May 19 2021 Tastiest Summer Recipes
What does summer taste like? For lifestyle blogger and food historian Tori Avey, it’s that juicy bite into a perfectly grilled burger accompanied by a fragrant lemon pasta salad. Enjoy, play, savor old traditions and invent some new ones, she says. Sprout milky mustaches from ice-cream floats with homemade raspberry syrup. Nibble on dark chocolate cherry mandelbrot. Avey’s simple recipes promise to punch up your summer meal.
Every food tells a story, and Avey’s website ToriAvey.com explores what we eat and why.
Click HERE to learn more about Tori.
Middle Eastern Burgers
A Sephardic Jewish family recipe from Israel, these slider-sized burgers are a hit with kids from Tel Aviv to Tucson. Shreds of sliced bread keep the burgers moist, a legacy of leaner times when this trick would stretch the amount of precious meat. Cumin, garlic, and cayenne invite comparisons to Middle Eastern kebab. It’s up to the grandparents to handle the raw meat and cooking, while kids can help with preparation and assembly before it’s time to sample the fluffy bites.
Discussion: How do these burgers differ from the fast-food patties? How do spices transform basic foods to tell a new story?
Click HERE to find the recipe for Middle Eastern Burgers.
Barbecuing vs. Grilling: A History
Did you know that barbecuing and grilling aren’t the same? Share the history of summer’s most favored cooking methods with the grandkids.
Click HERE for the history of how and why we make meals that sizzle.
Pasta Salad with Lemons and Love
It’s a Mediterranean-flavored dish that smacks of summer — bowties laced with fresh basil, roasted tomatoes, chickpeas, and olives. After grandparents boil the pasta, kids can help wash the produce, measure ingredients, and toss it all together. If you keep kosher, leave out the feta; the salad will be just as delicious.
Discussion: Like cultures throughout history, Jewish people fashioned palatable meals from whatever ingredients they could find. This salad incorporates regional, seasonal, and Mediterranean flavors. What are some ingredients native to where you live?
Click HERE to find the recipe for Pasta Salad with Lemons and Love.
Cream Soda Float with Homemade Raspberry Syrup
What conjures memories of the old deli counter more than egg creams and ice-cream floats? Their pewter holders may be lost to time, but this raspberry cream soda float, a summer version of the egg cream, sweetens a picnic no matter the vessel.
Click HERE to find the recipe for the Cream Soda Float with Homemade Raspberry Syrup.
Homemade raspberry syrup offers a welcome alternative to store-bought versions and couldn’t be easier to make — three ingredients, all natural. Kids can help wash the fruit and measure the sugar.
Discussion: There’s no egg in egg creams, so how did they get that name? Do you have any guesses? Hint: Was something lost in translation?
Click HERE for the recipe
Dark Chocolate Cherry Mandelbrot
The Ashkenazi version of biscotti, mandelbrot dates back to the early 19th century. Some historians trace these crunchy, dunk-able biscuits to Jewish migrants from Italy to eastern Europe. The grandkids can mold the dough into logs and dip the baked cookies’ tips into chocolate.
Discussion: Mandelbrot is Yiddish for “almond bread.” A kosher Sabbath dessert among Eastern European Jews, this version includes chocolate and cherry. Can you think of other ingredients that might taste good in these cookies?
Click HERE to find the recipe for Dark Chocolate Cherry Mandelbrot.
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