Summer recipes from the woods.

Mango, honey and yoghurt ice lollies (popsicles)

There are some recipes I only make in summer. Things that involve dashing into the cottage garden with a large pair of scissors and snipping at herbs and flowers growing there while a pot boils on the stove. Not so easy to do when there is two metres of snow and you're in the city. In winter I'm all about beef and guinness pie, rose water rice pudding and fruit cake. In summer I'm more of a lavender gin, sage and brown butter pasta and lemon thyme cookie-sort of a girl.

Herbs and salad greens in the raised bed.

To me there is no greater pleasure than stepping outside the back door for your ingredients - especially when you've grown them from seed or kept them alive through a Canadian winter.  When it's minus 20C outside I can hardly believe my herbs are surviving under the snow - but they do. I grow sage, purple sage, rosemary, lovage, oregano, thyme and lemon thyme, basil ( from seed this year), dill, tarragon, nasturtiums (too pretty to eat I think) and lots of mint which is great for tabbouleh and tea.

Lavender is a favourite and I just made my first ever lavender syrup this week which is great in a gin and tonic. I just pulled dried-out flowers from a plant (deadheading and gathering ingredients at the same time). I put them in a small pan with water and sugar and simmered. It made the house smell wonderful but also tasted great in a gin and tonic, once cooled. I also discovered this lemon and lavender cake recipe which I'm going to try soon. Also on my to-do list is lavender shortbread from Monty Don's lovely book, Fork to Fork.

Lemon thyme cookies in the herb garden

My favourite herb has to be lemon thyme. I'm sort of addicted to it and even love it in muesli it has such a lovely scent. I like to make lemon thyme cookies and sprinkle them with sugar and tiny lemon thyme leaves for extra flavour.

Sage can be an acquired taste but for me it is the smell of Christmas. Cooking it in browned butter makes the flavour less harsh but just as beautiful. It's perfect on pasta. Don't forget to add the parmesan. Here is the easy recipe from the New York Times diners' journal blog.

My sage shortly before it hit the butter.

I also like adding it and mint to homemade burgers. These remind me of the Greek keftedes that my dad used to make - with lots of bread and onion added. You could use lamb or beef.

Strawberry and grapefruit juice ice lollies/popsicles

I've gotten into homemade ice lollies this summer after buying this mold and wooden sticks on Amazon. Mango, yoghurt and honey is my current favourite (choose a high-fat Greek-type yoghurt - not one of those insipid ones- remember fat is taste) but we also like popsicles made from local Quebec strawberries with sugar and grapefruit juice added. Great for hot days or even for a dessert when you're too lazy to make one. Guests are always impressed that you make your own lollies.

Tarragon chicken is another favourite herb garden dish and I recommend this Guardian recipe by Hélène Darroze. (scroll down for it on this page of French recipes)

Other things I've gone crazy for this summer are roasted beets (or beetroot if you're British). The little ones grown locally are easy to throw in the oven, unwashed and unpeeled, to roast in a bit of olive oil before peeling (I don't bother apart from the hairy bits) chopping and throwing in a salad with feta, cherry tomatoes, oregano and a good quality olive oil, maybe a bit of rice vinegar.

Finally one of the pleasures of a Canadian summer is the sweetcorn which sometimes is dinner ( I can manage two but the husband can pack away 5 or 6). Inevitably you will have too many one day (we buy them a dozen at a time) and so this is a brilliant recipe to use up the spare ones from Jamie Oliver : corn salsa 

Yesterday I heard a sound which in Spring warms your heart and in the Fall breaks it. It is the sound of the geese above the cottage. Now they are flying south for the winter and we prepare ourselves for around five months of snow. Happily we are having another good September. It's 25C today so we can enjoy some summer recipes for a little while yet.

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PS
I recently started a second blog about my life as a filmmaker.
Check it out here: Diva Films: My life as an operatic filmmaker.