Tag Archives: summer

Late Summer Tomato and Burrata Pasta

Tomatoes don’t reach their prime until mid-late August. That’s when the farmstands and markets are full of juicy, ripe, warm from the sun tomatoes. And if you’re anythig like me, you buy way too many because we have waited so long for them to arrive. If you happen to have a surplus of ripe tomatoes, this pasta is a fantastic way to use them up.

A mix of different kinds of tomatoes is fine. If you can find any heirloom varieties, they are perfect for this dish. Just halve or quarter the little ones and dice the larger ones into a 1/2 inch dice. There is a no-cook sauce. When tomatoes are this good, heat is not needed. Mix up a marinade of garlic, anchovy paste, red pepper flakes, olive oil, red wine vinegar and capers. Let the tomatoes macerate in this liquid while you cook the pasta. Use a good quality, fruity extra- virgin olive oil here. And don’t be afraid of the salt. Tomatoes need lots of salt.

Cook up a pound of pasta. Penne, rigatoni, fusilli, orecchiette or any short pasta will work here. You need a hollow pasta or one with lots of curves, to catch all the flavourful liquid. Toss the drained pasta into the bowl with the tomatoes. The warm pasta will absorb all that delicious liquid.

This pasta can be served warm or you could let it sit for a few hours and serve it at room temperature. Add a few dollops of burrata cheese and lots of fresh basil just before serving. If you can’t find burrata, fresh mozzarella would also be delicious. Check out this article if you’re wondering about the difference between freh mozzarella and burrata.

Malted Milk Ice Cream Sandwiches

If you’re not a food photographer, you might think that shooting ice cream sandwiches is fun. Nothing could be further from the truth. Photographing ice cream is one of the most challenging foods, because it melts so quickly.

I made the mistake of trying to shoot this last Saturday at the cottage, where it was a sweltering 32°C, with a humidex of 41°C! The ice cream wasn’t the only thing melting. We were sweating just standing still. I finally shoved the sandwiches back into the freezer and spent the afternoon on the hammock, in the shade. I got up very early Sunday morning before the heat got too bad and managed to get a few good shots.

Do you remember ice cream sandwiches before they got all fancy? That squidgey chocolate wafer, so moist, it stuck to the paper wrapper. How you had to lick the chocolate crumbs off your fingers after you were all done. The familiar, bland, slightly too sweet, vanilla ice cream center.

I wanted to recreate the ice cream sandwiches of my youth, but with a bit of an update. I’d keep the fudgy chocolate wafer but elevate the ice cream center. I decided to fill mine with malted milk ice cream.

Cook’s Illustrated has a fantastic recipe for the chocolate wafers. The addition of chocolate syrup keeps them super fudgy. All the ingredients are mixed in a bowl and spread into a thin layer on a baking sheet. Once they are baked and cooled, you can cut them into any shape you like.

If you would prefer not to make ice cream, just soften some storebought and spread it out onto a baking sheet. Freeze until solid and then cut into the same shape as the chocolate wafers.

They are delicious as is or you can go deluxe and embellish them with melted chocolate and various toppings. I used chopped Malteasers, mini chocolate chips and Skor bits.


Late Summer Peach Streusel Cake

It happens every summer. I get carried away when local peaches finally arrive. The rest of the year they are like rocks with absolutely no flavour or aroma. For a few short weeks each August, they are perfect. The flesh gently yields as you take a bite, and the juice drips down your chin and stains your shirt. But it’s worth it. I always buy more peaches than we can possibly consume. Last year I peeled and pitted the extra peaches and tucked them away in the freezer to use during the winter. Of course I completely forgot about them, until I was cleaning the freezer in June and pulled out a frost covered bag.

This summer, I decided to take action and bake a cake with my peach windfall. The problem with most peach cakes is that the peaches exude so much juice that the cake has a wet, gummy texture. Cook’s Illustrated cracked the code on that problem by suggesting that you roast the peaches first, and then mix them with Panko breadcrumbs.

I tarted up the Cook’s Illustrated version of this cake with a delicious streusel topping, crafted from pecans, oats, butter, brown sugar and maple syrup. I love a little crunch on top of my cake.

A drizzle of some salted caramel sauce wouldn’t be a bad idea.
And a scoop of vanilla ice cream, because it’s the last week of summer and I propose we go out with a bang!

Click here to print recipe for Summer Peach Streusel Cake.

 

 

 

Peach Tomato Corn Salad


When Mother Nature forces corn, peaches and tomatoes to ripen all at the same time, I do believe she intended for us to put them together into something delicious.

First, let’s chat about peaches. There are two types of peaches, cling and freestone. As the name suggests, the flesh of the cling peach stubbornly hugs the stone, making them a real pain to slice. The flesh of the freestone, comes away easily from the pit. Unfortunately, without slicing the peach open, there is no way of knowing which type of peach is which. The first peaches of the season are almost always cling, and the freestones usually follow a few weeks later.
The easiest way to pit a freestone peach is to use a sharp paring knife. Pierce the peach at its stem end and slice it along the seam all the way around the fruit. Place each half of the peach in either hand. Twist the halves in opposite directions. Pull the halves apart to reveal the pit. Use the tip of a spoon to nudge the pit out of the peach.
For this salad I encourage you to buy as many different types, colours and sizes of ripe tomatoes as you can find. Heirloom ones are perfect for this salad. This is truly a blank canvas and you are the artist.

I recently discovered Tomberries. They are minuscule red and yellow tomatoes, about the quarter of the size of a cherry tomato. They are super-sweet and freaking adorable. In the photo below, I put a in grape tomato (bottom left)  for size reference. Loblaws in Canada carries them under their President’s Choice label. If the corn is really fresh, like picked that day, just shuck it, cut the corn off the cob and use it raw in the salad. I like to sauté the corn in a bit of olive oil if it was not picked that day.

Cut some of the tomatoes in slices, others in wedges and start composing. I just drizzled mine with some really fruity extra virgin olive oil. I scattered some fresh basil over top and finished it with a judicious sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper and flaky sea salt. I didn’t feel it needed any vinegar as the tomatoes have a good amount of acid. If you feel it needs vinegar, then go ahead and add some delicate white wine vinegar.

Send me a picture if you make this salad. I’d love to see what you create.

Cherry Yogurt Breakfast Ice Pops

I make popsicles a few times every summer and end up buying new molds almost every year because I can’t find them or have lost half the parts for the set. This year I splurged on this set , and I am promising myself it will be the last set I will ever buy. They are stainless steel and everything fits neatly into a little tray to hold and store all the parts.

Fresh cherries are at their peak now and we decided to celebrate with them.My daughter thought that plain Greek yogurt would be the perfect base for these popsicles. She is way more health conscious than I am and she convinced me to sweeten them with just 2 tablespoons of honey. We decided to use both pureed and chopped cherries for a textural treat.

Fresh or frozen pitted cherries are cooked with a bit of water for about 5 minutes, until softened. They get blitzed in the blender. we mixed some chopped fresh cherries with the yogurt and honey and filled the molds 2/3 full. Then we poured in the pureed cherry mixture and swirled it with a wooden skewer for a pretty marbled design.
Since they are not very sweet, I thought they would make a perfect portable breakfast. I couldn’t resist dipping the top into more honey and rolling them in some chopped granola, for a complete breakfast!

Click here for recipe for Cherry Yogurt Breakfast Ice Pops.