A splash of summer
Fruits can enhance savory dishes, too
How fruits can enhance your savory dishes, too.
When A.J. Dixon got her first-of-the-season box of peaches recently from a Southern orchard, the first thing she did was search it for the ripest ones to eat out of hand. After that, she started thinking about peaches for dinner. Peaches are one of the many fruits Dixon incorporates into the menu at Lazy Susan, her restaurant in Bay View. She’s among chefs who use fruit in savory courses all year to round out dishes, but fruits are in their glory here in spring and summer.
“You wait all year for these things,” she said. First in Wisconsin comes rhubarb (not a fruit, true, but it’s treated like one), then strawberries. Raspberries, cherries, blueberries, peaches, apricots, plums. Summer is a parade of fresh fruits, and plenty of them. A fruit lover can eat only so much pie. That’s when it’s time to think of fruit from the backyard, farm stand or market as part of dinner.
Chefs use fruits in all sorts of savory dishes — seafood, meat, vegetables, salads.
“I’m not thinking of it as a fruit,” said chef Karen Bell, the owner of Bavette La Boucherie in the Third Ward. “I treat it as more of a vegetable” — often roasting or pickling it. Roasting will tame the tartness in a fruit and bring out its sweetness; Bell roasts strawberries seasoned with sumac and serves them in a salad (along with burrata cheese, ham, sugar snap peas, radish pistou and the pasta fregola).
Bell freely uses acidity in her cooking to brighten flavors, so she adds fruit to bring balance and contrast to a dish.
After all, Dixon noted, the tongue can taste bitter, sour, salty and sweet flavors. “Using fruit in a dish helps you achieve all those taste-bud sensations,” she said.
And fruit adds sweetness in a way that straight sugar can’t. It’s more well-rounded, Dixon noted.
“It’s sweetness but with body,” she said. Fruits can be tangy, and they also give a dish texture, she pointed out. In the case of pickled blueberries, used to give a dish acidity, “they just pop in your mouth,” Dixon said.
Local fruits, especially those from gardens and farmers markets, are more likely to be at peak ripeness. The early peaches Dixon gets are from the traveling Tree-Ripe trucks that pick up peaches at Georgia orchards and sell them at stops throughout Wisconsin.
A favorite salad that Dixon makes to show off juicy, sweet peaches is slices of the fruit arranged with fresh mozzarella and dressed greens.
Sweeter fruits pair well with funk (blue cheese, feta cheese) and cream (like burrata and fresh mozzarella cheeses), Dixon said.
Fruits are at home with meat, too. Bell said that besides a companionable sweetness, they bring lusciousness to a roast, which the mouth perceives as a drier texture, even if the meat isn’t actually dry.
Poultry and pork take particularly well to fruits, noted Dixon, who also likes peach and cherry chutney on burgers.
Chef Jodi Janisse-Kanzenbach, the owner of Cafe Soeurette in West Bend, has served grilled peaches with steak, and she uses fruits in glazes, sauces and other condiments for meat. Chef A.J. Dixon, owner of Lazy Susan in Bay View, wrote this recipe for Outpost’s Graze Magazine several years ago. She recommends pairing the tangy ketchup with grilled meats, such as pork, chicken and lamb. Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 to 45 minutes. Remove cardamom pods and puree rhubarb mixture in a blender until smooth. Cool before storing. Keeps in refrigerator up to one month.
Notes: Grate the fresh ginger onto a plate before measuring, and add the ginger juice that accumulates on the plate to the pot along with the grated ginger.
Coconut vinegar can be found in natural foods stores, such as Outpost. Rice wine vinegar or other such sweeter vinegars can be used in place of coconut vinegar. Chef Karen Bell, owner of Bavette La Boucherie at 330 E. Menomonee St. in the Third Ward, likes the juiciness and tannins that fresh grapes give a roasted cauliflower salad with pickled pepper vinaigrette, almonds and Parmesan.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Toss cauliflower with oil and a little salt in a large bowl, transfer to rimmed baking sheet (lined with foil for easier cleanup) and roast until tender and browned, about 25 minutes. Let cool.
