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Dinner on ice: 5 cold dishes that refresh and delight

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A selection of oysters waiting to be shucked at Glidden Point Oyster Farm in Edgecomb, Maine

By Leslie Brenner

The hotter it gets, the colder I want to eat. Last night I returned from a work trip to Maine, a paradise cool and green with no shortage of pellet ice or spectacular oysters. Today, we’re in triple digits where I live, in Dallas. Yep, 107. I just want to put everything on ice.

Is it hot where you are? If so, let’s do this. I’ll give you 5 summer recipes that are great eaten cold, and you supply the ice.

Shrimp Goi Cuon (Vietnamese Summer Rolls)

These traditional Vietnamese summer rolls with stretchy rice-paper wrappers are meant to be a starter, but they’re so good, I like to make a whole meal of them.

Ice Opp: Make a platter of goi cuon and set it atop a larger rimmed platter filled with ice. Refreshing! (Note to self: develop a recipe for Che Ba Mau — the three-color Vietnamese ice dessert. Would be the perfect frozen exclamation point to the summer rolls.)

Cold Beet Borscht

When I was growing up in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley, where summer temps frequently topped 100, my mom steadfastly refused to put air conditioning in our house; she didn’t believe in it. We did have a pool, and to keep cool, we’d go in wearing oversized tee-shirts and then sit in the shade of our big rubber tree playing cards dripping wet and drinking iced tea.

Come dinnertime, my mom would set out what she called “cold summer din.” Usually that meant a bowl of cold borscht, followed by a plate of salmon salad (flaked canned salmon, diced red onion and celery, lemon juice), quartered tomatoes and egg noodles mixed with cottage cheese. The latter wasn’t cold; go figure.

But truth be told, today when I eat this borscht — my mom’s recipe, accompanied by a bowl of diced radishes, cukes and scallions, plus sour cream and optional boiled potato — I inevitably want a second bowl, and that’s enough dinner for me.

Ice Opp: Throw a couple of big cubes right in the bowl. Colder the better!

Classic Tabbouleh

The famous parsley salad of the Levant makes a simple yet delicious summer dinner on its own, especially when scooped up with tender, young romaine leaves. Cast a couple of co-stars next to it, maybe Baba Ganoush and/or Hummus (either the Ultimate version or its quick-to-whip-up cheater cousin), and suddenly you’ve got a mezze spread. We won’t ask you to bake your own pita bread for it; not in this heat! Instead, pick up pitas from a Middle-Eastern bakery if you’re lucky enough to have one, or the supermarket if not.

While you’re at it, grab some marinated olives (or marinate some!), plus a tin of sardines and a can of dolmas (arrange on plate, add lemon wedges). Also great with this spread: Cucumber, Radish and Feta salad.

Ice Opp: Pour a glass of arak — Lebanon’s iconic anise aperitif — and add an excessive amount of ice.

Cold and Spicy Noodles

Inspired by Korean flavors, this is a noodle bowl and a salad in one — tossed with a lusciously umami-ful dressing with great body. It’s emphatically cold, and highly customizable: Change up the garnishes as you see fit. Choose Korean somyeon or Japanese somen or soba noodles, and feel free to play fast and loose with the vegetables. Skip the egg and add tofu, or finish it with shredded cold leftover chicken.

Bonus points: Swap the hard-boiled egg for a Japanese marinated ajitama egg (also known as a ramen egg) — the kind with the gelatinous yolk. (Our recipe’s headnote links to a recipe for that.)

Ice Opp: Toss ice cubes in with the noodles when you drain them to get them really cold.

Vuelve a la Vida

In some parts of coastal Mexico, the seafood dish known as vuelve a la vida (or “come back to life”) is served hot. But the kind I love is cold — much like a cross between ceviche and a seafood coctél. The version from Pati Jinich’s 2021 book Treasures of the Mexican Table is wonderful.

Ice Opp: Fill a huge bowl with crushed ice, and sink glasses of Vuelva a la Vida in the ice. Or stir up a few Margaritas on the Rocks!