Nothing signals the arrival of summer more than juicy, fresh fruit.
There is nothing like biting into a plump piece of sun-ripened fruit and letting the sweet juice run down the sides of your mouth and hands. It's exciting seeing all of the summer fruit starting to adorn the shelves of supermarkets. The vans parked on the side of the road selling a variety of fresh produce have us making a few extra stops on our way home.
When we write our recipes, we like to go into the supermarket and be inspired by the produce. If we aren't sharing recipes that we have been making for years, we create new recipes using whatever is in season and readily available. Summer fruit makes this process easy.
We are a greedy family when it comes to cherries. We usually eat them straight off the stalk and we have a compulsory afternoon where we stand on the bank of our aunty's house and spit the stones out over the side with our cousins. We like to serve these little tarts when guests arrive unexpectedly for dinner. We always have some shortcrust pastry sheets in the freezer so it is an easy dessert to whip up. They are delicious served warm with a big scoop of icecream.
1 sheet sweet shortcrust pastry ½ cup of cherry jam (plum jam can be used instead) 40 cherries pitted and halved Icing sugar, to dust
1 Heat the oven to 170C.
2 Measure 4 x 12cm circles of the pastry. Lightly trace a 3cm border on the pastry.
Line a baking tray with baking paper and place the pastries on.
3 Spread the jam evenly between the four circles, leaving the border clear of any jam. Pile the cherries into the middle of the pastry.
4 Carefully pull up the edges and gently push in towards the cherries to create the sides of the tart.
5 Bake for 35 minutes or until the pastry has slightly browned and is golden all over. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
With the glut of peaches from our mum's tree, we have created a sweet and tangy peach chutney to pair with juicy, free-range pork ribs. The pork is a little spicy and the yummy dark char on them from the barbecue goes perfectly with the chutney.
For the ribs 1 kg pork ribs 2 bay leaves 5 peppercorns 1 Tbsp cayenne pepper 1 Tbsp paprika 2 Tbsp maple syrup 1 cup barbecue sauce
Peach chutney 1 green chilli, finely diced ½ onion, finely diced 5 peaches, peeled and diced 2 Tbsp lime juice 3 Tbsp white wine vinegar 3 tsp sugar ½ cup coriander, chopped
1 Cut the pork ribs into pieces so you can fit them in a large pot. Put the ribs in the pot and add all of the rib ingredients except the barbecue sauce. Cover the ribs with water. Place on the stove and bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 45 minutes.
2 Remove the ribs from the water and dry. Smear the ribs with the barbecue sauce and barbecue on a high heat until they are sticky. This should take about 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can grill the ribs in the oven on a high heat until the barbecue sauce becomes sticky.
3 For the peach chutney, add all the ingredients except the coriander to a small saucepan. Heat gently for 10 minutes to combine the ingredients. Finish with the coriander and serve with the ribs.
This fresh salad is great for a light lunch or as an impressive dish to take to a barbecue. The olives give the salad a briny richness and the contrast of the black against the pink looks beautiful. The bright-green basil adds a freshness that makes it perfect for summer.
¼ large watermelon 1 small red onion, finely sliced 100g pitted black olives 250g feta ½ cup basil leaves Juice of 2 limes 4 Tbsp olive oil 4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Peel the rind off the watermelon and cut into large cubes. Combine the watermelon, onions, olives, feta and basil in a large salad bowl. Squeeze over the lime juice.
2 Finish by drizzling over the olive oil and balsamic and a fresh grind of black pepper.
Head over to bite.co.nz for more recipes from Kasey and Karena.