While it’s cooling, make vinaigrette. Place all ingredients except oil in a medium bowl and whisk in the oil. It will make more than you need for this recipe; refrigerate the rest to use in other salads.
To assemble the salad, place roasted cauliflower, grapes, mint, almonds and greens in a large bowl and dress with the vinaigrette, about 1 to 2 tablespoons. Toss the salad and taste for seasoning or more dressing. Place on plates and sprinkle with Parmesan.
Notes: To toast sliced almonds, place in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking pan or gently stirring almonds frequently so they don’t burn, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat when golden.
Lightly spicy and sweet Peppadew brand pickled peppers can be hard to find in stores; they’re available through Amazon. Pickled cherry peppers can be substituted.
Fish sauce (nuoc mam) can be found in Asian markets and at some other grocers, including Sendik’s.
Fruit pairs nicely with seafood, as well. She’s served sautéed cherries with seared scallops and butter sauce; Dixon makes a salsa of diced peaches, corn and red bell pepper with shrimp.
The ever-changing lineup of fruits as they go in and out of season offers a chance to play with flavors in the kitchen, Janisse-Kanzenbach said. Zucchini fritters with blueberry-cilantro compote? She’s done that.
It doesn’t hurt to play around with flavors, she said. If it doesn’t work, well, onward to something else. But some of her favorite dishes have been impromptu pairings with fruit that’s available.
A dish this spring that her sous chef, Kyle Pett, devised was pork belly in rhubarb-molasses sauce, served over crisped oat cakes and topped with Carr Chef Jodi Janisse-Kanzenbach has served compote of blueberry and cilantro with zucchini fritters, a combination that might surprise you but plays well together. After all, the chef notes, people bake zucchini bread, and they make blueberry bread; why not put them together? The compote also works well with pork or chicken.
Place water, sugar, zest and blueberries in medium saucepan over high heat; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in juice and cilantro. Let cool before serving. Store in refrigerator. Valley’s Glacier Penta Creme blue cheese. That dish will stay on the menu for awhile, Janisse-Kanzenbach said.
“I think that’s kind of what’s fun,” Bell said. “Each season brings a fruit to play around with.”
Fall, of course, brings apples and pears, but then the local growing season goes into hibernation. That’s when Bell begins to use dried fruits in mostardas and other components. And Janisse-Kanzenbach advocates putting in some extra work in summer, freezing what fruits you can and preserving chutneys and the like in jars, to save time later.
Pull out a chutney or fruit butter from the cupboard, make a meat, fish or other source of protein, and “You’ve got a meal,” she said.
Chef Jodi Janisse-Kanzenbach, the owner of Cafe Soeurette at 111 N. Main St. in West Bend, recommends using plum chutney with chicken, pork, blackened fish, any cheeses and in a grilled mushroom and Brie sandwich. A dollop of it can even be served with poundcake for dessert. Serve this Italian fruit-and-mustard condiment from chef Karen Bell, owner of Bavette La Boucherie, with meats of all sorts. Bell uses it on a sandwich of seared steak with goat cheese, asparagus and roasted onion. Most fresh or dried fruits can be substituted, Bell notes, so substitute away as seasonal fruits come and go. With lighter-colored fruits, such as peaches, try white wine and white wine vinegar.
Sauté red onion in a saucepan in oil. Once onion is softened, add ginger and continue to cook a minute. Add brown sugar, vinegar, wine, raisins, mustard seed and salt, and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer, reducing slightly.
Add cherries and continue to cook. Allow mixture to simmer until cherries are soft and liquid has evaporated, about 20 to 30 minutes, stirring frequently as it thickens to prevent scorching. Remove from heat, stir in mustard and butter and let cool. Store in refrigerator.
Note: When using dried cherries, use 2 cups.