Summer Fruit Plate
June 11, 2010
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Dear Friends,
I’ll be away for a while, and I’m sorry to leave you without posts at the ready. I thought it would be dishonest to publish remotely, speaking as if I were at home, cooking, when really I’d just canned lots of recipes. It seemed weird. So I leave you with this—because my flight flies at 3:55, and I still have a dozen errands to run before I head to Africa for three weeks.
I’ve recently left my job with Recipe for Success and will be heading back to school next year. In the interim, I’ve had a few days to entertain during the week, which is a real luxury. One of those days was spent at several farmer’s markets, collecting a few of my favorite fruits for a cheese plate. I cannot express enough my love of fruits and cheese, especially with some wine and nuts alongside.
Summer is an embarrassment of riches, especially here in Houston, where it comes so early. Sure there’s a bit of a dry spell in August, (when all we can get are zucchini, eggplant, peppers and okra) but in June we eat like kings… rather like how the North fares for July, August and September. Here are three of my favorites: small, black plumbs, blueberries and fresh figs.
I paired my first true taste of summer fruit with some Fromage d’Affinois (a soft, smooth, mild cheese) and Herve Pave du Nord (hard, buttery-sharp, and always amazing.) A good fruit plate really only needs a couple of great cheeses, at least one hard, one soft, and preferably a bleu if you can tolerate the stink, plus a few types of fruit. I tend to avoid any that are ultra-juicy or go brown quickly, such as melon and apple, although if eaten quickly, leakage or oxidizing really shouldn’t matter much.
That said, fruits that are somewhat self-contained are really preferable—grapes, berries, and, of course, figs. I also like sliced nectarines or peaches in the summer, as both can brighten an especially heavy cheese. Nectarines, kumkwats and pears are great in cooler weather. Never underestimate the impact of a finely sliced prosciutto when cheese is brought out as a first course, or some hunks of crystallized ginger and chocolate if your cheese plate reappears post-feast.
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