There's Still Time for Fruit

Even though August is winding down, we still have plenty of harvests around , especially with fruit. There's nothing like using them in great , home made dishes whether a tart or even a clafoutis style pancake,It's a nice way of  enjoying summer's bounty.

Both Melissa Clark and Florence Fabricant gave us good recipes and ideas in yesterday's New YorkTimes Dining section. Ms. Clark  created a sort of clafoutis style pancake made surpisingly of corn and blackberries in her A Good Appetite Column. This recipe is actually lifted form a 1966 Times recipe made by Dasvid Eyre and is named for him.It involves putting corn along with corn meal in a large skillet sied griddle cake. She tops it with fresh blackberries along with sugar. You can easily make this even without the fruit or try others such as cherries or apples along with peaches, The berries are cooked in a simple syrup and then added on top of the pancake.

For Dining regular Florence Fabricant, a tart using a stone or pitted fruit is a nice summery treat. With this she employs peaches, plums, nectarines and even figs, She quarters these and sticks them  in a simple buttery crust. It is a tedious job  artfully placing the quarters in a flower like pattern. Then comes the equally tedious buttering to get a nice carmelization on top of the fruit. Ms. Fabricant reinvents this as pouring mellted butter over the fruit and then sprinkled sugar to help in the glazing process.It gives the entire tart a nice shiny coating and emphasizes the fruit. She  suggests serving it with creme fraiche to cut the sugariness.

Take advantage of the fruits that we still have. They're perfect for topping tarts and pancakes, giving each a burst of added flavor. Use them now, while we still have them.