The secret to great food this summer? Keep it simple. Take home what looks good at the farmers’ markets and raid the garden.
Fennel, Fava Bean and Fresh Pea Salad
This fresh and light salad, rich in nutrients, textures and flavours is at its peak in the middle of our market season. The punchy lemon and fresh mint are perfect on a hot summer’s day. This salad works great with simple chargrilled fish or crispy chicken Milanese. Try adding other raw vegetables such as shaved zucchini, radish, cucumbers or shaved baby carrots. –Daniel Costa, Corso 32
| 3T | pine nuts |
| 1T | freshly squeezed lemon juice |
| 3T | high-quality extra virgin olive oil |
| 1 bulb | fennel |
| 10 | fresh fava pods |
| ⅓ c | freshly shelled peas |
| 1 handful | pea shoots |
| 10 leaves | mint, large leaves ripped into pieces, baby leaves left whole |
| kosher salt | |
| pepper |
Place the pine nuts in a small pan and gently heat over medium heat until golden, stir or swirl nuts constantly to avoid burning. Allow to cool before using.
Place the lemon juice and olive oil in a bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Whisk until thick and emulsified.
Using a vegetable peeler, peel the outside layer of the fennel. Using a mandolin or sharp knife cut the fennel as thin as possible, discard the bottom core. Open the fava pods and remove each of the beans, discard the pods. Carefully remove the outer shell of each of the fava beans, discard the shell. Place all of the ingredients with 3⁄4 of the vinaigrette in a medium-large sized mixing bowl. Using your hands gently toss the salad until everything is lightly coated. Add the remaining vinaigrette if needed. Season to taste with more salt. Divide between 2 plates, serve immediately.
Serves 2.
Roasted Pepper, Tomato and Hemp Dip
This roasted pepper and hemp seed dip with fresh tomatoes is great with mixed greens, as a side dish for fish or any red meat, or with fresh tomatoes tossed in first-pressed canola oil with a favourite chopped herb. I love dill or chervil. –Davina Moraiko, RGE RD
| 3 lg | seeded red pepper |
| 1 med | fresh tomato |
| 4 cloves | roasted garlic |
| 2½ T | red wine vinegar |
| 1½ T | salt |
| ¼ c | first pressed canola oil |
| 1 c | hulled hemp seeds |
Toss red peppers in a bit of canola oil and roast in a 400ºF oven until soft and slightly charred. Roast garlic at the same time as the peppers by trimming off a head of garlic to expose the tops of garlic cloves. Drizzle with a touch of oil and wrap in tin foil. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes.
Once peppers are nicely roasted place them in a bowl and cover with saran wrap. Let peppers sit for about 30 minutes (this helps skin peel away easily). Peel off the peppers skin and remove seeds. Remove cloves of garlic from the skin.
Place roasted peppers, fresh tomato, roasted garlic and the red wine vinegar in a blender. Blend on high speed. Once smooth add in hemp seeds salt and first pressed canola oil. Blend on medium speed until combined.
Makes 750 ml, for 2-4 people.
Fried Zucchini Flowers
Zucchini blossoms, spinach and garlic can all be purchased from Peas on Earth at the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market.
–Rosario and Lisa Caputo, Cibo Bistro
| 8-12 | zucchini blossoms (depending on size) |
Gently clean the blossoms with a dry brush or a damp paper towel to remove any dirt. Do not rinse blossoms under water.
Ricotta Filling
| 1 L | ricotta cheese |
| 4 lbs | fresh spinach |
| 3 cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 1 T | fresh lemon juice |
| ¼ c | dry white wine |
| salt and pepper to taste | |
| 2 T | olive oil |
| 4 L | vegetable oil or grape seed oil |
| 100 g | grated Parmigiano or pecorino cheese |
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat add garlic and sauté until clear, add spinach, white wine and lemon juice and sauté just until spinach is wilted. Take off heat and let cool, once cool add your sautéed ingredients to your ricotta cheese and stir until evenly combined. Season to taste.
Take your cleaned blossoms and gently stuff the middle with cheese mixture (hands work best as blossoms are delicate) leaving enough room at the tip to twist the end to seal. Place stuffed blossoms on a bake sheet lined with parchment paper.
Batter
| 2 c | flour |
| 1 can | ice cold soda water as needed |
Pour flour into a large mixing bowl and whisk in soda water. Stop adding liquid when batter is the consistency of a thin pancake mix. (You won’t use the entire can, you want to be able to coat each blossom lightly.)
Heat oil in a large pot until it is between 315–350ºF. Holding each blossom by the stem, dip into the batter one at a time, then lower into the hot oil with a back and forth motion, then slowly release into oil. Depending on the size of your blossoms, cook 2 or 3 at a time in order to not to overcrowd the pot and cool the oil. Using a large fork or slotted metal spoon gently turn the blossoms until they are evenly cooked and golden brown. Remove from oil and place on paper towel to absorb extra oil. Plate blossoms and finish with grated cheese. Serve immediately.
