FOR A HOT SEPTEMBER NIGHT

A DRINK

Blackberry Martini
You can find this recipe over at Food52 in my Cooking What I Want column.

A DINNER

Heirloom Tomato and Nectarine Salad
Don't toss the ingredients in a bowl. Instead, layer on a large plate or platter. Assemble this salad right before you serve it because once the salt hits the tomatoes and stone fruit, you will have the beginnings of an herbacious summer soup.

Core and slice 4 large heirloom tomatoes. Spread slices out on a platter. Halve and remove pits from 4 ripe nectarines. Thinly slice the fruit and fan out around the tomato slices. Throw down a few handfuls of green leaves (basil, parsley, mint, arugula). 

Use your vegetable peeler to shower down paper-thin sheets of firm cheese (parmesan, piave, asiago, manchego). Sprinkle and splash with coarse salt, olive oil, and gooey balsamic*. 

Some possible additions: Marcona almonds or pine nuts, prosciutto, thinly sliced red onion, grilled peaches, blops of crème fraîche. Just keep on layering until it looks like dinner.

Keep any leftovers and serve over pasta the next day (after removing any brown slices of nectarine).

*Make your own gooey balsamic by reducing down (by half) an inexpensive bottle of balsamic vinegar. Cool. Store as you would any vinegar.

A DESSERT

Nutella Chocolate Pots with Crème Fraîche and Sea Salt
Printable Recipe
Yesterday, I was making chocolate pots, drinking coffee, and engaging in my monthly hormonal horror show: the inhalation of an entire jar of Nutella. But this time I shared. One spoonful for me. One for the chocolate pots. On and on until Bella stopped me with: "Mom. Chill."  You can skip this adulterant and keep things all pure and dark chocolaty. Or play on by adding rum, almond paste, orange zest, or any other favorite flavor. This recipe is very forgiving.

Adapted from Nigella Lawson's recipe for Chocolate Pots.

Makes 10 "pots" (use ramekins or small drinking glasses) that are about 3/8 cup each.

1 pound bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

3/8 cup Nutella (or Nocciolata spread)

1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract

2 eggs

crème fraîche

Maldon sea salt

Place chocolate and salt in bowl of a food processor. Pulverize until it's almost as fine as powder.

Pour cream and milk into a medium-sized pot. Heat until it's just under the boil. Turn off the heat. Pour into a pitcher. Carefully pour hot cream/milk down the food processor tube onto the pulverized chocolate. Add Nutella. Let sit for 1 minute. Process for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides. Add vanilla extract and eggs. Process for another 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides. Pulse a few times. Make sure it's smooth. Pour mixture into a pitcher. Pour into 10 small pots (ramekins or small drinking glasses). Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. 

Take out of the fridge about 30 minutes before serving. Top with a teaspoon of crème fraîche and a pinch of Maldon sea salt.

A SONG
"I Don't Recall" by Lavender Diamond
Listen over and over again while doing the dishes.

SPIRIT

The boy crawls in at his parents' feet, spelunking his way through jumbled legs and sheets until he emerges at their sleepy heads with a huge involuntary inhale. Flip flop sneeze cough and he's on his back tugging at the comforter and complaining that he doesn't have enough pillow room. He closes in on the mother, grasping her face and decorating lips cheeks chin neck with kisses. He rolls over and delivers the same to the father.

"Hey, Dash," says the mother, "I think daddy got more kisses."

And he's back with thirteen more for the mother.

"Mama, can I be in the Winter Olympics?"

"There's no snow in Berkeley. You might want to try for the Summer Olympics."

"What are the sports in Summer Olympics?"

"Weightlifting, running—"

"Mama, I already know how to run."

"Right. You'd totally win that race."

The father continues the list, "Swimming, archery, gymnastics, fencing, cycling, shooting, diving—"

"Wait. Wait. WAIT!" shrieks the boy. "Shooting? Can I learn shooting?"

The mother pretends she has fallen back to sleep.

"When you're older," the father replies. "When you're much older."

The mother has so much to say and says none of it.

The father nudges the boy, "Why don't you ask that woman over there to be a good mama and get out of bed and get us some cobbler for breakfast."

"Believe it or not, we are out of cobbler. And I'll just have to be a bad mama this morning because I'm staying in bed."

"You're not a bad mama," the boy whispers into the mother's ear. "But I have a question. What are you thinking about with your eyes closed?"

"I'm thinking about my coffee," the mother whispers back.

"Mama's thinking about her coffee," the boy relays to the father.

"She's always thinking about her coffee."

The father leans in to the boy and asks, "Should we hug her?"

The mother doesn't resist as the boy and the father execute a slow motion eight-limbed envelopment.

The father murmurs, "Isn't mama delicious?"

And for a fleeting moment the mother is floating on an unfamiliar raft in the middle of a crazy perfect domestic ocean. 

The mother slips out of bed, puts on the kettle, and starts making her fifteenth cobbler of the summer.

