kitchen rap

• in the spotlight… Summer Fun
• Kathleen Sloan-McIntosh's Summer Whites
• from Kathleen's recipe box... Frittata with Swiss Chard & Pancetta
• from Kathleen's recipe box... Smoked Trout with Radishes & Watercress
• from Kathleen's recipe box... Fresh Figs with Honey Ricotta
• from the Robin Hood recipe box... Lemon Nectarine Flan
• publishing and subscription information

Summer Fun

Enjoy a leisurely picnic lunch at the beach or in the park. Cuisena's picnic bags and backpacks contain everything you need for your picnic ... just add your favourite foods and wine. The bags come equipped with a picnic service for two or four, including plates, utensils, wine glasses, napkins, table cloth, cutting board, corkscrew, and even a salt and pepper shaker. Insulated pockets help keep foods at a safe temperature. Roll-up picnic blankets are also available.

For refreshment during a leisurely walk in the country, Cuisena's wine totes have everything you need. The insulated wine and cheese bags are roomy enough to hold one or more bottles of wine, as well as fruit, cheese, and other goodies. They include two acrylic wine glasses, cloth napkins, a wood cutting board, cheese knife, and corkscrew. The insulated wine bottle totes keep your chilled white wine or champagne cool and include a corkscrew and bottle stopper.

Patio Fun

What would a lunch on the backyard deck be without bugs? Invite them along on these durable melamine plates and acrylic glasses. The blue dinner and green luncheon plates feature a red ladybug and green bee, respectively. The white bowls and serving trays and frosted highball and double old fashioned glasses are imprinted with colour blocks with the ladybug, bee, and orange firefly designs. All of the pieces are dishwasher safe for easy clean up.

Cool Drinks

Transform yourself into an instant bartender with these Wildly Delicious cocktail mixes. Simply mix water and the appropriate alcohol with the cocktail mix, blend with ice, and serve. Each mix makes 8 drinks. Available in four varieties: margarita, peach bellini, strawberry mango daiquiri, and sour apple icetini. Serve the cocktails in glasses rimmed with a complementary glass rimmer.

Prepare your cocktails in one of several recently introduced blenders:

Breville's Moda blenders are commercially designed to provide professional results with a powerful 500 watt motor and 2 speeds plus a pulse function. The blender has a sleek modern design with a stainless steel base with either a 46 ounce glass jar or a 35 ounce stainless steel jar (shown at right).

Cuisinart's SmartPower Premier blenders handle the toughest blending tasks with ease with 600 watts of power, heavy cast metal construction, and a 50 ounce glass blender jar. Available in brushed stainless steel or matte black (shown at left).

The L'Equip R.P.M. blender (shown at right) has a 900 watt motor, a variable speed control panel, and a unique tachometer display. The blender can chop foods at 500 revolutions per minute (RPM) or crank it up to 20,000 RPM to liquify ingredients in seconds. The blender has a brushed metal base with a polycarbonate pitcher, and includes a built-in tamper stick for stirring smoothies and drinks without stopping the machine.

Frozen Treats

When it comes to ice cream, everyone has a favourite flavour. Delight family and friends with fresh batches of sorbets between courses, or incredibly rich homemade ice creams as a finish to the meal. Cuisinart's frozen yogurt, ice cream, and sorbet makers prepare fresh frozen desserts or sumptuous frozen drinks in 20 - 30 minutes. You just add the ingredients to the double insulated freezer bowl and the multi-talented dessert makers will do the rest for you, automatically. Available in white, brushed chrome, or red (available in August).

Hold an ice cream sundae party with your freshly made or store-bought ice creams and these fun ice cream dishes and accessories. Sundaes will look great in a colourful porcelain ice cream cone dish, an unbreakable plastic sundae cup, a porcelain or unbreakable plastic waffle cone, or procelain waffle bowl. The porcelain boat dish is perfect for banana splits. And the unbreakable plastic ice cream topping canisters hold sprinkles, cherries, whipping cream, and chocolate or caramel sauces (you can even heat the sauces in the microwave right in the canister!). Plastic or aluminum ice cream containers will keep pints of ice cream cold on the table while serving.

