Still Summer

Summer may be winding down but the farmers' markets are bursting with late summer fruit and vegetables.

For dinner the other night, I celebrated heirloom tomatoes . . .

Heirloom tomato salad with mozzarella di bufala and torn basil

and apricots.

Apricot pistachio tart

What a pleasure to cook with great fresh ingredients like these!

Bobby Jay

Apricot/Rosemary Confiture - Summer on a Plate

I love apricots, and they start to arrive in New York now, although the wonderful local ones don't come until mid to late summer. I find the ones that we get from California to be either a bit mealy or lacking in taste, but recently felt compelled to buy a bunch to make a simple (10-minute) dessert: apricot confiture with rosemary. Here's how I make it:

Cook 6 cut up apricots, about ¼ cup sugar, 2 TBS almond syrup, 1 TBS Grand Marnier (or other orange liqueur), 2 TBS water and 1-2 tsp finely chopped rosemary until fruit is tender. Refrigerate. Serve over Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream with chopped raw almonds.

What makes this so good is the interplay between the piney rosemary and the subtle flowery taste of the apricots.

Proportions are indicative only. You can vary the ingredients as you wish, and should use less sugar if your apricots are the sweet, late-summer ones.

Bobby Jay

Tomatoes Tomatoes Tomatoes

For me, this time of year is about tomatoes, especially but not only heirloom varieties.

My favorite way to eat them (shown above) is the way Jamie Oliver does it:

Cut up a big bunch of heirloom tomatoes of various shapes, sizes and colors, salt them for 30 minutes in a colander, then mix them with dried oregano, good vinegar and olive oil and pepper, add torn pieces of soft mozzarella and basil leaves. Cut some in horizontal slices, and cut others into quarters or eighths, according to their sizes and shapes.

The taste and texture of the tomatoes and the simple dressing mingled with their juices screams SUMMER!!!!

Bobby Jay