Last week’s guests have gone home and MrD and I are adjusting to scaffolding set up in our great room. About 3 months ago the workers renovating our upstairs neighbour’s condo damaged a major water pipe that created a trail of disaster for 18 floors. I was back home in Manila when all that happened but fortunately MrD was here to handle the immediate mess. Because the flooding affected so many units a disaster team was called in to do the whole job for all the units. The results are such that three months later workmen are finally here on site fixing up the dry wall. The ceiling in that room is 21 feet high so they had to install scaffolding. I am told the industrial monkey bars will in all likelihood be set up for about two weeks while they dry wall and then paint and texture. This weekend I took advantage of the equipment and had a ceiling fan installed to circulate some of this rare hot air summer has brought us.
In spite of the chaos I keep putting meals on the table for MrD. Here are this week’s three easy to prepare dishes that even you, my silent reader can make on your own.
The heat of summer always seems to keep my hunger level down. The higher the temperature the less time I want to spend chewing food. Salads, sandwiches and nibbles are perfect summer choices.
At this time of year so many of the local tomatoes are being featured at the markets. I found some perfect tiny yellow miniatures that are packed full of flavour. I sliced these babies up, added some fresh herbs, salt and pepper, tossed them with capers in a light vinaigrette and served them as both a salad and a topping for a puffed pastry tart. Puff pastry is not a difficult thing to work with. You buy it frozen in your grocery store and let it thaw out a couple of hours before you roll it out. Don’t have a rolling pin? Use a wine bottle.
In this heat I like to serve chicken drummettes as nibble finger foods. This version I divided the wings into 4 groups and mixed different rubs for each pile. Then, I just baked them all in the same oven at 350 F or 175 C for 45 to 50 minutes. The baby drums are perfect hot or cold. You can use your favourite marinades for the chicken. I used pesto for one of the marinades, spicy hot curry for another, maple syrup and ancho chili powder with lots of black pepper for the third variety and some sun dried tomato paste with balsamic vinegar and mustard for the fourth flavour. Go wild with the combinations but don’t use too many ingredients or the taste gets lost.
I hope this summer weather holds for a bit. Canadians are an entirely different race of people in the warmer season than they are in those colder darker wet months.