Summer Burgers

This summer has been a busy one so far - after a trip to Boston, a week in the South of France and working on the holiday issues of Canadian Living, the warm sunny days have quickly gone by! We're on to working on our January 2013 issue, with a plethora of wintery comfort foods on the list. It's always a little bit of a challenge to project yourself to the cold, winter days at this time of year and remember the foods that you crave when the snow is falling and plush scarves are a daily part of your routine. There's such a meticulous process to the making of a magazine - in this case from recipe creation, to re-testing, to editing, and editing some more, to styling, shooting and designing the final page as it will be seen and flipped through by readers.

This lengthy process explains why we prepare our issues so many months ahead of time!

When I get home from a day of January-in-August, I fall right back into my normal summer schedule, and cook with seasonal foods. This time around, it's classic, burgers, pilled high with sauteed mushrooms, melted aged cheddar cheese and a couple slices of fresh heirloom tomatoes, with some fleur de sel and freshly cracked black pepper. Sweet summer heirloom tomatoes with their vivid hues and uneven shapes add a good dose of sunniness to these burgers - a flavour I know I will miss come fall.

What do you like to add to your burgers?

Summer Burgers
Serves 2

2 small heirloom tomatoes, sliced and seasoned with salt and pepper
10 mushrooms, sauteed with garlic and thyme
Fresh ground beef for 2, seasoned with a handful of parlsey, 1/4 cup of bread cumbs, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, an egg, salt and pepper, formed into patties and grilled
2 brioche buns, brushed with butter and grilled
2 slices of aged cheddar cheese, layered on top of warm beef patties
Mayonnaise, seasoned with diced cornichons, parsley and chives

Layer ingredients as you please!