Catering with Teatime Delicacies, Inc. Best Beat The Heat Summer Recipes!

Home Made Watermelon Granita

YES YES YES you can make this yourself and amaze all your friends!! You don’t even need to hire the caterer! Watermelon Granita is about as refreshing a dessert/treat as you can find on the dog days of summer here in Washington DC.  
Recipe:  4 cups cubed seedless watermelon
 Juice of 1 lime
1/2 or less sugar (I used Splenda)
TB mint (optional)
Put it all in a blender or food processor until smooth, and pour into a shallow baking pan (9 x 13)
Place it in the freezer for about an hour until it starts to slush over.  Take it out and “scrape” it with the tines of a dinner fork until all broken up and looking slushy.  Evenly spread it back out in the pan and place it back into freezer and repeat every hour until you have the light and crystal consistency of Hawaiian Shave Ice.  It is SO darn tasty, my tasting team suggested some high end vodka added to the first batch for an adult version!  You can do this with mostly any leftover fruit such as strawberries or various melons.  If you feel the urge to gild the lily, a dollop of freshly whipped cream is every so tasty as well!
Researching other Granita recipes discovers you can do this same technique with strong coffee.  I think that’s the next project!

Miniature Strawberry Shortcakes

Miniature Strawberry Shortcakes
Since you already whipped up some whip cream for gilding the lily with the Granita, take it one step further and whip up a batch of mini shortcakes (for a quick and super easy version just use the recipe on the back of the Bisquick box and make mini versions – the size of a mini muffin)
When cool, split and lay one slice of strawberry.  Mix remaining slices of strawberries with some sugar, splash of lime. Lay another slice of strawberry on top and then once again the dollop of whipped cream.  Can’t get enough of these miniature delights.

Lemon Curd, Brownies and Fresh Berries

  Home Made Lemon Curd with Fresh Berries (and a wedge of brownie)
Lemon Curd is easy to make from scratch, but if you don’t have the patience to watch over the pot, you could purchase pre made lemon curd, or even substitute a lemon vanilla pudding with a mix from Jello.  Fresh raspberries and blackberries and blueberries make a refreshing no heat involved summer recipe.  Of course, gilding the lily seems to be the theme here so by all means throw a brownie wedge into the mix!!

  I know, this is sort of the “Duh” factor.  Fresh Fruit:  so refreshing, and No cooking!

 Summer Salad with Sliced Asian Pear:   Add some grilled chicken breast or shrimp, and your favorite vinaigrette.  Dinner is good to go!

Gazpacho Shooters!  This is probably the quintessential summer menu item. Tomatoes are bursting out of every one’s garden, or your local farmer’s market.  I roast them along with some sweet onion, poblano peppers and garlic cloves.  When cooled, I puree the roasted veggies along with diced and peeled cucumber, tomato juice, fresh basil and scallion along with some fresh white bread cubes without crust, and a splash of balsamic vinegar.   You want a little texture left so it doesn’t seem like a shot of V-8 juice.  SO refreshing, and served in 2 ounce plastic disposable shot glasses is lots of fun, your guests will love it.

 Firefly Cocktail
Lemonade and Firefly Vodka.  Do I really need to convince you?

Capri Salad

  Capri Summer Salad
Again with the shout out for local Farmer’s Markets.  I was just there earlier today, and you cannot beat a simple Capri Salad with fresh Heirloom Tomato, Fresh Basil and Fresh Mozzarella Balls, a little baby Spinach and Salt and Pepper.  Drizzle with Olive Oil and enjoy.

Here in Northern Virginia we cater all these menu ideas and more during the year, but summer seems to be the ideal time to add these options to your wedding reception menu, or just about any gathering you might consider.
Don’t let the heat of the kitchen get in the way of enjoying the bounty of great ingredients!
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