Stone Fruit

Clafoutis, a rich, creamy custard dessert from the French countryside, is made from a quickly blended batter that is usually poured over fruit and baked. Cherries are the traditional choice, but other stone fruits, such as sliced apricots and plums, as well as berries and figs, are good options. Here, clafoutis makes an unexpected—and utterly delectable—filling for individual tarts.

Few desserts are as vibrantly seasonal and—contrary to its eye-catching appearance—as downright simple as this. Sliced apricots arranged in alternating rows lie on a bed of rich pistachio paste atop puff pastry. Chopped pistachios are scattered on top.

Small puff-pastry squares make great vessels for summer fruits steeped in honey and fresh lime juice. The technique for making the shells is similar to that used to create the French pastries known as vol-au-vents (or “flying in the wind,” so called for their ethereal texture). Vol-au-vents are traditionally filled with savory fillings and served as a first course. Here, plums and strawberries fill the pastries for the last course; feel free to substitute other fresh berries or stone fruits, and to garnish each with a tiny dollop of whipped cream, if you wish.

Crisp, flaky sheets of phyllo topped with sugar-coated Pluots celebrate simplicity and summer at once. Pluots, a cross between plums and apricots, are available at farmers’ markets and many supermarkets; feel free to substitute any other stone fruit. Have a clean, damp kitchen towel ready to cover the unused sheets of phyllo dough and keep them from drying out while you work.

Cherries and almonds go hand in hand in many traditional baked goods. To produce this flat tart, lightly sweetened and spiced Bing cherries and ground almonds are heaped onto a rough oval of pâte sucrée; the edges of the pastry are then folded over and pleated to form a border, then the whole thing is baked to a gloriously glossy sheen.

This late-summer last course offers the opportunity to experience the pleasure of perfect peaches, enhanced only slightly by flaky pastry shells and an easy wine glaze. The peach flavor remains largely unadulterated—just dressed up a bit for dinner. Guests will thank you for your generosity in sharing such a singular taste of the season.

A mixture of sweet Bartlett pears and sour cherries fills sheets of flaky puff pastry. Traces of ground black pepper and five-spice powder (a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, star anise, and Szechuan pepper used in Chinese cooking) provide exotic notes.

A fresh-baked fruit galette is proof that you don’t need specialty equipment—or even a pie plate—to successfully bake a beautiful dessert from scratch. Here, sliced plums are arranged on an irregular round base of pâte brisée (ground almonds are sprinkled over the crust first). The dough is then simply folded over the filling to make a rough border. There’s no crimping or embellishment required; the unfinished edge is a big part of the appeal.

Making a pie, or in this case a tart, can be remarkably simple—as easy as baking a batch of cookies, in fact. Pâte sablée is essentially a cookie dough. Here it’s pressed into a springform pan before baking. In this recipe, cornmeal stands in for some of the flour; its flavor works well with summer fruits, but if you don’t have it, you can certainly use all flour. To make the filling, toss fresh fruit with sugar, add it to the partially baked tart shell, then finish baking. Peaches and berries are pictured, but if you have apricots or cherries on hand, feel free to use them instead; this low-key recipe takes kindly to improvisation.

A little sweet with just the right amount of sour. We love this sorbet sandwiched between Chocolate Walnut Meringues (page 135).

Chutney adds a ton of flavor to many different dishes. At the Shop we serve this with the Jerk Chicken Balls (page 30) because it’s the perfect counterpoint to the salty-spicy meatballs. Also, definitely try mixing this staple condiment into cooked rice or serve it alongside grilled chicken or fish. Alternatively, spread it on sandwiches, or stir it into a bit of mayo or yogurt for a quick dip. This sauce will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.

Season: August to early October. The Brogdale Trust in Kent is home to the National Fruit Collection–a bit like a Noah’s Ark for the fruits of the earth. Among their many living specimens, they grow over 300 different cultivars of Prunus domestica, the European plum–also known as dessert plums. These fruits crop from high summer right through into October, giving us plenty to eat fresh, and loads to preserve for later in the year. In the United States, European plums can be found at farmers’ markets, growing in backyards, or at some supermarkets. Or you can preserve peach, nectarine, or apricot halves in the same way.

Season: Late August to September. Dark-skinned with a bluish bloom, small oval damson plums are very tart and well flavored, which makes them wonderful for preserving. This is a straightforward recipe that keeps the fruit whole and tender. I love warming cinnamon and allspice in the mix, but you can use any spices you fancy, or even a good tablespoonful of ready-made pickling spice (see p. 89). These sweet spiced damsons are a lovely addition to any buffet table and splendid with cold poultry.

Season: September to October. The term mincemeat originated in the fifteenth century, when chopped meat was preserved with a combination of dried fruit, sugar, and aromatic spices. During the seventeenth century, suet replaced the meat and has been used ever since. This recipe is a departure on several fronts: it uses fresh fruit as well as dried, and it contains no suet. In fact, it contains very little fat (only the oil in the walnuts). The result is light and fruity, but with all the rich, warm spiciness of a traditional mincemeat. If you can’t find russet apples, any good eating apple can be used.

Season: August to September. Plums make a lovely jam and are rich in pectin and easy to prepare, so this is a great recipe for beginners. Just make sure the plums are tender and their skins well softened before adding the sugar. If not, the sugar hardens the skins and they’ll be tough in the finished jam; they will also float to the top of the jar.

We can’t seem to get enough of the flavor of sour cherries in our test kitchen. Here they are generously added to a dough rich with bittersweet chocolate and cocoa. The result is a deep, dark, utterly delicious cookie with unexpected tartness in every bite.

Moist, cakey, and flecked with fresh fruit in every bite, these cookies are just the thing to pack into a picnic basket on a late-summer day.

When the peaches are perfect, ripe and succulent, make this dish. The real fun comes when you set the sauce ablaze. Just watch your eyebrows!

I never liked swordfish much til I had it sliced thin and flash-grilled. This keeps the flesh moist and succulent. You’ll need to ask your fish seller for a piece of the swordfish loin so you can slice it yourself or have him do it for you. The difference in eating pleasure is worth the effort.

When we were children, we never made homemade ice cream unless we had company. I’m not sure if it was because we were being sociable or if it was because we needed help with the old hand churn. After working that hard, you definitely deserved a big bowl of ice cream! Daddy always added fresh peaches to this recipe because he loved homemade peach ice cream. Feel free to experiment with a fruit you love. I usually make it plain, then put out bowls of peaches, strawberries, bananas, nuts, and chocolate syrup so my guests can top it as they please.