What to cook in the summer: top 7 dishes from chef Valery Ponomar. Exclusive

Summer is a time of scorching sun, beaches, light refreshing cocktails, and delicious food. This includes healthy seasonal vegetables, a wide variety of seafood, and juicy meat cooked over a fire.

That's why, exclusively for OBOZREVATEL, the famous Ukrainian chef from Odesa, Valeriy Ponomar, shared a selection of his recipes that are worth cooking this summer.

1. Hummus with eggplant

Ingredients:

• eggplant - 1 piece (300 g)
• garlic - 5 cloves (1 head) - to taste
• boiled chickpeas - 250 g
• olive oil - 2 tbsp
• ground sesame seeds - 1 spoon
• lemon juice - 1 tsp
• salt - a pinch
• black pepper - a pinch
• dried basil - a pinch

Method of preparation:

Pour the garlic with vegetable oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt, wrap it in two layers of foil, and bake it with the eggplant for 30 minutes at 200 degrees.

The baked eggplant is tender in flavor, and you can adjust the amount to your liking. It goes very well with chips or toasted toast.

2. Pork kebabs

Ingredients:

• pork neck - 2 kg
• onion - 1 kg
• salt - 1/2 tbsp (coarse salt is ideal)
• black pepper - 1 tsp
• sweet paprika flakes - 1/2 tbsp
• dried hot pepper - 1 pc (1/2 tbsp)
• coriander - 1 tsp
• vegetable oil - 4 tbsp

Method of preparation:

1. It is best to use meat that has not been frozen.

2. It should be cut into portions the size of a chicken egg.

3. Check the readiness with a knife – the meat should be light inside.

4. For rich flavor, black pepper and coriander should be crushed in a mortar and pestle.

3. Salad with crab

Ingredients:

• crab meat - 60 g
• avocado - 1 pc
• tomato - 1 pc
• red onion - 1/2 pc
• ground black pepper
• salt
• grapefruit - 1/2 pc

Ingredients for the vinaigrette sauce:

• Dijon mustard - 1 tsp
• honey - 1 tsp
• lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Method of preparation:

1. First of all, make the sauce, mix mustard, honey, and lemon juice, and add sunflower oil in a thin stream while stirring with a whisk.

2. The sauce becomes thicker with the amount of sunflower oil (adjust the thickness), now add olive oil and black pepper to taste.

3. Mash avocado with a fork and drizzle with lime or lemon juice, 1 medium tomato and half a red onion with fine crumbs, ground black pepper and salt to taste, and a little olive oil ~1 tsp.

4. Separate the crab meat into fibers and season with the sauce, first with guacamole, then a layer of grapefruit and crab meat on top.

5. Add a few pieces of grapefruit pulp on a plate.

4. Marinated mussels

Ingredients:

• mussels - 0.5 kg
• salt - 1 tbsp
• water - 1 liter
• allspice - 5-6 pcs
• bay leaf - 5 pcs
• onion - 1 pc
• lemon
• pepper - 1/2 pc
• salt
• ground black pepper
• garlic - 4 cloves
• sunflower oil - 4 tbsp

Method of preparation:

1. Add all the spices and salt to boiling water and boil for 10 minutes.

2. Then add 1/2 kg of frozen mussels and bring to a boil.

3. Drain the water and then add all the other ingredients.

5. Young potatoes

Ingredients:

• young potatoes - 500 g
• sour cream - 2 tbsp
• capers 1 tsp.

Method of preparation:

1. Boil young potatoes in salted water. The potatoes should be small and of the same size.

2. Cook until fully cooked, but so that the vegetable does not fall apart. Check with a toothpick.

3. Mix all the other ingredients in a large bowl to accommodate the potatoes.

6. Chicken heart kebabs

Ingredients:

• chicken hearts - 1 kg
• onions - 2 pcs
• salt - 2 tsp
• ground coriander - 1 tsp
• ground paprika - 2/3 tbsp
• olive oil - 3 tbsp

Method of preparation:

1. Pour beer over the hearts for about 2 hours, then drain the liquid and add the rest of the spices.

2. It is enough to marinate with spices for 30 minutes, if you have time, you can leave it for 1-2 hours.

3. Thread the skewers tightly together, excluding the onions. depends on the size of the hearts, often 12-20 minutes.

7. Salad with baked beets

• chicken breast - 1 pc
• garlic - 2 cloves
• salt
• black pepper
• white table wine - 2 tbsp
• beets - 1 pc (baked or boiled)
• green beans - 100 g (boiled)
• salad mix
• green onions
• mustard in grains - 1 tsp
• honey - 1 tbsp

Method of preparation:

1. Bake the beets for 40 minutes to 2 hours at 200 degrees, checking for softness with a toothpick, the baking time depends on the beets, most often it is 40-50 minutes.

2. Beets can also be boiled for this salad.

3. Cut the chicken breasts into very thin slices, marinate while the beets are baking, and remove the garlic before frying so that it does not burn.

4. To prevent the beets from coloring the other ingredients too much, add the dressing separately, then the rest of the ingredients.

Valeriy Ponomar's personality in world gastronomy

The chef has become one of the most famous food bloggers, having gathered more than two million subscribers from around the world on TikTok alone. The videos he shares on social media gain millions of views and have already won the appetites of many fans.

For Valeriy, cooking is a lifelong hobby, which he has combined with blogging. This has brought him great fame and recognition. His dishes contain fairly simple and budget-friendly ingredients, from which the chef prepares real masterpieces. The celebrity blogger told one of the publications that he only publishes recipes that he loves and cooks for himself all the time. All 7 dishes are exactly like that.