‘O spirit of the Summertime!
Bring back the friendship of the sun;
The gilded evenings, calm and late…’

William Allingham - Summertime

Delicate, uncertain spring is past
Hot, lush grass bursts forth
Heat presses cheeks
Licking humid limbs…’

Anonymous - Summer

Summer brings the sun into our kitchen.  Meal preparation seems easier, we feel more relaxed, more informal and entertaining is more flexible with lots of eating and cooking out of doors, barbecuing, stir-frying and sautéing. We enjoy fresh, crisp salads, fish and stone fruits – refreshing and cool.

It is exciting to see all the summer fruits appear in the markets - the berries - raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, the stone fruits - apricots, peaches, nectarines and grapes.

During our Australian summer, we celebrate our festive season with some traditional dishes as well as Australian fare – ham, stuffed turkey, oysters, prawns, Christmas puddings, mince pies, fresh berries, summer pudding and rich fruit cakes. 

One of the best aspects of summer is the abundance of stone fruits; wait until each piece is perfectly ripe and juicy.

A fuss-free way to enjoy them is to roast in the oven, lightly sprinkled with sugar, vanilla and a splash of brandy and cook until they caramelise.

Another easy way to cook stone fruit is to poach the fruit in sugar syrup and such spices as cardamom, star anise and vanilla.  This adds a variety of flavours to the fruit and allows the fruit to be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.   The syrup may be used for another batch of fruit adding the intense flavour from the original poaching, or drizzled over a warm cake or fro a dressing with berries.

In summer we:

Pick vines leaves for dolmades.

Prepare Gravlax.

Make pesto with walnuts and fresh basil.

Use sweet red tomatoes that taste sensational.

Barbeque pineapple slices and serve with yoghurty ice cream drizzled with butterscotch sauce.

Delight in the abundance of fresh oysters, crabmeat, crayfish and prawns.

Barbeque prawns with cherry tomato salsa.

Prepare crab salad with parmesan wafers.

Serve coral trout with beurre blanc sauce.

Cook pork chops and apple sauce.

Roast turkey with raisin tapenade.

Enjoy apricot Dacquoise, with a dollop of cream.

Roast peaches with ice cream and pistachio praline.

Poach blueberries with white chocolate slice.

Hull strawberries to serve with mascarpone and shortbread crumble.