If a few of the books on the 2018 Taste Canada Shortlists sound familiar to you, it might just be because we've been featuring them (and sharing their delicious recipes!) on our blog during the past year. And now with summer at its height and with the shortlists just announced, the time seems just as ripe as the fruit is to spotlight these incredible recipes again. 

Explore all the nominated books and blogs at the Taste Canada website. 

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Make This:

Apricot Curd Tart

from Rod Butter's and Kerry Gold's The Okanagan Table

"My chef de cuisine Robyn Sigurdson, who has worked with us since Fresco, came up with this simple and yummy tart, showing off the tasty union that is apricot and thyme."

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About the book: The Okanagan Valley, 125 miles long and 12 miles wide, is home to some of B.C.’s most historic farmland, and every summer, the region explodes with apricots, peaches, sweet cherries, pears, plums, nectarines, grapes, and apples. There is no greater pleasure than seeing the reaction to true, honest cooking, and home cooks know this feeling, too. The Okanagan Table is a cookbook celebrating the local flavours: creating exceptional meals by connecting with the freshest, highest quality food. Featuring more than 80 illustrated recipes, the book is structured in the order in which we enjoy our meals: sunrise, midday, sunset, and twilight—and showcases a collection of classic and signature recipes from Oat-Crusted Arctic Char and Root Vegetable Torte to Crab Cappuccino and Double Chocolate Mashed Potato Brioche. The recipes are simple and yet frequently decadent—and like most good things in life, they appear complex but are unabashedly straightforward. And finally, many of therecipes include pairings with the best wines and drinks in the region. This destination cookbook will have you singing the tunes of your favourite Okanagan memories.

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Make This: 

Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream

from Renée Kohlman's All the Sweet Things

"There’s no need for an ice cream maker here; all you need is a food processor, a mixer and a handful of ingredients. The result? A fresh, creamy taste, with deep strawberry flavour and just a murmur of balsamic. Simple. Sensational."

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About the book: All the Sweet Things is full of delectable desserts and wholesome baked goods with recipes for muffins, cookies, cakes, pies, custards, pastries, truffles, and ice cream. Reinvent last night's dessert for this morning's breakfast, whip up your very first pie, and wow your colleagues, friends, and family during the holidays by gifting them with impressive baked goods. With wit and warmth doled out in equal measure, Renée acknowledges that baking can be intimidating, but assures you that whether you're a beginner baker or a seasoned pro, each recipe is doable and delicious.

Offering a list of pantry essentials and useful tools and equipment, a photograph to accompany every recipe, variations for gluten-free bakers, and essays written in Kohlman's signature style, this gorgeous new cookbook will pull you into the kitchen to bake, then back to the couch to curl up and read.

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Make This:

Rhubarb Custard Pie

from Simon Thibault's Pantry and Palate

"Rhubarb is a harbinger of spring in Atlantic Canada. It’s one of the first hints of the summer sweetness soon to come, even though by itself rhubarb is actually a vegetable and not a fruit. That doesn’t matter in Acadian households. After the winter, any excuse for a wee bit of fresh fruit and douceur (sweetness) is a welcome thing in many kitchens." 

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About the book: In Pantry and Palate, journalist Simon Thibault explores his Acadian roots by scouring old family recipes, ladies' auxiliary cookbooks, and folk wisdom for 50 of the best-loved recipes of Acadians past and present. Recipes run the gamut from Acadian staples such as potato pancakes called Fring Frangs, Rappie Pie, Chicken Fricot, and various forms of meat pies; old-fashioned foodways, such as how to render your own lard, and make the most of out a pig's head; and sumptuous sweets take the form of Rhubarb Custard Pie or a simple Molasses Cake. Thibault not only discovers the past lives of his immediate and extended family, but their larders as well. 

Including essays celebrating the stories behind the recipes, a foreword by bestselling author Naomi Duguid (Taste of Persia), and photos by noted food photographer Noah Fecks (The Up South Cookbook), Pantry and Palate is magnifique from page to plate.

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Make This:

Currant Bread

from Emily Wight's Dutch Feast

"I think we should all put down our smoothie bowls and our chia seeds and embrace Dutch breakfasts, sugar and white bread and cheese and all, because I think that is the way to a happier life. We can do better. We must do better. And while we're all thinking about how, let's just share a few slices of white bread and a jar of Nutella. You make the coffee and I'll set the table. I promise to be nice." 

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About the book: In the same way that British, Scandinavian, and German food have undergone a renaissance in recent years, Dutch cuisine is going to be the next big thing, according to writer and blogger Emily Wight. Her new cookbook reimagines traditional Dutch cooking, which has always been known for its thriftiness and practicality, with an emphasis on the ways that simple meals bring joy and comfort to the people who share them. 

Influenced by its colonial history, with bold flavours from places like Indonesia and the West Indies, and by its proximity to its European neighbours, Dutch cooking is surprisingly diverse, and is noted for its celebration of the ritual of the meal as much as the meal itself. From gezelligto borrels, and gado gado to uitsmijter, Dutch Feast delivers unconventional (but familiar) and economical (but indulgent) recipes, and gives you a new excuse to invite everyone over for cold gin and a generous rijsttafel, an elaborate meal featuring a little dish of something for everyone. 

Touching on Dutch history and the back stories of traditional ingredients (from licorice to herring to beer), Emily adds charm and sophistication to a cuisine that is wholesome, accessible, and stubbornly delicious.