Caprese Salad

I get a little giddy every time tomato season hits. During most of the year, tomatoes still remain a staple of my everyday cooking but I look at them with less of a loving eye. They don't come close to what what they taste like at this time of year and often feel bland and uninteresting. Plump, heirloom tomatoes at their peak are a whole different story - they can happily be enjoyed .with a simple drizzle of good olive oil, some fleur de sel and a few speckles of cracked black pepper only, and I often just snack on them with a few speckles of salt.

During the wintertime, produce has to be cajoled a little more to be turned into a warm, comforting meal - but we have it easy when tomatoes taste this good. They are the undeniable star of the show. This simple salad - my all-time favourite - is made nestling milky buffalo mozarella with thin, meaty tomato slices. These gorgeous, uneven gems were purchased from the farmers' market a Liberty Village and surely didn't disappoint. I added some fresh basil leaves (picked from our very own urban garden/balcony!) and a few salty, cured olives. I really can't think of a better summer lunch and I know I will be eying this photo with envy in a few weeks from now.

Have you ever had a puffball?

This weekend, as I was strolling through the St Lawrence Market for some seasonal produce my eyes landed on this unusual specimen: a puffball! These large, rounded cream-coloured gems - part of the mushroom family - were my market-find of the day. I had never seen these anywhere before (have you?), but after a little research I knew exactly how I would be serving them.

Puffballs can be cooked much in the same way as regular cremini or button mushroom, although they have more of a soft, spongy, marshmallow-like texture. They reduce a lot when cooked and are best enjoyed warm. Even though I stocked up on heirloom tomatoes, golden beets and wild blueberries for the week, I was most excited about these over-sized cartoon-worthy goodies.With a little white wine, herbs and garlic, they make a perfect side dish. They soak up flavour with ease and plump up when cooked with wine.

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?

Shallot and Goat Cheese Tarte Tatin

Little beats the perfection of a classic Tarte Tatin. Serve it warm with a generous scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and I'm sold. The culinary technique behind this staple dessert can be applied to many different types of fruit but also works wonders with savory flavours. As long as your filling has a sticky, caramelized consistency and that you top the tart with flaky puff pastry you can't really go wrong.

The only tricky part is to invert the dish once it's cooked. The beauty of a Tarte Tatin comes from the way it is cooked - with the puff pastry tightly nestled on top of the dish- the filling will bubble away while the dough can slowly crisp up without getting soggy. My best advice is not to over-think it when times comes time to invert the dish- simply run a pairing knife around the edges of the tart, top the tart with your platter (or a cutting board) and flip it over in one confident go. If a few sticky filling pieces stay lodged in your cooking vessel, gently free them and arrange on top of your dish.

Patterned Plates

We all know that we eat with our eyes first. The same dish, nicely displayed and presented will generally make you want to eat it more than if it comes spooned into yesterday's take-out containers.

Don't get me wrong, some foods are best served stripped of any fancy tableware (think authentic fish and chips served in newspaper or street food served on paper plates) but for most dishes, a little extra effort never hurts. Here are some of my current favourites - I especially love the Kate Spade and Anthropologie ones!

 {1}Anthropologie {2}Kate Spade {3} Etsy {4} Lisa Stickley 

 {5} West Elm {6} Crate and Barrel

Which one would you add to your dinner table?

Brioche Lobster Rolls

When life gives you lobster, make lobster rolls! There are many perfect summer meals, but little comes close to a fresh lobster roll enjoyed by the water, with a soft breeze and the sun shining. If all these components are not part of your everyday routine, the lobster roll alone should do!

I don't like to get too fussy when I make lobster rolls - or overpower the dish with excess sauce. If you've ever had a lobster roll with more mayonnaise and bread than meaty lobster chunks, you'll know exactly what I mean! I like to keep things simple: a little homemade mayonnaise with herbs, hearty bite-size lobster pieces, a warm, buttery brioche and crisp Boston lettuce.

The Ultimate Fish Tacos

Fish tacos have become a regular on the menu in our household - they're a stress-free option to serve for get-togethers, especially in the summertime when you don't want something too heavy. Guests can mound whichever toppings they like onto a hearty taco shell, and all you have to do is scatter a few different toppings across the table. If you're having a lot of people over, this really is an easy way to entertain. Most of the toppings can be made ahead of time and the fish can be prepared in a few minutes once your guests arrive. I like to serve these with an ice-cold jug of watermelon juice and/or glasses of berry mojitos. It's more relaxed than a sit-down dinner and perfect for a warm summer evening where you want to eat outside. If you're hosting a potluck, have every guest bring their favourite taco topping while you provide a few of the essentials.

 

Here are a few of my favourite toppings. I also love serving these with shredded red cabbage, grilled corn kernels, purple rice and orange salsa. What are some of our favourite fish taco toppings?