Blossoms can be stuffed ahead of time and refrigerated or fried right away. Blossoms should be stuffed the day you plan on frying them; the filling can be made a day in advance and refrigerated.
Potatoes Boiled in Garlic Cream
There’s so much boiled food in Indigenous cuisine—it’s one of the main food preparation techniques. This dish is a fancy version of so much of the simple, boiled food that our communities eat, yet it’s an example of how truly good simple can be. The silky potatoes bathed in sweet and garlic-tinted cream could be a meal on their own. Or serve them with a crispy, pan-fried fish fillet or with a bison pot roast or a simple roast chicken. –Shane Chartrand
Excerpted from Tawâw Progressive Indigenous Cuisine by Shane M. Chartrand with Jennifer Cockrall-King.
| 4 lg | Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled or unpeeled, quartered |
| ½ med | white onion, thinly sliced |
| 6 cloves | garlic, thinly sliced |
| 2 c | whipping (35 percent) cream |
| 1 c | half-and-half (10 percent) cream |
| 1 c | good-quality chicken broth |
| salt to taste | |
| ¼ c | finely chopped fresh parsley |
In a large pot, combine the potatoes, onion, garlic, whipping cream, half-and-half and broth. Bring to a simmer over medium heat—watch it carefully as it will make a mess if it boils over—and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. (When a toothpick or sharp knife slide in and out of the flesh cleanly, you know they are ready).
Strain the cooked potatoes, reserving the warm garlic cream for another use (it’s great over seafood or pasta) and transfer to a bowl. Season with salt and the chopped parsley. Serve steaming hot.
Serves 4-6.
Spot Prawns with Quinoa, Apple, Rhubarb and Strawberry Salad with a Beer Ponzu
-chef JP Dublado
| 1 lb | raw spot prawns |
| ½ c | quinoa |
| 1½ c | chicken stock |
| 1 sm | pink lady apple, sliced, in lemon water to prevent browning |
| 1 stalk | rhubarb, sliced |
| ½ c | orange juice |
| ½ c | strawberries |
| 1 sm | cucumber, sliced |
| splash | lemon juice |
| sugar | |
| vegetable oil | |
| salt and pepper |
Poach prawns in salted boiling water for 30 seconds. Let cool quickly in an ice bath. Peel.
Toast ½ cup quinoa on a hot pan, then add 1½ cups chicken stock until cooked. Gently poach rhubarb (tea hot) in a small pot of orange juice (just enough to cover) with a spoonful sugar. When slightly softened, set aside and let cool. Toss sliced strawberries with sugar (just enough to lightly coat each slice). Set aside for 10 minutes to macerate.
To serve: Toss the quinoa and a few sliced cucumbers with vegetable oil, a splash of lemon juice and salt and pepper. Place the chilled and peeled spot prawns on the quinoa, drizzle the ponzu sauce (recipe follows) over. Add apple, rhubarb and strawberries. Finish the dish with pansy blossoms from Sunrise Organic Farms.
Beer Ponzu
| ½ btl/can | local beer (Blindman Brewing India Pale Ale) |
| ½ c | low sodium soy sauce |
| 1 | orange, juiced |
| ¼ c | mirin |
| 2 t | lemon juice |
| 1 T | sugar |
| 2 t | chili flakes |
| ½ c | maple syrup |
Cook down the beer until reduced by half. Add the rest of the ingredients, continue to cook until reduced by half once more or until desired consistency. While the ponzu is reducing go ahead and enjoy the other half of the beer. Set aside and let cool. Serve over the spot prawns.
Serves 2.
Hot Milk Sponge
This is the cake my mum has made since I was a kid for homemade strawberry shortcake.
–Kaelin Whittaker, Awn Kitchen
| 1 c | flour, sifted |
| 1 t | baking powder |
| ¼ t | salt |
| ½ c | whole milk |
| 2 T | butter |
| 2 | eggs |
| 1 c | granulated sugar |
| 1 t | vanilla |
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Heat the milk and butter, until butter melts. Keep warm. Beat eggs for 3 minutes until thick on high speed of an electric mixer. Slowly add the sugar and beat for a further 4 minutes. Add sifted dry ingredients to egg mixture, stir just until blended. Stir in hot milk mixture and vanilla, mix well. Turn batter into greased 9×9 pan and bake in a preheated oven (350ºF) for 25-30 minutes. Serve with fresh berries and softly whipped cream.
Roasted Rhubarb
Effortless and the rhubarb doesn’t get stringy. Delicious on ice cream (lemon gelato), with yogurt, on pavlova, or as rhubarb shortcake. You could probably cook it on the barbecue if you didn’t want to turn on the oven.
| 3-4 stalks | rhubarb |
| ¼ c | (or so) dark brown sugar |
Chop rhubarb in 1–2 inch pieces. Toss with the sugar and place in a baking dish. Top with foil and roast for 30 minutes at 300ºF. Turn off the over and let the rhubarb sit for another half hour. It’s ready when the pieces are soft yet still holding their shape. Use right away or chill in the fridge. Keep for up to a week, covered.