A few thoughts on cobblers: 

Before adding any sugar, taste the fruit. In general, peaches and blackberries need very little additional sugar (only a tablespoon or two). Plums and blueberries will need need a bit more. Just try to keep the fruit tasting like it was just picked. Not like it was preserved in sugar.

Small amounts of lemon juice and zest, Grand Marnier, vanilla extract, vanilla bean, or orange flower water can help enhance the fruit flavor without dominating.

It takes a few extra steps, but I'm loving the combination of tart dough topped with streusel (made with Marcona almonds). This is a great way for kids (or grownups) to start playing with dough. Let them roll, cut, press, and tuck the dough in any way they want. Cobblers should look funky and messy.

Because the streusel topping is spread on top of the tart dough, the brown sugar sweetness doesn't dive down into the bubbling fruit. This helps maintain three very distinct layers of texture and flavor: pure fruity bottom, gooey doughy middle, and crunchy nutty sweet top. 

Remember, you can (and should) add a fourth layer of creamy and sweet with vanilla ice cream. Or crème fraîche. Or heavy cream (the best breakfast ever).

SUMMER FRUIT COBBLER WITH MARCONA ALMOND STREUSEL

printable recipe

(Serves 4  for dessert with leftovers for breakfast.)
I've baked this in every possibly tart, cake, pie, and gratin pan. Just don't use a dish with a removable bottom or it will leak.

for tart dough:
1 recipe for basic tart dough (make sure dough is refrigerated for at least 3 hours; you will have leftover scraps for your next cobbler)

for streusel:
4 tablespoons salted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour (for streusel)
1/2 cup finely chopped Marcona almonds (or try blanched almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts)

for fruit (totaling about 6 cups when cut up):

5 large peaches and 5 large nectarines (or any combination of pluots, plums, apricots)
1 pint blackberries (or olallieberries)
1 pint blueberries 
2-6 tablespoons sugar (depending on sweetness of fruit and size of your sweet tooth)

juice/zest from 1/2 lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch salt

2 tablespoons flour (for fruit)

for egg wash:

1 egg

2 tablespoons heavy cream

assembly:

Remove tart dough from freezer or fridge and let it soften a bit. Roll out tart dough (about 1/2" thick). With a pizza cutter or knife, cut into 1" strips or any desired shape and place flat on a sheet pan. Refrigerate until fruit is ready.

For the streusel. Melt butter. Take off heat and mix in brown sugar, flour, and nuts. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

For the fruit. It's best to peel all stone fruit (though plum skins can add nice tartness and color) by placing it in boiling water for 15 seconds and then shocking it in ice water. Skins will (usually) slide right off with the help of a paring knife. Cut 1" wedges directly into your baking dish. Add berries. Sprinkle with sugar, lemon juice/zest, vanilla, salt, and flour. Stir gently to combine.

For egg wash. Combine egg and cream.

Assembly. Place strips of dough over mixed fruit so that the pieces are overlapping a bit. You want to leave some lovely little pockets for steam and oozing juices to escape. Paint dough all over with egg wash. Spread streusel on the top of the tart dough (no need to cover all the dough).

Bake until golden brown and bubbling (about 45 minutes but check after 30). Poke the tart dough to make sure it's almost firm and crisp on top and still a bit soft on the bottom. Serve immediately with ice cream. Or room temperature with heavy cream.

RED, ORANGE, PINK, AND GREEN

DETAILS + RECIPES:

Summer Squash and Onion Gratin with Garlic Chive oil and Lime. Trim squash and chop into somewhat even chunks (no need to peel it). Peel and thinly slice onion. Use your hands to coat squash and onion with salt, pepper, and lime zest/juice. Finely chop garlic chives (or regular chives). Mash chopped chives and olive oil with a mortar and pestle. Taste. If it's too pungent, add some more olive oil. Generously drizzle chive oil over the squash. Use your hands again to combine. Finish off with bread crumbs, grated parmesan cheese, and quarter-sized dollops of butter. Bake at 375°F until top is crisp and brown and the squash is just tender. Eat right away. OR use as the base for a pasta sauce. OR serve in a pita with yoghurt, cucumber, and garlic chive oil raita (topped with chopped mixed herbs).

These are Bella's summer aspirations involving peaches. The smudged final item on the list is "grilled peach salad." She added it for me. Reluctantly.

Galette of Nectarines and Foraged Plums. Store bought (always) puff pastry. Macerate pitted stone fruit with lemon juice/zest, salt, vanilla, and a vigorous sprinkling of turbinado sugar. Maybe a splash of Grand Marnier? Paint the edges with a mixture of 1 egg + 2 tablespoons heavy cream. For extra crunch, coat glazed edges with more turbinado sugar. Bake at 375°F until fruit is bubbling and puff pastry is crisp and lightly browned. Eat the galette for breakfast topped with crème fraîche. Or ice cream. Ice cream for breakfast. Fuck yeah. It's summer.