Everyone chill out!!!There comes a time, every sweltering New York summer, that I just give up. I stop wearing makeup to work. I disregard the mayor’s air-conditioning guidance. (I’m sorry, 78 degrees? No chance.) I accept that, no matter how slow I walk, no matter how breathable my fabrics, I will show up to my destination drenched in sweat. That time, my friend, was about a week ago. And while I haven’t completely given up on cooking — not yet — I have given up on the idea of a hot meal. Cold soups, cold noodles and especially cold tofu are all I can muster, let alone stomach, when I’m one strenuous movement away from overheating like an old iPhone. Hana Asbrink created her cold tofu salad with tomato and peaches for this exact moment. Chilled, salty and sweet, the dish is as refreshing as the frostiest blue Gatorade (the best flavor). A block of silken tofu and some of the season’s best fruit are really all you need to buy if your pantry is well stocked with olive oil, balsamic and rice vinegars, soy sauce, sesame oil and a little sugar. This weekend, I chipped away at my garden envy and potted a basil plant on my windowsill with the express goal of garnishing this salad all summer long. Cold Tofu Salad With Tomatoes and PeachesThe no-cook combination of wiggly, soft tofu and fresh, juicy produce is worth revisiting with other recipes, too, like Hetty Lui McKinnon’s kimchi-pickled zucchini and tomatoes (be sure to buy a vegetarian kimchi!). Though if you’re willing to break out the skillet for five whole minutes, you might want to make her five-star asparagus gomaae with chilled tofu. You’ll cook the snappy greens until just tender, and then coat everything in a nutty sauce full of coarsely ground sesame seeds. Nutty too but simpler still is Ali Slagle’s chilled tofu with peanut sauce, which requires only six ingredients and not an ounce of cooking. Simply assemble the sauce — “I’ve been making the sauce as a dip for other vegetables as a snack and, frankly, could eat it with a spoon,” wrote a reader — and spoon it over creamy silken tofu and top everything with raw, crunchy celery. “How does this recipe not get more attention??” that same reader asked. Won’t you pay it attention for them? For me? And while I’m already asking things of you: Is this a safe space for a confession? Those closest to me know that among my many flaws is a lifelong distaste for peanut sauce. But hold your boos and strike “lifelong” — because I’m finally on the sauce. I’ll thank Melissa Clark’s cold peanut ginger noodles (you need only to cook the pasta!) and Sue Li’s peanut noodles with spicy tofu (a bit more cooking, but well worth the effort!), the latter of which aren’t cold as written but I sure as heck have eaten them that way. In their five-star hands I am a convert. But if you’re sweating at the thought of browning tofu (or at the thought of eating peanuts, whatever your reason), Christian Reynoso’s chilled sesame soba and tofu will spare you. At the cooling nexus point of “cold soup” and “cold noodle” is Hetty’s cold tomato and kimchi soba noodle soup, inspired, in part, by gazpacho. And speaking of: You should know that “best” in Julia Moskin’s best gazpacho is not superfluous, nor is it some bid for search-engine dominance. We really mean it. You should blend a batch of that, and then maybe a batch of Melissa’s chilled cucumber soup next, followed by a batch of Hetty’s chilled zucchini soup with lemon and basil. While I promise you won’t overheat, I’m not so sure about your blender.
Cold Peanut Ginger Noodles
Best Gazpacho
Kimchi-Pickled Zucchini and TomatoesFor a limited time, you can enjoy free access to the recipes in this newsletter in our app. Download it on your iOS or Android device and create a free account to get started. One More Thing!Leave the blender out! Treat yourself to a cooling, no-cook dessert in Mark Bittman’s vegan chocolate pudding with cinnamon and chile. Thanks for reading, and see you next week. Email us at theveggie@nytimes.com. Newsletters are archived here. Reach out to my colleagues at cookingcare@nytimes.com if you have questions about your account.
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