevate them from the usual. It's got that rich butteriness from the pine nuts, but it's still super bright and fresh from the tomato salsa and the preserved lemon. So if you're looking for a vegetable dish to impress everyone, definitely try this one out. Next up, we are making blueberry muffins. Now if you don't consider yourself a baker, I still encourage you to try this one out because if you can follow a recipe and do a little mixing and measuring, you are golden. It's not a hard recipe to make and you're going to be deeply rewarded. These muffins are so good. They've got the bakery style look with those bountiful tops, so much good fresh summer blueberry flavor, and the topping is so good. It's caramelized and nutty and truly delicious. First things first, we make a flax egg. Actually two. We've got two tablespoons ground flaxseed meal mixed with five tablespoons of warm water. Give it a good whisk and let it set while we prep everything else. Next, grab two lemons. Lemon and blueberry is one of those flavor combos that just makes sense. And we're going to use the lemon zest in two places, in the batter and the crumble topping. So divide this in half. Vegan muffins are notorious for being a little too dense and chewy. So to avoid that, I like to add a vegan buttermilk, which in this case is just oat milk mixed with lemon juice. And the acidity will help keep the muffins tender and fluffy instead of dense or gummy. While the lemon juice does its magic, we're going to prep our glorious topping. For the muffin topping, I wanted it to have a nuttiness to it, hence the walnuts, but I also wanted that caramelized crunchy sugar coating. So we're going to mix some brown sugar into the walnuts. And to give it a little pep, we're going to add some lemon zest and a pinch of salt. Onto the dry ingredients, we've got all-purpose flour, a bit of brown sugar, plus some cane sugar. By the way, you can get the full measurements for every single recipe in printable form linked in the description box below, metric measurements included. We're also going to add some sea salt, baking powder, and baking soda. And finally, some warming spices, ground cinnamon, and nutmeg. If you can get whole nutmeg and grate it yourself, it really does make a difference. For the wet ingredients, I'm starting by melting a few tablespoons of vegan butter, then adding it to our mixing bowl alongside a neutral flavored oil. This is sunflower oil, any oil you like is fine. And to that, we'll add our vegan buttermilk, our delightfully gloopy flax egg, the zest of one of the lemons, some vanilla extract, and totally optional, but if you have some almond extract hanging out in the pantry just begging to be used, a tiny splash of that here is nice. Give this a whisk and then fold the dry ingredients into the wet with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon just until combined. The batter should be quite thick, thicker than pancake batter, but not quite cookie dough. Grab a 12 cup muffin tin and grease each cup so we can get the muffins out later, or you can use muffin liners, but I find you get the best texture without liners. You might have noticed I haven't added the blueberries in yet, and that's because blueberries tend to sink to the bottom of muffins and we want to avoid that. So my technique is to add a little bit of batter to each muffin tin, about a heaping tablespoon, then fold the blueberries into the remaining batter, and that way you get blueberries throughout the muffin instead of them sinking to the bottom and making it soggy. Now you want to be gentle when stirring in the berries, you don't want to overmix the batter or it will get tough. Top off each muffin cup with the blueberry batter, sprinkle generously with the walnut crumble, and into a hot oven they go. I bake these at 425 Fahrenheit for the first six minutes because a hot oven will give them that initial high rise, and then you're going to reduce the heat to 350 and bake another 16 minutes or so. Look at these beautiful muffin tops, just gorgeous. We need to let them cool for 20 minutes and then you can use an offset spatula to gently slide them out. As you can see, the blueberries are spread throughout the muffin, no soggy bottom here, they look gorgeous, I'm so excited to eat one. That wasn't the most elegant way to eat a muffin, but they are so delicious. Got that nice fluffy interior texture, but there's that crunchy caramelization on top which adds great contrast, and blueberries are so good this time of year which makes these even more delicious than usual. Our next recipe might just be my ideal summer sandwich, a vegan BLT. It's simple, satisfying, and makes the most of a few great ingredients. Smoky tempeh bacon, juicy tomatoes, crisp lettuce, a schmear of mayo, and I want to eat it all summer long. We start with the tempeh bacon marinade, this is where all the flavor happens. You'll combine three tablespoons of tamari or soy sauce, a tablespoon and a half each of rice vinegar and maple syrup, two and a half teaspoons of toasted sesame oil plus a drizzle of olive oil, and a bit of liquid smoke which brings this smoky outdoor grill flavor without the outdoor grill. If you can't find liquid smoke or just don't want to use it, omit it, and consider adding more of the smoked paprika. We'll also add in some onion powder, cayenne pepper if you like a little heat, and just a pinch of kosher salt. This marinade is smoky, sweet, salty, savory, everything you want in a good bacon-y bite, minus, you know, the actual bacon. The protein we're using instead is tempeh, which is a block of fermented and compressed soybeans, and you want to slice it pretty much as thinly as you can, about 1 1⁄8 inch thick. That way it crisps up nicely and actually feels a little bacon-y. Not identical, obviously, but close enough that your taste buds will be very happy. Lay the slices in a shallow dish and pour over the marinade, make sure everything's nicely coated, or if you have a ziploc bag you can combine there and it's actually a little bit easier to massage the marinade into the tempeh. Marinate this in the fridge for at least an hour, or up to 24 hours. Once it's marinated, you're going to heat up a bit of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Nonstick makes this the easiest, but if you have a very well-seasoned cast iron pan, you can try that as well. You're going to add about half of the tempeh slices in a single layer. If you add them all to the pan, they won't crisp up. After about three minutes, go ahead and brush the tops with some of the reserved marinade and cook for another minute. Carefully flip and repeat that process until they're nicely browned on the other side. Hit them with a pinch of smoked sea salt if you have it, and then just cook the second batch. Now for arguably the most important part of any BLT, the tomato. Or in my case, tomatoes. I know, I know, we just put in all that effort to make tempeh taste like bacon, and now I tell you the tomato is the most important part, but it's kind of true. A juicy heirloom summer tomato takes this sandwich from great to spectacular. Alright, time to assemble, so grab your bread of choice. I'm using a hearty, crusty sourdough from the local bakery here, slather on some vegan mayo, and then a nice layer of our super savory tempeh bacon, followed by those beautiful heirloom tomatoes. It's not strictly necessary or even traditional, but I like to add some pickled onions into the red chilies, add some tang, and they also just look really good. And then some lettuce, can't forget the L in BLT. Give it a slice, and it is ready to eat. By the way, you can get every recipe from today's video in full printable form, just check the links in the description box below. Thanks so much for watching, bye!