Thrill diners with these exciting and delicious recipes.
For diners, summer is about fun, relaxed food—shareable appetizers, crisp salads, grilled anything, burgers. For chefs, summer is about capturing the best of this abundant season. Summer invites chefs to develop recipes with fruits and vegetables that are at their sun-kissed best. They get to show off simple, quality ingredients with lighter-styled cooking techniques, like grilling and poaching. They get to play with temperatures in the summer, from chilled soups to cool salads and cold sorbets—all of that spells fun for today's passionate chefs.
Our team of chefs kept those elements in mind when developing these favourite summer recipes. The trick with favourites is in capturing the essence of the familiar and popular, but elevating it into something new and exciting. We think these recipes do just that.
Fun Shareable Apps
Crostini with Grilled Steak, Arugula & Roasted Red Peppers
The perfect summer appetizer or bar food, this recipe stars beautiful grilled sirloin with perfumed basil and roasted red pepper. Adding depth of flavour and creamy mouthfeel is our new pure Kraft Asiago Caesar Dressing, which boasts aged Asiago, Parmesan, Romano, garlic, extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice.
Endive with Curried Chicken Salad
Beautiful and sophisticated, these little boats sport curried chicken salad made with chicken breast, green onion, red pepper, raisins and toasted almonds. Bound with Kraft Creamy Cucumber Dressing and Miracle Whip Calorie-Wise Dressing, the salad gets a sprinkling of aromatic and colourful curry powder.
Pulled Chicken Tostada with Barbecue Ranch Slaw
Keying into the Latin trend, this recipe is fun, sociable and packed with great flavour. Our chefs roast and shred chicken thighs, then toss the chicken in Kraft Regular BarBQ Sauce. For the slaw, they mix cabbage, cilantro, red onion and lime zest with our new pure Kraft Barbecue Ranch Dressing, with notes of sugar-cane molasses, black pepper, fine herbs, spices and lime.
Summer Salads
Ratatouille & Goat Cheese Salad Towers with Creamy Balsamic Dressing
This recipe delivers head-turning wow factor without too much labour in the kitchen. Featuring the fresh flavours of summer, our chefs stack eggplant, zucchini, yellow pepper and red onion with circles of tangy goat cheese. They brush the vegetables with our new pure Kraft Creamy Balsamic Dressing, then grill them to summer perfection. Once they build the tower, they finish with a bit more of the dressing, which is made with aged balsamic vinegar, black pepper, garlic, extra-virgin olive oil and just a touch of honey.
Barbecue Ranch Salad with Chili-Lime Chicken & Grilled Pineapple
Summer is synonymous with grilled-chicken salad. How do operators make theirs memorable? This recipe holds the key: Grilled chicken marinated in Kraft Calorie-Wise Zesty Italian Dressing, lime juice and lime zest; crisp salad tossed in pure Kraft Barbecue Ranch Dressing; and a flourish of grilled pineapple. Now that's menu distinction.
Fun Entrées
Canadian Maple BBQ Ribs
This recipe is perfect for operators looking for an easy-to-execute, but successful ribs dish. Our chefs grill pork baby back ribs, then brush a simple plus-two sauce over top—Kraft Regular BarBQ Sauce, maple syrup and Dijon mustard.
Flat Iron Steak Sandwiches with Arugula-Basil Pesto
According to Technomic's 2010 Sandwich Consumer Trend Report, "Diners want more variety in sandwiches, with expectations highest in those aged 18 to 24. Only about half of consumers polled (52 percent) were satisfied with the variety of sandwiches available at sub shops and delis, while just 42 percent were satisfied with the sandwich offerings at full-service restaurants. Eighteen- to 24-year-olds were least satisfied, at 44 percent and 40 percent respectively." This sandwich delivers on those high expectations of quality ingredients and uniqueness.
Feta-Stuffed Lamb Burger with Mediterranean Spread
This signature burger delivers one of summer's favourites in a unique, delicious recipe perfect for adventurous diners. Mediterranean flavours are huge still, and this one packs the best of that profile into one dish. Our chefs stuff ground lamb with tangy, creamy feta. They make a spread with Philadelphia Cream Cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, milk, lemon juice, lemon zest and oregano. Rounding out the profile is a cooling Cucumber-Mint Sauce.
Desserts
Brownie Cookie Sandwiches with Peanut Butter-Cream Filling
Decadent, whimsical and delicious, theses brownie cookies are sandwiched by an inspired blend of Philly, cream, Kraft Peanut Butter, icing sugar and prepared whipped topping. Adding the cream cheese to the filling ensures a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
Strawberry Mini-Mousse Cheesecakes
A perfect summertime dessert, our chefs offer the decadence of cheesecake with a layer of light-as-a-feather strawberry mousse—all presented in a crowd-pleasing mini dessert.