A Sunday dinner menu with a last-minute summery twist

The climate is heat, however the solar units earlier, the surest signal that summer season is sort of over. At my native market, the 12 months’s final corn is piled excessive, and there are massive baskets of shapely candy peppers in each hue. It appears fairly great that stone fruits are nonetheless round – peaches, nectarines and plums.

So I look no additional. For proper there in entrance of me, the important produce for my dinner is on vibrant show: corn soup, a savoury stew of peppers and onions, and peaches for dessert. After all, any of the dishes on this menu may additionally stand alone.

Made with little greater than freshly picked candy corn, onions and water, the velvety soup is divine – and requires no cream or dairy. The stunning creaminess comes from a radical whizzing within the blender. However for the silkiest texture, it’s finest to cross the puréed soup by a fine-mesh sieve. It’s an additional step, however value it: it strikes an exquisite soup into the elegant. End it with a drizzle of olive oil and torn basil leaves.

Then, to comply with, I appeared to these good peppers. I really like a dish of candy peppers and onions stewed in olive oil, and this one takes cues from the Italian normal peperonata. A splash of vinegar tempers the greens’ sweetness, and the entire affair is studded with capers and olives. It smells beautiful and is scrumptious served sizzling or at room temperature.

Hen perfumed with garlic and rosemary is a simple, welcome accomplice for the peppers, and the Italian approach employed right here – sautéing rooster with a weighted pan on high – is known as al mattone. It yields a burnished, crisp pores and skin and really juicy meat.

As a substitute of the standard spatchcocked chook, this recipe calls for giant bone-in, skin-on thighs. For even warmth, prepare dinner them in forged iron pans, if you happen to can, although any heavy frying pan will do. And for a little bit of smokiness, prepare dinner the rooster (within the pan) over a sizzling charcoal grill. Getting the seasoning began early – an hour and as much as 24 hours forward – will end result within the tastiest rooster.

For dessert, I needed to place these peaches to good use, so I appeared to a traditional peach melba. Peach halves poached in syrup and served with raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream, the dish was created within the Nineties by French chef Auguste Escoffier to honour Australian opera star Nellie Melba. However for this menu, I made a decision on a fresher-tasting, not-so-classic model, calling for sliced ripe peaches as an alternative of the cooked peach halves. Search for one of the best vanilla ice cream, with actual vanilla, or make your individual. Simple to assemble, it’s a refreshing dessert, excellent when peaches and raspberries are in season, and really elegant.

I name this a last-gasp menu, an opportunity to savour the enjoyment of sun-kissed summer season produce that’s sure quickly to finish.

Creamy corn soup with basil

Whole time: 45 minutes

Makes: 6 servings

Substances:

3 tbsp further virgin olive oil, plus extra for serving

2 massive white or yellow onions, chopped

Salt and black pepper

6 massive garlic cloves, peeled and left entire

500g corn kernels (from about 8 ears)

Round 18 sliced courgette flowers, non-compulsory

Handful of contemporary basil leaves, for serving

Technique:

1. Put 3 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot or casserole dish set over medium-high warmth. When the oil begins to look wavy, add the onions and season properly with salt and pepper.

2. Let onions prepare dinner, stirring, till they start to melt, about 4 to five minutes, then flip warmth to medium and proceed cooking till onions are fairly tender, about quarter-hour extra.

3. Add the garlic and corn kernels, and stir to mix. Add 6 cups water and convey the combination to a boil. Scale back warmth to a delicate simmer. Style the ensuing broth and regulate salt to style (it needs to be properly seasoned). Cook dinner for about one other 10 to fifteen minutes, till the kernels are tender. Stir in courgette flowers, if utilizing, and switch off warmth.

4. Working in batches, purée the soup in a blender. Cross the puréed soup by a fine-mesh strainer and into a big bowl, pushing right down to press all of the liquid out. Discard the fibrous particles left behind.

5. Examine consistency and seasoning, and regulate as wanted (add a bit extra water if the soup appears too thick). The soup will be made up to a couple hours forward up so far, and tastes finest the day it’s made. Reheat, if wanted, earlier than serving.

6. To serve, ladle into particular person bowls. Drizzle a few teaspoon of olive oil over every serving. Shortly chop the basil, and sprinkle over to complete.

