All the tastes of summer—vine-ripened tomatoes, B.C. stone fruit, Alberta berries, Taber corn—on the grill. A collection of recipes that don’t require you to turn on the stove.
by Mary Bailey
These recipes are written for a gas barbecue. If you use charcoal like I do, you’ll know when your coals are ready.
Il Portico Radicchio Corsi
One of the standout dishes from the beloved Il Portico restaurant was the grilled radicchio. I asked Patrick Saurette, (then Il Portico’s manager, now owner of The Marc with his wife Doris) to share the recipe. “The Corsi family were partners in Il Portico, and they brought this appetizer from their other restaurant Café Roma in Vancouver. We always served it in threes, it was Mario Corsi’s philosophy—few ingredients, keep it simple, keep it fresh.”
| radicchio | |
| bocconcini | |
| Parma ham (prosciutto) | |
| sun dried cherries | |
| mesclun greens or spring mix shaved Parmigiano |
Make the Vinaigrette
| 1c | red wine vinegar |
| 2t | cherry syrup (Polish, find at the Italian Centre) |
| finely chopped shallot | |
| kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper |
Wrap the Parma ham around each bocconcini and place on a radicchio leaf. Roll it up tightly and place seam side down in a container. It’s best to do this the night before. They stay rolled that way.
Take out of the fridge and drizzle with olive oil. Grill over high heat.
Watch them carefully. Turn once. Take off the grill when you have a good mark on the outside and the cheese had melted a bit. Pour some of the vinaigrette over when you take off the grill.
Place three on each plate which has a little salad on it. Season. Sprinkle with the cherries and shaved parmesan and drizzle with remaining vinaigrette.
Grilled Peaches with Burrata
When you tire of eating ripe B.C. peaches over the sink, try using them in a savoury way. You can use either peaches and nectarines, and if you don’t want to use burrata, try the recipe for homemade ricotta and use that instead. Adapted from a recipe by Elena Silcock.
| 4 | peaches, or so, depending on size, cut into wedges |
| olive oil | |
| 1⁄2 bag | arugula or two butter lettuces |
| sm bunch | Italian parsley, stemmed |
| sm bunch | basil, torn, for garnish |
| 1⁄2t | chopped fresh thyme |
| 1 or 2 lg | burratta or 3-4 small homemade ricotta |
Dressing
Squeeze about half a lemon into 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Whisk until combined. Season to taste.
Brush the peaches with oil and grill face down over medium heat until there are marks and the fruit is somewhat warm. Toss the greens and parsley with the thyme and dressing. Start with a small amount and increase until it’s dressed the way you like. Leave a little dressing to drizzle later.
Plate the greens on a platter. Arrange the grilled stone fruit attractively and tuck the burratta in and around the fruit—if using large, break into a few pieces. Garnish with the torn basil leaves. Crack some pepper and toss a little finishing salt over. Serves 6-8.
Stone Fruit Slaw
This easy slaw is a lovely partner to chicken, pork or fish.
| 1T | grated peeled fresh ginger |
| 1T | unseasoned rice vinegar or champagne vinegar |
| 1T | olive oil |
| 1t | packed) light brown sugar |
| ⅛t | crushed red pepper flakes |
| 5 | or so firm stone fruit such as plums, apricots nectarines and peaches, julienned |
| 2 | scallions, thinly sliced diagonally |
| kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper |
Whisk first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the fruit and scallions; toss gently to coat. Season to taste.
Serves 4-6.
Grilled Bacon-wrapped Dates
Why heat up the oven when you can make this old school appetizer outside?
| 24 | Medjool dates, pitted |
| ⅓c | blue cheese, crumbled (or creamy goat’s cheese) |
| ⅓c | cream cheese or mascarpone |
| 1t | fresh lemon juice |
| ½t | kosher salt |
| ¼t | freshly ground pepper |
| ½c | walnut halves, toasted and halved lengthwise |
| 6 slices | bacon, cut thin and crosswise into 4 pieces |
| fresh thyme, for garnish | |
| honey and extra-virgin olive oil, for serving |
Preheat grill to medium-high.
In a medium bowl, combine the cheeses, salt and pepper and lemon juice. Using a hand mixer, beat at medium speed until thoroughly blended and fluffy. Refrigerate until firm.
Using a small spoon, stuff each date with the blue cheese filling, then tuck in a piece of toasted walnut. Wrap each date with a piece of bacon, secure it with a toothpick and transfer to a baking sheet.
