Using a pound of never frozen medium ground beef, mix in your favourite herbs. I mostly use just a little dried thyme and a pinch of garlic salt.

Work in a whisked whole egg. Stir in two tablespoons of figgy jus from your Asbach Uralt black mission fig cognac marinating jar. Add salt and pepper. Let rest in fridge for a half hour.

Shape into generous hamburgers. Chop a small macerated marinated fig in half and insert the fig in a hole in the centre of each hamburger. In the same hole, poke a piece of fridge-hard blue cheese. Wrap the hamburger around the indent, reshaping it to enclose the fig and cheese. Don’t compact the meat too firmly, just enough so it keeps its shape on the grill.

Refrigerate until it’s ready to grill. Oil the grill so the meat doesn’t stick. Rub the meat patties with a little oil. Don’t make the grill too hot and turn only once. Keep the grill on medium heat. Do not overcook the hamburgers. Remove from the grill and tent to allow to rest so juices redistribute.

Serve on your favourite hamburger bun with crispy fresh iceberg lettuce, a fat slice of fresh tomato, a generous fresh basil leaf and if you like, a slice of crispy bacon. No pickles, ketchup or relish on this burger. No additional accompaniments.

When you bite into the meat the flavour of the cognac marinated fig will release along with the gooey blue cheese. It’s a wonderful adult gourmet treat.

If you don’t like blue cheese, substitute a tiny piece of cold Brie or Camembert.

Now for something really different:

Wash whole beefsteak tomatoes and cut the tops off about 10 per cent from the size. Hollow out the whole tomato. Save the innards, minus seeds.

Crumble or chop the grilled hamburger quite fine. Chop the tomato’s innards and flesh. Mince a small piece of shallot and mash and mince a small piece of garlic clove. Stir well. Chop and add an artichoke heart from a jar in oil.

Mix the crumpled hamburger with little homemade coarse, fresh seasoned breadcrumbs as a binder. Chop fresh basil chiffonade, tarragon and mint leaves, and chop Italian parsley. Add to the mix.

Spray the inside of the firm fresh tomatoes with just a little olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper inside.

Spoon the filling into hollow beefsteak tomatoes. Add a few breadcrumbs on top and a little dry Parmesan cheese. Replace the tomato tops, as covers. Using a square baking pan with sides, bake the stuffed whole tomatoes at 325 F for about 20-25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and drizzle with reduced white balsamic vinegar, to which you have added a little figgy jus from your cognac marinating jar. Spritz the outside of baked stuffed tomatoes with olive oil.

Serve in a feta cheese puddle: purée cheese with a little cream and a little ice water. Mince a little cucumber and mix into the cheese sauce. Stir in a little cracked pepper and a pinch of salt.

Now:

If a salad suits your fancy, a mix of various lettuces, halved hard cooked eggs and several of your favourite raw veggies, dressed for dinner in one of my finest salad dressings, should be an earthmoving plate completed. Wonderful fragrances.

In the mid-‘80s, one day as I was preparing dinner I realized I had collected lots of bits and pieces of still-fresh produce in the crisper in the fridge. By the way, bits and pieces of bell peppers, seeds in, and even onion, cut side down, saved on a small bed of live fresh basil leaves, will keep for ages in the fridge, on an open plate.

Being one not to waste, and in the mood for a very fresh salad dressing, I just started adding things to the blender. Here’s the extremely yummy result:

My Special Blender Salad Dressing, or Dip

(“T” stands for tablespoon; “t,” for teaspoon)

In blender:

2 T peeled and pitted, chopped cucumber

1/3 small very fresh garlic clove (more later)

½ t. salt

¼ t fresh ground pepper

2 T vinegar

¼ t French’s regular mustard

1 raw egg yolk

1 whole raw egg

1 small whole clove of garlic

1 tiny piece of white onion

1 small piece of red pepper, skin on

1 tiny piece of green pepper, skin on

1 T. Romano dry Kraft grated cheese (for some reason the fresh Romano doesn’t work)

1 T fresh dill (or dried)

1 t dried thyme leaves (not the ground thyme)

A tiny sprinkle of dried mint

4 olives (Manzanilla green olives, pimento stuffed)

1 T of liquid from a jar of pimento stuff green olives (McLaren’s is best brand)

1 small chopped artichoke from jar packed in oil

1 T full fat sour cream

Turn on the blender and one by one add and swirl the ingredients in the blender, running at high speed. Leave the blender running and through the fine hole, add Mazola Corn Oil, very gradually at first, until you use up to 1-1/2 cups of oil.

The texture will be like a thick but runny mayonnaise. Stir in juice of just a small slice of fresh lemon. And a teaspoon of lemon zest.

Store in a covered airtight glass container or screw-top glass jar, in fridge. Never store anything that has vinegar or citrus in it in plastic. It keeps for several days.

Use as a general salad dressing or as a dip for crudités.

No one will not enjoy this, even people who claim they don’t like salads or raw vegetables.

In addition, fresh salad: One of my all-time favourites…

One medium large head of iceberg lettuce

Small head of hydroponic leaf lettuce (Boston Bibb)

Very small head of Romaine lettuce

Small red radicchio

Chop coarsely, a cup of fresh, firm, white button mushrooms.

Chopped, fresh, seeded tomatoes. Skin on, red and green.

Halved hard-cooked eggs; however many you enjoy.

Half-head of celery (top half, including leaves), chopped

Green bell pepper pieces

Red bell pepper pieces

Yellow bell pepper pieces

Salt and pepper (fresh ground)

Wash sand out of the lettuce, using hot water, very carefully and shake dry in a clean dish-drying towel. Rewrap, tightly, in a fresh towel and put in the bottom, coldest part of the fridge. It will get crispy like just picked from your garden.

Drain a can of chick peas (garbanzo beans) and sprinkle with thyme. Mince a tiny piece of onion.

Toss everything together with mixed lettuce pieces, and there you have it. Serve in a beautiful wooden salad bowl.

Serve salad dressing in a glass bowl with a small soup or gravy ladle at the table, and everyone can add their own dressing to their crisp, fresh, salad plate.

Enjoy! Bring summer to your table all year long.

From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen: A Canadian Contessa Cooks.