Is it rushing things to recommend a cookbook based largely on alluring dishes that are prepped and assembled, but mostly uncooked or barely so? It’s spring, after all, and the incentive to prepare salads instead of stews is compelling. Vanessa Seder, the author of “Eat Cool,” is a chef and writer in Portland, Maine, who suggests recipes like a platter of judiciously spiced melon and cucumbers, scallop ceviche and an inviting array of tinned seafood. Other ideas include a green shakshuka, quick pasta with crab and chiles, a glass-noodle salad with lemongrass, fish sauce and seared ground pork, and a page of ideas for using a purchased rotisserie chicken. She has you use a stove and oven here and there, but not for a fruit pie because, as she explained in an email, baking a tart really heats up the kitchen. Instead, among her desserts is an intriguingly refreshing lemon semifreddo made with salted preserved lemons.
“Eat Cool: Good Food for Hot Days” by Vanessa Seder (Rizzoli, $39.95)
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