Grill the wrapped stuffed dates for about 15 minutes, turning them with tongs once or twice so the bacon crisps on all sides. Put the browned dates on a platter, scatter some fresh thyme and serve warm, with a drizzle of honey and olive oil. Or use quince syrup like they do at Bodega.
Serves 6-8.
Tomato Tonnato
This recipe from the New Yorker by Helen Rosner is a revelation. I just didn’t get the classic Italian dish vitello tonnato. But put the sauce on tomatoes and somehow it all makes sense.
“The appeal of a summer tonnato is its sheer forehead-slapping easiness: plug in a blender or food processor, throw in a big scoop of mayo, a can of good-quality tuna with its oil, a heaping spoonful of brined capers. Blend it all with a few hearty glugs of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, a clove or two of peeled garlic, and an anchovy fillet. (No salt—my God, you don’t need to add salt.) A scant teaspoon of ice-cold water blended in at the very end, somehow, miraculously, makes the whole thing glossy and light. If the whole thing weren’t so relentlessly, elegantly Italian, I’m sure the fresh-food snobs would sneer down their noses at a dish so reliant upon a heap of cans and bottles.” –Helen Rosner
For the tonnato sauce
| 1 tin | (3 to 4 oz.) high-quality tuna packed in olive oil |
| 1 fillet | anchovy (or more, if you like things punchy) |
| ¼c | mayonnaise |
| ¼c | olive oil |
| juice of ½ lemon (about 2 to 3 T) | |
| 1T | capers in brine, drained |
| 1 clove | garlic, peeled |
| 1t | ice-cold water |
For serving
| 5-7 | (depending on size) firm, flavourful tomatoes |
| kosher salt | |
| 2T | fresh basil leaves, roughly torn |
| freshly-cracked black pepper |
In a blender or food processor, combine all ingredients (including the tuna oil), except water, and blend until the mixture achieves a pale, silken consistency, slightly thicker than cake batter, pausing and scraping down the sides as needed. Add ice-cold water and blend for another 10 to 15 seconds until the sauce takes on a slightly glossy texture. If the mixture feels too thick or lumpy, add more ice-cold water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency. Transfer tonnato to a serving bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and transfer to the refrigerator to set for 30 minutes or up to 3 days.
Wash tomatoes and remove their stems. Using a very sharp knife, slice tomatoes latitudinally into 1⁄2-inch rounds. On a serving platter, arrange a single layer of tomato slices, and dust sparingly with kosher salt. If more tomatoes remain, arrange them on top of the lower layer and sprinkle each slice with a few grains of salt. Just before serving, remove the prepared tonnato sauce from the fridge and stir to incorporate any oil that may have separated. Spoon about half the tonnato sauce over the tomatoes, reserving the remainder for another day Garnish with basil leaves and several coarse grinds of black pepper.
The Simplest, Easiest, Most Delicious Summer Potatoes
I love the potatoes that come into the markets and the CSA’s mid summer—the small new potatoes, so tender they need very little cooking with the skins on. This is more of a technique than a recipe.
Make foil packets with about 3-5 potatoes in each. Add fresh herbs (rosemary and thyme are nice), salt, pepper and a bit of butter. Place the packets on the grill and cook until you can pierce the potatoes easily with a knife.Movearoundthegrillifyouthink they are getting too much heat. They are best when they are fully cooked with a few dark marks. Tear off the foil and plop the potatoes into a bowl. Be careful of the hot steam. Check for seasoning and serve.
Rosemary Chicken Skewers
This marinade keeps the chicken moist while grilling.
| ½ sm | white onion, finely chopped |
| 3 cloves | garlic, minced |
| ½t | crushed red pepper |
| 1t | minced rosemary |
| ¼c | fresh lemon juice |
| ¼c | extra-virgin olive oil |
| 8-12 | boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1½-inch pieces |
| kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper | |
| 8 sprigs | sturdy 12-inch rosemary, leaves on bottom half removed |
| lime wedges, for serving |
Heat the grill to medium. Oil the grate.
In a large bowl, combine the onion, garlic, chillies, minced rosemary, lemon juice and olive oil; set aside ¼ cup of the marinade. Season the chicken and add to the bowl. Mix well, cover and marinate for 30 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the marinade and thread the pieces onto the rosemary skewers; discard the used marinade. Grill the chicken over moderate heat, turning occasionally and basting with the reserved marinade, until golden and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with the lime.