Raspberry Jam
Making jam is simple and very satisfying, although the quantity of sugar might seem excessive, remember that sugar acts as the preservative when making jam. You can half this recipe, but I don’t recommend doubling it, rather I’d make two single batches. When doubling jam recipes, it takes longer for the jam to set and you will lose the bright colour in the fruit. It works as well with fresh fruit as it does frozen. I often freeze fresh fruit at the peak of the season in the correct quantities for jam recipes. –Kaelin Whittaker, Awn Kitchen
| 900 g | fresh or frozen raspberries |
| 900 g | granulated sugar: 110 g less if the berries are quite sweet |
| sterilizing jars and lids |
Wash the jars in hot soapy water, dry well with a clean tea towel. Place the jars on a baking tray and put into the preheated oven for 15 minutes. If you’re using snap lids, you can reuse the ring, but always throw out the flat piece after it’s been used, there is a good chance it won’t seal properly the next time you use it. Wash the rings and lids in hot soapy water, put into a saucepan and bring to the boil, simmer for 5 minutes. Dry the rings and lids completely using a clean tea towel.
Place your sugar in an oven proof dish, in the preheated oven (350ºF) for 15 minutes. Heating the sugar will speed up the process of the jam setting, keeping the colour of the fruit nice and rich.
Put the berries into a wide stainless steel saucepan. Mash them a little and cook for 15-20 minutes over medium heat until the juice begins to run, add the warmed sugar and stir over a gentle heat until the sugar is fully dissolved. Increase the heat and bring to the boil, cook steadily for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
To test for set, turn the heat off, place a tablespoon of jam on a cold plate and into the freezer for a minute. Push the jam with your finger, if it wrinkles, it is set. If it isn’t quite set, turn the heat up again, and cook for another 5 minutes, before testing again. Once set skim off any light pink bits that have risen to the top of the pot (these are the impurities in the fruit coming out) and pour into hot sterilized jars, cover immediately.
Makes about 1.5 litres jam, depending on the juiciness of the berries.
Marinated Fennel
This is an easy make-the-day-before side dish for a pot luck or easy summer lunch or dinner. Adapted from Provence: The Beautiful Cookbook by Richard Olney.
| 2 lb | fennel bulb |
| bouquet garni: thyme, parsley, bay leaf in cheesecloth or tied together | |
| ½ lb | pickling onions |
| 4 cloves | garlic, crushed |
| pinch | fennel seeds |
| pinch | coriander seeds |
| ½ t | peppercorn |
| coarse salt | |
| 5-6 T | olive oil |
| juice of 1 lemon | |
| ½ c | dry white wine |
Remove outer stalks of the fennel bulbs. Reserve any feathery, green leaves. Split the bulbs into quarters lengthwise.
Place the bouquet garni in a stove-top casserole, then arrange the fennel, onions and garlic in the pan, wedging everything tightly. Scatter over the dry seasonings. Pour over oil, lemon juice, white wine, and enough water just to immerse the contents. Bring to a boil, cover and cook at a gentle boil until the fennel is tender but still firm, about 25 minutes, or bake at 350ºF for about 30 minutes, or until the fennel is soft. Cover if it looks like it’s getting too dry. Discard the bouquet and pour contents of the pan into a terrine. Let cool and serve at room temperature or cover and chill before serving. Chop reserved fennel leaves and scatter over the top before serving.
Serves 4-8.
Gazpacho
Got lots of ripe tomatoes? Gazpacho is delicious on a hot day. This recipe doesn’t involve peeling the tomatoes, contributing to the easy breezy summer feeling.
| 2 lbs | ripe red tomatoes, cored and quartered |
| 1 | Anaheim, or other long, light green pepper, cored, seeded and cut into chunks |
| 1 | cucumber, about 8 inches long, peeled and cut into chunks |
| 1 sm | mild onion (white or red), peeled and roughly cut into chunks |
| 1 | green onion, sliced, |
| 1 clove | garlic |
| pinch | cumin |
| 2 t | sherry vinegar, more to taste |
| salt | |
| ½ c | extra-virgin olive oil, more to taste, plus more for drizzling |
Combine tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, onion and garlic in a blender. Blend at high speed until very smooth, at least 2 minutes, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula. With the motor running, add the vinegar and 2 teaspoons salt. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil. The mixture will turn bright orange or dark pink and become smooth and emulsified, like a salad dressing. If watery, drizzle in more olive oil until texture is creamy. Transfer to a bowl and chill until very cold, at least 6 hours or overnight. Before serving, adjust the seasonings with salt and vinegar. If soup is very thick, stir in a few tablespoons ice water.
Serve with parsley, a few drops of a nice olive oil and croutons if desired.
Serves 4-6 as a starter.