Crispy rooster thighs with peppers, capers and olives

Makes: 6 servings

Substances:

For the rooster:

6 massive bone-in, skin-on rooster thighs (about 2 kilos)

Kosher salt (Diamond Crystal) and black pepper

2 garlic cloves, grated or minced

2 massive sprigs rosemary, very roughly chopped

Pinch of red-pepper flakes

Grated zest and juice of 1 small lemon (about 1 teaspoon zest and about 3 tablespoons juice)

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

For the peppers:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 medium crimson onions, sliced in 1/4-inch half-moons (about 3 cups)

6 bell peppers, in assorted colours, if doable, sliced 3/8-inch lengthwise (about 8 cups)

Kosher salt (Diamond Crystal) and black pepper

3 garlic cloves, grated or minced

Pinch of red-pepper flakes

1/2 cup inexperienced olives (like Castelvetrano)

1/2 cup black olives (like Niçoise)

2 tablespoons crimson wine vinegar

1 tablespoon capers, roughly chopped

Pinch of dried oregano

Technique:

1. Begin the rooster: Pat rooster dry and place in a big bowl. Season properly with salt and pepper. Add garlic, rosemary, red-pepper flakes, lemon zest and juice. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and toss the thighs to coat, utilizing palms to smear the combination evenly over the rooster. Let marinate for 1 hour at room temperature, or, if time permits, in a single day within the fridge.

2. Make the peppers: Put 2 tablespoons olive oil in a big, extensive skillet with a lid over medium-high warmth. When oil begins to look wavy, add onions and stir to coat. When the onions start to melt (don’t allow them to brown), add peppers and stir to mix. Season properly with salt and pepper, and add garlic and red-pepper flakes. Stir to include and scale back warmth to medium. Cowl, leaving the lid ajar.

3. Cook dinner combination for about quarter-hour, stirring often, till fully tender. Add olives, vinegar and capers, and prepare dinner for a couple of minutes extra, simply to meld the flavors. Style and regulate seasoning. Sprinkle with oregano. Put aside. Serve heat or at room temperature.

4. Cook dinner the rooster: Place a big forged iron or heavy-bottomed skillet over excessive warmth. Add remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil. When oil is wavy, add rooster thighs, skin-side down. Shake the pan to ensure the rooster isn’t sticking.

5. Decrease the warmth to medium. Place a chunk of parchment or aluminum foil on high of rooster and set one other skillet on high. Add some weight – a brick or canned items, for instance – to the highest skillet. Set warmth to low and prepare dinner for 20 minutes, checking often to make certain rooster isn’t sticking, till the pores and skin facet is superbly browned.

6. Flip thighs over and prepare dinner for 10 minutes extra, till thighs are cooked by. (To check, pierce the rooster with a paring knife. The juices ought to run clear.) If you want, flip the thighs skin-side down once more and let crisp for a number of extra minutes.

7. Serve 1 thigh and a big spoonful of stewed peppers to every visitor. Leftover peppers, if any stay, will preserve in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as per week.

Not-so-classic peach melba

Makes: 6 servings

Whole time: 20 minutes

Substances:

120g ripe crimson raspberries, plus extra for garnish

2 tbsp plus 2 tsp sugar

6 ripe, candy freestone peaches

Just a few drops of lemon juice

1L vanilla ice cream

Technique:

1. Make the raspberry sauce: put the raspberries and a couple of tablespoons sugar in a blender and whiz to liquify. Pour by a fine-meshed strainer and right into a medium bowl. Maintain cool.

2. Utilizing a paring knife, peel and halve the peaches. Slice the halves into half-moon items about 1cm thick. Switch to a bowl. Add 2 teaspoons sugar and some drops of lemon juice to style. Toss to coat.

3. To serve, organize peach slices within the backside of 6 dessert bowls. Prime every serving with a scoop or 2 of vanilla ice cream. Splash raspberry sauce over every portion. Garnish with a number of raspberries if you want.

And to drink…

Hen marinated in olive oil, lemon, garlic and herbs is normally a formulation for white wines. The pepper, onion and olive facet dish seconds the movement, so my alternative could be any of the myriad dry, contemporary, non-oaky whites made around the globe. That might embrace a Greek assyrtiko, an Italian Verdicchio di Matelica, a Corsican vermentinu (their phrase for vermentino), a French sauvignon blanc and any variety of Mediterranean or Atlantic whites and their counterparts. You would possibly rejoice the waning days of summer season with a wonderful rosé, except you’re the clever hand who drinks rosé year-round, during which case merely take pleasure in a bottle with this dish. Reds may even work, significantly gentle, non-tannic selections like easygoing gamay wines, mencías from northwestern Spain and frappatos from Sicily.

Pairings by Eric Asimov.

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