What To Eat When It's Super Hot!

If you happen to live in Melbourne, or anywhere in southern Australia at the moment, you'll know just how hot it is. A week of 40 degree temperatures is awful!

Like a lot of people, I don't tend to have much of an appetite when it's hot, but know that I need to eat. Nice easy foods with plenty of flavour are great. Simple to prepare, refreshing and light, they are the perfect way to fuel your body without leaving you too full or hot.

Despite the heat, this week has been the perfect opportunity to have a play with making salads a little bit more interesting. This version of chicken meatballs was delicious and so easy to make. The coriander with the chicken made the meatballs very light and the simple salad was refreshing. What really made it was the tahini dressing. Mixing the tahini with natural yogurt and orange juice gave it a lightness and freshness that really complemented the chicken.

I'll definitely be making this one again. Not only was it great on a night when the minimum was still in the 20's, but there was very little fuss and I could whip it up quickly without having to spend too much time in the kitchen. Rather than serving up the meal on a plate, I put the salad, meatballs and dressing on the table and let everyone help themselves.

You could equally serve this with some wraps or mountain bread and make DIY chicken and salad wraps for an easy lunch. The few left over meatballs were lovely in a sandwich with some dressing and lettuce the next day.

Chicken Meatball Salad With Tahini Dressing

500g chicken mince

3 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped

1/3 cup finely chopped coriander

3 Tbs sesame seeds

1 tsp chilli flakes (or more or less to taste)

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

1/2 tsp ground white pepper

Salt to taste

Cos lettuce, torn

1 tomato, sliced into 8 wedges

A handful each of snow peas and sugar snap peas

50g Danish feta

1/2 cup tahini

Juice of 1 orange

2 Tbs natural yoghurt

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

To make the meatballs, combine the mince, spring onions and coriander. 

Season to taste and combine well in a bowl.

Form into golf ball size meatballs and set aside on a tray.

In a small bowl, combine sesame seeds, chilli flakes, orange zest, white pepper and a pinch of salt.

One by one, roll meatballs in the seed mixture and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Cook the meatballs in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

While the meatballs are cooking, prepare the salad and dressing.

For the dressing combine the tahini and yogurt in a bowl. Stir to combine.

Gradually add the orange juice, stirring well. It will thicken before it loosens. You want the dressing to have a drizzling consistency, so add more or less juice to suit. If it still seems too thick, add a little bit of water or more yoghurt. Season to taste and set aside.

For the salad, blanch the snow peas and sugar snap peas in boiling water for 1 minute, then drain and refresh under cold water. Allow to cool.

In a bowl, combine the torn lettuce leaves, tomato wedges, snow peas and sugar snap peas and chopped feta. Don't add the dressing just yet.

To serve, place some salad and a few meatballs on a plate and drizzle with the dressing.