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Summer patio treats Bring it on with refreshing appies
June can quite often be a wet month but if it is, let’s just look forward to July, which is bound to be warmer and drier, right? And, on every one of the sunny days in June, let’s begin to celebrate the arrival of summer, even though it doesn’t officially arrive until the evening of June 20, when the days are at the longest of the year: the Summer Solstice. Long hours of light and sun-filled days
Jude’s Kitchen JUDIE STEEVES
are something I’ve been looking forward to since the Winter Solstice in December, when we celebrated the end of the dark days and the beginning of longer light each day. Now they will begin to get shorter.
Long June days mean patio time and that means opportunities to showcase
fresh, local BC products fresh from the fields, served on bright platters with refreshing drinks alongside. It’s about finger food, where napkins substitute for plates and fingers for
forks. If you want to make that patio a bit bigger, take these bites camping with
you and enjoy the great outdoors in a bigger way. However you do it, go ahead and celebrate the beginning of summer with some outdoors time and while you’re at it, have a toast to Canada’s 150th birthday on July 1 with a barbecue for family and friends. Serve some red and white food as a salute to our flag!
WATERMELON CUBES WITH FETA FILLING
These look really festive and pretty – the perfect colours for celebrating Canada Day – and they taste delicious with all the contrasting flavours in them. I didn’t use a seedless watermelon, which makes it difficult to get nice squared-off cubes, but it was locally-grown and really sweet and delicious. The combination of sweet and salty, crunchy and soft, and the herby sizzle is wonderful in these little bites.
24 watermelon cubes
1/2 c. (125 ml) feta cheese coarsely-ground sea salt
1/4 c. (60 ml) sweet onion 1/2 lime
1 tbsp. (15 ml) shredded basil or 24 fresh mint leaves
• Carefully cut the red watermelon so you have cubes that are about an inch or so in diameter (bite-sized, anyway) and remove a dimple in top for the filling using a melon baller or the tip of a teaspoon. (I just ate these bits!) • Chop the sweet onion such as Vidalia or Walla Walla onions into small dice and crumble the feta cheese into a small bowl and mix well. • Drizzle the watermelon cubes with the juice from about a half a lime. • Use a small spoon to fill the hollow in top of each watermelon cube with the feta mixture. A white plate makes a nice, contrasting background for these little appies. • Sprinkle or grate a little sea salt on each and top with a few bits of shredded, fresh basil or a fresh mint leaf. Makes 24 or so.
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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • JUNE 2017
Refreshing watermelon appies! JUDIE STEEVES PHOTO LETTUCE WRAPS
These are a fun finger food but it’s one you want to eat with a napkin because they can be a bit messy. It's a whole meal in a fist with a minimum of dishes and no cutlery. Make these small for appies, or with larger lettuce leaves for a meal.
1 lettuce head 1 small onion 1 celery stalk 1/2 red pepper
1 tbsp. (15 ml) soy sauce 1 tbsp. (15 ml) sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp. (15 ml) minced ginger 2 garlic cloves 1 small zucchini
1 lb. (454 g) lean ground beef or pork 1 tbsp. (15 ml) hoisin sauce 1/4 tsp. (1 ml) cayenne
• Rinse the lettuce, separating the leaves carefully so they don’t tear because these will be your wrappings. Boston or butter lettuce is a good choice, or iceberg, but other lettuces will work too.
• Mince onion, garlic and fresh ginger root. Slice celery finely and cut zucchini and red pepper into tiny dice. (You can substitute or add other vegetables, such as bok choy, cabbage or bean sprouts).
• In a large frypan or wok, saute the ginger in a drizzle of oil over medium-high heat and add the beef (you may substitute lean ground pork or chicken). • Stir and fry until it turns colour, then push it to the side and add onions, garlic and chopped celery.
• When they are softened, push them to the side and add other vegetables to the middle, stirring for a few minutes until they are tender-crisp.
• Combine everything in the pan and add the sauces and a little cayenne pepper, if you like spicy flavours. • Remove from heat when everything is well mixed. • Pile the lettuce leaf wrappers in a bowl on the table and serve the filling alongside. Invite everyone to place a spoonful of filling on the lettuce leaf, fold in the sides and roll it all up in a neat package, folding the bottom up and holding that.
• Or, prepare little lettuce leaves as appies to set out on a plate for the patio. • Serves 4 as a meal, more as an appie.
CHOCO-CHERRY SMOOTHIE Email oNEW oRENWAL | oONE YEAR ($18.90) oTWO YEARS ($33.60) oTHREE YEARS ($37.80) EXP
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Enderby, BC V0E 1V4
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12 oz. (350 ml) chocolate mousse-style yogurt 1 c. (250 ml) pitted cherries 1/4 c. (60 ml) low fat milk 2 tbsp. (30 ml) frozen orange juice concentrate 1 tbsp. (15 ml) honey 1/2 tsp. (2 ml) vanilla
• Put all ingredients into a blender and blend on high for about 30 seconds or until smooth.
• Pour into glasses to serve immediately. Serves 2.
This recipe came to me via the BC Fruit Growers Association. Fresh BC cherries are only available for a few months every year because they are such a perishable fruit, but the first of those sweet orbs should be coming off the trees in the coming weeks.
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