On the Grill

All the tools you need for a successful season of grilling. A set of three stainless steel barbecue tools (top left) includes a spatula turner for flipping burgers, barbecue tongs with silicone heads, and a silicone basting brush. The barbecue fish turner (top right) has a wide blade to enable you to securely lift and move an entire fish without the danger of it falling apart.

Grilling baskets (top centre) make it easy to grill and turn even the most delicate of foods. The jumbo basket is large enough to accommodate a dozen hamburgers and is depth-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of foods. The fish basket can be used for grilling a whole fish or several pieces.

Brushed stainless steel grill toppers have round perforations which allow even the smallest of meats and vegetables to be grilled on the barbecue, without having to worry about them falling through the grate. Available as a flat grill topper (bottom left), wok topper (bottom centre) with sloped sides, or the extra-deep grill topper basket (bottom right) with large loop handles.

Safety when grilling is always an important consideration. These all-silicone oven mitts are resistant to temperatures of up to 350C/675°F, and protect your hands as you are taking hot dishes out of the oven, moving frying pans around the stovetop, or lifting cooked items off the barbecue. The mitt is flameproof and waterproof, and protects you from contact with direct flames, grills, and charcoal, both in the kitchen and when using the barbecue, and from boiling water and oil; even when wet, the mitt provides the same unbeatable heat protection. Its special non-slip texture ensures a firm grip on any object handled, and the mitt's ergonomic design bends, twists, and grabs the way your hands do. The mitt's extra length ensures that protection extends well beyond the user's wrist, unlike many oven mitts. The non-absorbent, non-porous silicone ensures that the mitt stays germ-free, allowing for a high level of kitchen hygeine. And, the mitt can be washed either under the tap, in the dishwasher, or in the washing machine! Available in red, green, or blue; sold individually.

Well, what do you know? Apparently those who decide these things have announced that white wine is all the rage again. What a statement. As if something as appealing as a crisp, refreshing glass of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, a dry Riesling or a lightly-oaked Chardonnay could ever be out of style. And while these and other white wines have appeal throughout the year, as aperitifs or to accompany certain cheeses or seafood, they are at their absolute best when chosen to accompany the favourite foods of summer.

When grilled fish is on the menu, I love the crisp quality of the Spanish white, Albariño or Sauvignon Blanc (the latter especially when the fish has a spicy or full-flavoured relish or salsa topping). Antipasto platters, chicken and pasta dishes will be wonderfully complemented by Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio in Italian), Light pork, veal or chicken dishes work well with a gently-oaked Chardonnay. If your shrimp, chicken or fish has received a bit of curry or other spicy seasoning, look to a dry Riesling to accompany it.

Grilled salmon, marinated scallops, lobster and smoked fish, all have a favourite white wine and you will soon know which you prefer with these and many other summer dishes like pizza bianca (pizza without tomato sauce and topped with foods like prosciutto, goat cheese, arugula). It just takes a bit of happy experimentation. For now, try the following dishes that I have teamed with my choice of white wine -- including Ontario's gift to the world of wine, the liquid gold known as ice wine.

Until next month, cook and eat with love,

Kathleen Sloan-McIntosh

Kathleen Sloan-McIntosh is a Toronto-born food writer whose work has appeared in major Canadian newspapers and magazines. Author of seven cookbooks -- Rustic Italian Cooking, The Global Grill, The Sticks & Stones Cookbook (with Ted Reader), The Wine Lover Cooks (with Tony Aspler), Great Potatoes: A Cook's Guide to Over 150 Delicious Recipes, A Year in Niagara: The People and Food of Wine Country, and New Celtic Cooking (with Ted McIntosh) -- she lives with her beau and their black lab and assorted children who come and go, in Niagara wine country.

Frittata with Swiss Chard & Pancetta

Nice for a light evening meal or as part of an antipasti selection, the Italian omelette known as frittata lends itself to a myriad of additions. Serve with a Pinot Blanc or Pinot Grigio.

