MATT LAUER, co-host:
We're back at 8:44. This morning on
HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING TODAY
, no-cook summer dishes. Stove-free, oven-free, heat-free meals that are perfect for the
dog days of summer
.
Mark Bittman
is our good friend, he's also a
New York Times
columnist and author of "How to Cook Everything." Hey,
Mark
.
Happy
summer. Nice to see you.
Mr. MARK BITTMAN:
Hey, Matt. Same here.
LAUER:
So you know we had
Martha Stewart
on yesterday and she was doing no-cook -- no-bake desserts, so you're flipping things around and you're talking about no-cook meals. Why do you like these so much?
Mr. BITTMAN:
Well...
LAUER:
Just for that reason.
Mr. BITTMAN:
...for the simple reason -- I mean, I can't think of how many nights there have been in the kitchen where I thought, `What can I do without cooking?' And, you know, I remember my mother sort of pulling leftovers out of the refrigerator and saying we're having
tuna fish
or whatever, and these are sort of another level of...
LAUER:
An upgrade of that. And by the way, not only are you not heating up the kitchen here, these recipes by their very nature are less time-consuming.
Mr. BITTMAN:
They're fast and they're cool, they're cool dishes that'll, you know, that won't heat up the kitchen, they won't heat up your body.
LAUER:
All right. First up, we're going to make crab-stuffed avocado halves, and you use precooked crab?
Mr. BITTMAN:
Yeah. Well, when you buy fresh crab in the store, it's precooked whether it's lump or claw, which are the two best. And you just halve an avocado or as many as you want. Some
lime juice
.
LAUER:
You're going to put cilantro in this, too, aren't you?
Mr. BITTMAN:
Yep.
LAUER:
Why do you like that taste with the -- with the lime?
Mr. BITTMAN:
Lime zest.
Lime juice
Lime
zest
Avocados Fresh
cilantro
Mr. BITTMAN:
Well, you know, this is a
little
bit Asian, this dish. I mean, as you see, the dishes that we're doing all have some citrus, which is, you know, very summery and cooling. A
little
chili. And you could -- you could do this, obviously, with vinegar and parsley and sort of French seasonings instead, but...
LAUER:
Now some people would let those herbs soak in a
little
bit, how long do you like to prepare this before you actually serve it?
Mr. BITTMAN:
I would do this -- I'd do it and eat it. You know, I want the herbs to be fresh. A
little
salt, a
little
pepper. And just, you know, there's nothing to this...
LAUER:
Now the simplest...
Mr. BITTMAN:
...you just stuff the avocado.
LAUER:
Right. The simplest way you could do it is serve this on a bed of lettuce, but you like the look of the avocado halves.
Mr. BITTMAN:
We're going to get to the lettuce in a minute,
Matt.
..
LAUER:
OK.
Mr. BITTMAN:
...so don't jump the gun.
LAUER:
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Wow
. God.
Et tu
? Jumping on me. All right. So that's simple. That's a five-minute dish.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Or -- yeah.
LAUER:
Or even less.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Even less.
LAUER:
OK. Now we're going to make melon soup with prosciutto. You're using cantaloupe. What kind of melons could you use?
Mr. BITTMAN:
You could use any melons. You could use mango, which is really a melon. You could use peach here, you could certainly use honeydew. Cantaloupe, if you get a nice ripe cantaloupe, it purees beautiful. You put a
little
liquid in here and off you go.
LAUER:
So do you have to make sure that you're getting a melon at its peak? Can you use one a
little
underripe or a
little
overripe?
Mr. BITTMAN:
I'd rather go for overripe.
LAUER:
OK. Not underripe because it changes the flavor so much?
Mr. BITTMAN:
Well, it'll -- won't be sweet and it might -- you might have trouble pureeing it.
LAUER:
OK.
Mr. BITTMAN:
We're going to use some
apple juice
here, you could use -- you could use some
white wine
or a mixture, you could use water for that matter because the flavor's in the -- flavor's in the melon. But
apple juice
is really nice.
LAUER:
I have a feeling
Meredith
's going to opt for the
white wine
version of this.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Did I -- there we go. Well, you get the idea.
LAUER:
OK.
Mr. BITTMAN:
I don't like this blender. It makes me crazy.
LAUER:
First you're attacking me, now you're attacking our blender?
Mr. BITTMAN:
OK. Well, it's
a step in the right direction
, I'm now being mean to inanimate objects.
LAUER:
OK, that's good.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Anyway. When you have that pureed, a
little
ham on here.
LAUER:
Why do you -- why do you -- just a different flavor? A
little
salty against the sweet?
Mr. BITTMAN:
Well, yeah. And you know what, shrimp would be really nice here. Some grated lime zest.
And I
forgot to put in the blender some more
lime juice
. So that would go in with the cantaloupe and the
apple juice
.
LAUER:
You forgot one of the ingredients in a -- in a -- in a -- one of your own recipes?
Mr. BITTMAN:
You know what -- go ahead, go ahead.
LAUER:
Yeah?
Mr. BITTMAN:
Go ahead. Well, I...
LAUER:
See? Turnabout is fair play.
Mr. BITTMAN:
We -- it's not too late, actually, I could put it in here now, but...
LAUER:
You chill this? Do a lot -- yeah?
Mr. BITTMAN:
I would chill that, yeah.
LAUER:
OK. Real quickly, we thought we had a lot of time, we've only got 30 seconds left.
Mr. BITTMAN:
We don't? OK. All right.
LAUER:
This last one, shrimp and lettuce.
Mr. BITTMAN:
So a lettuce burrito, essentially.
LAUER:
In
romaine lettuce
.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Yep. So take this -- the hard stem out of there.
LAUER:
You can buy precooked shrimp.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Precooked shrimp. We have some mango. No, I did think we had a lot of time.
LAUER:
Did you buy precooked rice also or did you actually cheat and cook something?
Mr. BITTMAN:
Actually, I'm using leftover rice from the
Chinese restaurant
, how's that?
LAUER:
OK. Way to go. All right.
Mr. BITTMAN:
And bean sprouts. And then just...
LAUER:
You have some
lemon juice
here, did you forget that as well?
Mr. BITTMAN:
No, that's my dipping sauce.
LAUER:
Oh, OK, good. All right. You just roll that up.
Mr. BITTMAN:
Roll that up. A
little
lemon, a
little
soy sauce or maybe some
fish sauce
if you're feeling exotic.
LAUER:
Perfect for a hot day, all these dishes. And again, quick and easy, no cooking.
Mark Bittman
, good to see you.
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