No oven required: Alexina Anatole’s quick and easy no-heat recipes | Food

Heat brings caramelisation, char, the slow collapse of ingredients into something rich and deep, but when it’s too hot to cook, flavour has to be built differently – through contrast, texture and a more deliberate hand with seasoning. Salt, in particular, becomes transformative: drawing out moisture, softening structure, shifting raw into something more yielding. That principle underpins this carrot salad, inspired by the Japanese yamitsuki (‘addictive’) method most commonly used on cabbage, while a chilled cucumber gazpacho offers clean, cooling clarity.

Cucumber and avocado gazpacho (pictured top)

Prep 20 min
Chill 1 hr+
Serves 4

For the gazpacho
4 cucumbers (about 1.2kg), peeled and deseeded
100ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to garnish
Zest and juice of 1 lime
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely grated
1 tsp flaky salt
1 tsp white miso paste
Flesh of 1 avocado

To garnish
Black olives, sliced
White grapes, sliced,
Soft herbs (mint, dill, basil, say)
Black pepper

Put all the gazpacho ingredients except the avocado in a food processor, add 100ml cold water and blend thoroughly. Add the avocado, blend again until well combined, then taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.

Pass the soup through a fine sieve, pressing it down with the back of a spoon. For a silky-smooth soup, blend again with a stick blender for one to two minutes, then cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, until well chilled.

Serve the gazpacho in bowls, and garnish with sliced black olives and grapes, herbs, freshly cracked black pepper and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

Addictive carrots

This is an extremely simple but delicious salad that can be bolstered with the likes of chickpeas, avocado and feta, should you want to make it more substantial.

Prep 15 min
Rest 25 min+
Serves 4 as a side

3 large carrots (about 500g), topped and tailed
1 tsp flaky sea salt
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely grated
½ tsp dashi powder, or to taste (optional)
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, plus extra to garnish
1 tbsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted

Peel the carrots, then run them through the slicing attachment on a food processor (alternatively, slice very finely on a mandoline). Transfer to a large bowl, scatter over the salt and gently massage for a minute. Leave to soften for 10 minutes.

Drain off any liquid from the carrots, taste and adjust the salt as preferred (if they’re too salty, rinse the carrots and pat dry, but this shouldn’t be necessary!).

Whisk the garlic and dashi powder into the sesame oil, then pour over the carrots along and scatter over two-thirds of the sesame seeds. Toss thoroughly to combine, then transfer to the fridge for 15 minutes to an hour to give the flavours time to meld (the carrot mix will keep for three to five days in the fridge).

Serve cold, garnished with the remaining sesame seeds.