1. Rinse the Swiss chard and place in a large skillet; cook it for 5 minutes with no additional liquid. Drain and squeeze dry and set to one side.
2. Add oil to the same skillet and sauté the pancetta and onion for 6 minutes, until bacon is cooked and onion softened. Add the Swiss chard, salt, and pepper and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so, stirring to combine all ingredients.
3. Preheat the broiler.
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the breadcrumbs, cheese, and cream until well blended. Add this mixture to the skillet, gently running a narrow spatula around the edges of the pan to lift the cooked egg up and allow any uncooked mixture to run beneath. Cook for 5 minutes or so until frittata is set and cooked on the bottom.
5. Place skillet about 6 inches (15 cm) beneath broiler. Cook 2 minutes or until top is set and golden brown. Serve immediately or cooled to room temperature, cut into squares or strips.

Serves 4 - 6

Smoked Trout with Radishes & Watercress

A lovely light supper or lunch dish, this preparation lends itself well to many variations. Smoked salmon or good-quality canned tuna (packed in olive oil) may be used in place of the trout and you can vary the greens by substituting frisée for the watercress. Serve with good crusty bread and boiled new potatoes cooked with lots of fresh mint, then tossed with butter. A well-chilled Sauvignon Blanc works very well alongside.

1. Prepare the dressing by combining the lemon juice, mustard, mayonnaise, olive oil, chives, salt and pepper in a small mixing bowl. Whisk together until well blended. Set to one side.
2. Pull the trout fillets apart into rough chunks and place in a medium-sized bowl along with the green onions and half the parsley. Toss with half the dressing. In another mixing bowl, combine the radishes and watercress with the remaining parsley and dressing. Arrange the radishes and watercress on a large oval serving platter. Top with the trout mixture and serve.

Serves 6

Fresh Figs with Honey Ricotta

Elegant, easy and quick to assemble, this two-step dessert can be ready for guests in no time at all. Make the ricotta filling in advance and keep it refrigerated until the figs are ready to be filled. For a variation, try brushing the figs with a little melted butter and grilled them before fillings. Serve with crisp biscotti and an Ontario ice wine.

1. Trim the stem end from each of the figs. Slice each fig into quarters, being careful not to cut through the blossom end entirely (the fig should be intact, in a shape resembling a tulip). Open each fig gently to form a cavity.
2. In a food processor or blender, combine the ricotta, orange and lemon zests, vanilla, and honey. Process until the filling is relatively smooth. Use it to fill the cavity of each fig. Sprinkle figs with almonds and serve immediately.

Serves 6

Lemon Nectarine Flan

After a lovely summer meal, there’s nothing more satisfying than a light and refreshing dessert like this lemon nectarine flan. This tangy dessert is filled with the tantalizing flavours of lemon juice, fresh nectarines, and apricot preserves. It doesn't take long to prepare this flan and you won't believe the splash of colour it adds to your dinner table or patio. Serve with tea or coffee –- and don't be surprised when guests ask for the recipe.

1. For the crust, combine flour, sugar, and salt in mixing bowl. Cut in margarine until crumbly. Add water, mixing with fork until blended.
2. Gather dough into a smooth ball. Press dough evenly into bottom and sides of a 9-9.5"/23-24 cm fluted tart pan. Prick with fork. Chill 30 minutes. Line with a circle of aluminum foil.
3. Bake in centre of oven at 400°F/200C for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake 12 - 15 minutes longer, or until light golden. If cracks form, press warm crust gently to seal. Cool on wire rack.
4. Beat the first 5 filling ingredients together in a sauce pan. Add margarine. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Spread evenly in baked crust.
5. Cut each nectarine in 3/4"/2 cm slices. Arrange attractively over filling. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp/15 mL sugar.
6. Bake at 350°F/180C for 30 - 35 minutes, or until fruit is tender-crisp. Cool. Brush jam over flan to glaze before serving.

Makes 1 flan

Recipe © 2004, Robin Hood Multifoods Inc. Reprinted with permission.
For more great recipes, see the Robin Hood Baking Festival Cookbook or visit the Robin Hood website.