Makes 8-10 skewers.
Necatrines with Labneh
Find labneh at the Happy Camel in the Bountiful and Old Strathcona Farmers’ Markets. Adapted from a recipe by Sabrina Ghayour.
| 4 lg | ripe nectarines, halved and stones removed |
| olive oil, for drizzling | |
| 2c | labneh (or ricotta) |
| ½c | toasted hazelnuts, chopped |
| 1t | chili flakes (optional) |
| 2T | clear honey |
| handful | mint leaves, stacked, rolled tightly and finely sliced into thin ribbons (chiffonade) |
| finishing salt |
Heat the grill to medium.
Drizzle the halves olive oil and season generously with pepper. Grill until the fruit is soft and you have nice grill marks.
Spread the labneh on a platter and arrange the nectarines on top. Drizzle with a little olive oil, scatter finishing salt, the chili flakes if using and the toasted hazelnuts. Drizzle with honey and scatter mint over. Take to the table to serve.
Serves 6-8.
Smitten Kitchen’s Ricotta
Make this with Rock Ridge Dairy’s jersey milk and you will never go back to commercial ricotta. Spread on toast, use as a vegetable dip or eat by the spoonful.
| 4c | whole milk |
| ¼c | heavy cream |
| ½t | kosher salt |
| 3T | freshly squeezed lemon juice |
Line a fine-mesh or other tiny-holed strainer with a layer or two of cheesecloth and set it over a large bowl with enough clearance (that the bottom of the strainer won’t touch the bowl once it has 4 cups of liquid in it) or the cheese won’t drain. In a heavy medium-large saucepan, heat the milk, cream and salt over medium- high heat until just below a simmer—it will look like it’s foaming and register just below 200°F. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in lemon juice. Let it sit for 5 minutes, then pour it through the cheesecloth. Drain for 10 minutes, or until it’s a nice soft ricotta consistency, and up to 10 minutes longer if needed. (The amount of time it takes to drain has to do with the size of your cheesecloth holes.) Transfer ricotta to a bowl to serve. Drizzle with olive oil, and finish with salt and pepper.
Corn Potato Salad
This combines the two of the best things about summer, fresh corn and new potatoes. Make in the morning when it’s cool.
| salted water for boiling | |
| 1 ear | fresh yellow corn, medium- sized, husk and silk removed |
| 7c | baby red potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces |
| 1 sm | yellow onion, finely chopped |
| 3t | white wine vinegar |
| 3 med | celery stalks, finely chopped (about 1 cup) |
| ¾c | mayonnaise |
| 3t | fresh basil, chopped |
| 1t | fresh dill, chopped, plus dill sprigs, for garnish |
| kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper |
Boil the corn in lots of salted water for 4 minutes. Set aside until cool enough to handle.
Return water to a boil over medium-high. Add the potatoes and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and let cool.
Combine the onion and vinegar in a large bowl and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir in the celery, mayonnaise, and herbs, 2½ teaspoons salt and a few generous cracks of pepper.
Cut the kernels from cob. (Save the cob for stock.) Add the kernels and potatoes to onion mixture; stir until well mixed. Cover and chill at least 1 hour or up to 3 days. To serve: check seasoning and garnish with dill sprigs.
Serves 6-8.
Lemon Posset
An easy dessert that highlights summer berries. Make in the morning, when it’s cool, it’ll be ready for dinner. If you have some pretty antique glassware this is the time to use it.
| 2 lg | lemons |
| ⅔c | superfine sugar |
| 2c | heavy cream |
| 1c | raspberries or blueberries, for garnish |
Zest and juice the lemons. You should have about a half cup of juice. Pour 1⁄2 cup of lemon juice into a small saucepan. Add the grated zest and the sugar. Stir well to combine and bring the mixture to a slow, gentle simmer. Remove from heat and reserve.
In a medium-sized pot, bring the cream to a gentle boil over low heat. Keep it gentle! Slowly whisk the lemon syrup into the hot cream. Let the posset cool slightly and strain if desired. Then pour into six small cups or glasses. Bring to room temperature. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Remove from the refrigerator and leave at room temperature for at least 5 minutes before serving.
To serve, scatter fresh raspberries, blueberries or strawberries over top. Serves 6.