Fruits of Summer

Our August has been filled with something unusual for us: Houseguests! My parents made the trek to Belgium to visit us, and I believe we saw more of the country during their two-week visit than in the previous year-and-a-half of living here!!! We had a fantastic time and took about a million photos and I definitely plan to blog about it soon. The thing is, as with all of our major trips (think Hong Kong and Provence) there is always so much to show and tell that I usually get behind and overwhelmed and put it off and...you get the picture. But, I plan to start with their visit and then work my way backwards from there.

In the meantime, however, a brief post on what we've been up to in the week since my parents left. For Troy: work...the poor thing. For me: experimental cooking! (Hey, cooking is part of my "job" here and far be it from me to shirk my duties!) The fresh markets have been absolutely bursting with gorgeous late summer fruits and vegetables. Unable to resist, I loaded up on a visit last week (I get that gene from my mother!) and have been cooking up a storm ever since.



Aren't the heirloom tomatoes gorgeous? I used some of them in guacamole, kind of luxe I suppose, but it both tasted and looked fantastic! Those green chiles on the side were for a big batch of "Tacoritos" that I made for my friend Ali who recently had a baby. It was my first time roasting chiles at home, prompted mostly by an inability to find them at the grocery store, but it turned out to be really easy.



When I roasted the chiles, I also roasted some bell peppers (including a white one -- have you ever seen that?!?) which I used along with some more heirlooms to make these pizzas -- ciabatta topped with a lemon-and-herb spiked ricotta and feta mixture. Delicious!



This is my first attempt at making chutney. After looking at a bunch of recipes to get an idea of the formula, I ended up making up my own: Sweet & Tart Stone Fruit Chutney. (A rather fancy name considering it all started with the un-fancy question of: "I have a peach, an apricot, two nectarines, and an apple that are about 1 day from being too ripe, what can I do with them?) We found the lovely dish it's sitting in at our visit to the Tongeren antique market with my parents and the pretty shell-shaped spoon was a gift from my parents from that same visit!



I served the chutney over broiled salmon alongside caramelized carrots in a garlic cream sauce and a light arugula salad. So healthy and yet so, so delicious. Troy said it's like he gets to eat out every night. Good man.