This is the most important time of year, as the stores are exploding with local produce. In order to be able to enjoy what is available now all year round we have to be creative. Preserving, canning, freezing, are all ways to accomplish this goal. Last year I started to develop my own recipes to hold on to the last that summer had to offer. In trying to live with a seasonal food philosophy, I have to be able to enjoy all of the goodness throughout the other seasons.

I am a big fan of farmers markets, as all of my readers know, but I also have been very impressed with the local produce available at Longos. I’m really thankful for having been involved in the Taste Ontario Local Ambassador Program, because it has reconnected me with a great local business where my mom has shopped for decades. Not all of us can get to farmers markets once or twice a week, right? So, we have to supplement our shopping, and pick up things we cant get at market and should have a store on our roster as well. 

Photo by my co-conspirator, Alexa Clark 

Here are some things I have made recently.

Curried Carrot and Roasted Corn Soup

3 cups of chopped carrots

1 medium sized cooking onion, diced

3 ears of cooked corn (preferably BBQ)

3 cloves garlic

4 cups water

1 can of coconut milk

2 tsp salt

1 tbs dried mustard

2 tbs ginger

1 tbs chili powder

2 tbs cumin

2 tbs tumeric

Soup is easy, and so satisfying. You could easily just combine all of the ingredients above, cook, blend, and enjoy. The only steps I really did separately were to cook the onion, to soften it, and roast the carrots to get some nice flavours out of the natural sugars. This soup is great cold, or hot.

Cucumber Sriracha Soup

½ large onion

2-3 cloves of roasted garlic

5 medium English cucumbers

2 cups vegetable stock

1 container of 3% yogurt

½ to ¾ cup of fresh mint

¼ to ½ cup of fresh marjoram

Sriracha or other hot sauce, to taste

Juice of one lemon

Salt and Pepper to taste

Here is a fantastic summer soup, that you can make on the fly, and just need a blender. I have never really measured when making this soup, so the amounts above are approximate. Throw it all together, and pulse until you reach your preferred consistency.

Albino Watermelon Mojito Granita

2 cups watermelon juice

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

½ vanilla bean, scraped

Mint leaves

¼ cup rum

Juice of a lime

Granita is great, because it is very simple to make, and just requires patience. I took a melon and juiced it with a sieve and wooden spoon, which didn’t take much effort. To make the simple syrup combine the water, sugar, vanilla, and mint. Cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes to combine the flavours.

I make mint rum, which provides a more intense flavour, you might want to try that. Jam a mason jar full of cleaned mint leaves, fill with rum, and forget about it for a few weeks.

Let the simple syrup cool, add the watermelon, limejuice, and rum, and pour into a metal pan. Place this in the freezer, and check after an hour or so. Once it starts to freeze use the back of a fork to keep it from solidifying, repeating this every 45 minutes to an hour, until it has the desired consistency. Transfer to a container, and enjoy.

I have some recipes for some jams, and picked goodness, but you will have to stay tuned to my next post for that!