End of Summer Eating
Baked plum salad; Simplest chicken yet; Frangipane tart; Baba ganoush
It is the most glorious time of the year for cooking and eating right now. It is the season of all the things I want to cook year round, and for a few fleeting weeks I can have them all at once!
This year I seem to be especially busy, so nothing is getting too much attention in the way of preparation, but that’s ok, because when ingredients are this good, you don’t need to do much to them. I feel like a broken record but good salt and olive oil and maybe a squeeze of lemon or dash of good vinegar is all you really need to make anything taste good.
Making the most of the local fruit that has spent the summer sunning itself to ripeness is high on my priority list right now. I love fruit in savory dishes, especially simple salads, paired with cheese or cured meats. Just now, I had a little pre-dinner snack of baguette smeared with chèvre and topped with roasted Concord grapes (which taste like bubble gum in the best way for those unfamiliar), olive oil and basil. At a recent luncheon I made a salad of lightly roasted plums, drizzled with a little honey, some thyme leaves and Maldon salt before going into the oven until just soft, with soft labne-like cheese and roasted Shishito peppers and dill. It was served, among other things, alongside melon draped with prosciutto. My melon, which smelled of promise, turned out to be very lackluster so I sprinkled it with flakey salt and a drizzle of good finishing olive oil which did an amazing job of bringing it to life, along with the prosciutto of course. More proof that investing in good salt and good olive oil will give you countless return.
Throwing things in the food processor is always a nice way to feel like you have achieved something grand in the kitchen without too much effort. A good dip is relatively easy to achieve and can make any meal feel special (romesco and lutanisia are some of favorites this time of the year, hummus is a year-round favourite). A recent batch of babaganoush was an excellent way to use all the eggplant I bought at once and was the perfect accompaniment to a tray of the easiest chicken. In the spirit of constant simplification, I have decided that the best 3-ingredient chicken dish is: chicken, onion and paprika. Yes salt and olive oil too, which technically makes it 5 ingredients I suppose. Use chicken thighs, bone in and skin on for best flavour, roughly slice the onion, I like nice little crescent moons, and cover it all in a generous sprinkle of paprika and salt a good lick of olive oil. Throw it in the oven for 40 mins or so while you sit and enjoy a glass of wine outside, until it is deeply caramelized and very tender. We served said chicken with a plate of sliced tomato topped with a clove of garlic, thinly sliced, and a few torn basil leaves (and yes, salt and olive oil).
As for dessert, well, it’s hard to beat a good frangipane tart with late summer fruit. I am such a sucker for figs, which sadly don’t really grow in Michigan, but also plums, Concord grapes (if you don’t mind taking out the seeds) pears (best poached for a tart) which are now rolling in.
Baba Ganoush
1 large or 2 smallish eggplant
2 cloves of garlic
2-3 T tahini
juice of half a lemon
drizzle of olive oil
a few tablespoons of labne or greek yogurt (optional, but good)
olive oil and paprika to serve
a small handful of parsley, finely chopped
Roast the eggplant, whole, in the oven at high heat (400F/200C) until very soft inside. Alternately, for a smokey baba, roast over a grill or gas flame until very soft- it will get very black in the flame, bits of skin will be flaking off and floating into the air- don’t be alarmed, it really does need to cook for that long. Undercooked eggplant is a most unpleasant thing indeed.
Remove the flesh from the skin and place the flesh into the bowl of a food processor. Add the garlic, lemon, tahini, drizzle of olive of a heavy pinch of salt and labne. I like to add a pinch of paprika at this point too. Blend until smooth and then taste. It may need more salt or lemon juice, or if your eggplant are especially tobacco-y (the plants are related), a little extra tahini can help to mellow the smoke. The fun in making a dip is tasting and adjusting as needed, so enjoy! I think baba needs to hang out with itself for a bit for the flavors to really settle down and mellow out, so if possible make half an hour, and up to 3 days, ahead of using.
To serve, spoon into a dish, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle over paprika. A little pile of parsley in the middle makes it feel like a salad!
Frangipane Tart
Makes a 12 inch tart, but adjust according to the size of tin you have available
One quantity of sweet shortcrust pastry
200g butter, softened
250 g sugar
250 g almonds, skin on preferred
5 eggs, room temperature
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g/ a couple of tablespoons flour
good pinch of salt
fruit: 8-10 plums or figs or 5 poached pears (or any fruit you desire: apricots and cherries are other favorites of mine)
extra sugar to sprinkle (I love to use turbinado for this)
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C (330F/160C fan forced/convection)
Make and pre-bake the pastry according to the instruction given in the pastry recipe.
Roast the almonds in a moderate oven (350F/180C) for 6-8 minutes or until the skins are bursting and you can smell warm toasty almonds. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 mins or so and then transfer to a food processor. Blitz the almonds until finely ground, they will be slightly uneven in texture, that’s ok.
Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer (alternately you could do this in the food processor). Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each. Add the almonds, followed by the extracts, salt and finally the flour. Turn off the mixer.
Spoon the filling into the cooled tart shell and then press in the fruit. Sprinkle with a small amount of sugar and bake until set and golden, about 45-mins to an hour, depending on the size and thickness of the tart.
