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ByNancyLindahl Nights felt like fall this weekend, and although summer is a beast, it seems a shorter, more intense beast this year. School starts next Monday, and Chico State the Monday after. Summer is trickling away faster than beach sand through your fingers and I haven't cooked all the summer dishes we wait all year to taste, or tried the new summer recipes dog- eared online and in cook- books. Time to make a summer bucket list of top 10 things to taste once more before Labor Day: like a perfect BLT, pasta with fresh toma- toes and goat cheese, wa- termelon-feta salad, salad caprese with real mozza- rella di bufala, barbecue ribs, a perfectly ripe Cren- shaw melon with a squeeze of lime, fresh corn on the cob, eggplant Parmesan, blackberry cobbler, and Shubert's fresh peach ice cream. And a shorter bucket list of Stuff I Meant to Try, But Haven't Gotten Around to Yet: Shrub cocktails with vinegar, tomato jam, fresh peach and iced tea popsicles, pozole verde, grilled green salad with coffee vinaigrette, and roasted peach and marscapone Pavlova. Tomatoes are at their peak now, abundant, af- fordable and delicious — the perfect time to make pasta with fresh tomatoes and goat cheese, a favorite rec- ipe my kids looked forward to every August. It's a sim- ple recipe that uses lots of tomatoes, and the leftovers are great the next day, and the day after that. PennewithFresh Tomato, Basil and Goat Cheese Sauce: Ingredients: 15-20smalltomediumsize ripe tomatoes (like Early Girl) to make 3-4cups of cut pieces 4ounces goat cheese 3Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil red pepper flakes 16-24leaves fresh basil cut into thin strips 1pound penne pasta Fresh ground pepper and sea salt to taste Parmigiano Reggiano cheese Instructions: Using a fork, mash the goat cheese with 3tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of red pepper flakes in the bottom of a large pasta serving bowl. Let sit at room tem- perature. Core and cut just-picked ripe tomatoes into half-inch chunks — you need about 4cups cut. Put the cut tomatoes in a colander over a bowl so some of the juice drains away while you are cooking the pasta. Boil the pasta until al dente, according to package in- structions. Drain. Toss the hot pasta with the goat cheese mixture until coated and creamy. Press excess juice from tomatoes and drain. Gently and quickly toss the cut tomatoes and basil strips a few times with the pasta mixture. Add fresh ground pepper and sea salt to taste. Serve at once with a chunk of Parmigiano Reg- giano for grating. —— Summer cooking, be- tween grilling, tossing to- gether a salad, and slic- ing ripe fruit for dessert, is so effortless, healthy and good, I felt a need to rebel and make something dec- adent and time-consum- ing with summer fruit — like Roasted Peach and Marscapone Pavlova from the to-try list. The contrast- ing textures between crisp meringue shells and ripe, warm peaches languishing in a bed of satiny marsca- pone was irresistible! "As unique as this dessert is, so is the romantic tale behind its creation. Said to have been inspired by a costume of Russian prima ballerina, Anna Matveyevna Pavlova (1881-1931), while touring Australia and New Zealand in 1926. The meringue shell is symbolic of her tutu with the cream filling repre- senting the mesh on her costume. The fact that it was delectably sweet and creamy was an added bo- nus." Quote and gluten-free recipe, which serves 12, from Sweet Si Bon. I think the meringue shells are more elegant when you shape them with a spoon rather than piping them, if you want to save a step, and good vanilla ice cream is a great substitute for the marscapone, whip-cream filling. Pavlova Meringue Shells with Roasted Peaches and Mascarpone Cream Ingredients: ½ cup egg whites, about 4 eggs 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar 1/8 teaspoon salt sea or kosher, finely ground 1cup granulated sugar su- perfine/castor * 1Tablespoon vinegar red wine or white 1½ teaspoon cornstarch ½ teaspoon vanilla extract Additional ingredients for peaches, filling and black- berries 1recipe pan-roasted, cara- melized peaches see below 1recipe mascarpone cream filling (see below) Instructions: Preparation and baking: Prepare pan roasted peach- es and Kirsch blackberries (see below). While cooling, prepare meringue shells. Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut pieces of parchment to fit sheet pans. With a pencil, draw 124-inch circles, with 2inches between each circle onto the parch- ment. Place on each sheet pan, pencil side down. The circle outlines should show through the paper. In a clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt on medium speed, until foamy. On medium speed, gradu- ally add the sugar and cornstarch until incorpo- rated. Add the vinegar and vanilla and continue whipping on medium speed until the whites are stiff, smooth and glossy (about 4-7minutes). Fill a piping bag, fitted with a No. 6plain or No. 4star tip and pipe in a nest shape within the penciled circles on the parchment paper. If not using a piping bag, spread approximately ¼ - 1/3 cup within each circle. Bake in the preheated oven for 10minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 °F and continue baking until the meringues have puffed up slightly and begin to crack, about 40-45 minutes. They should brown slightly. Turn the oven off, propping the oven door open 3-4inches. Let the meringues cool to room temperature, while still in the oven, about 30minutes. Prepare mascarpone cream filling while meringue shells are baking and cooling. When cooled, gently peel off of the parchment and place in a cool dry place until ready to assemble. Assembling: Do not assemble until ready to serve. Remove mascar- pone filling from refrigerator about 15minutes before assembling. Place meringue shell on serving plate and gently spread 1-2table- spoons of the mascarpone cream filling to within 1/4 inch of the edge of each meringue shell. Remove skin from peach halves and slice into 2-3 pieces. Spoon peaches and caramelized syrup on top of filling. Spoon kirsch blackberries over peaches and serve. Recipe Notes: Egg whites: When beating egg whites, the bowl and whisk attachment must be clean, dry and free of any trace of oils, so as not to interfere with the aeration of the whites. Sugar: Granulated sugar can be ground into superfine/ castor sugar by pulsing in a food processor for 30-40 seconds or until granules are finely ground but not powdery. Humidity: Humidity and moisture will cause the baked shells to become moist and begin liquefying. Adaptable with a variety of fruits, I chose to use a combination of peaches and nectarines, at the peak of ripeness, pan roasting them to caramelized perfection. The few blackberries add contrast both in color and flavor. The addition of a little sugar, cinnamon, fresh ginger and a touch of Kirsch, makes any fruit dish that much better. The blackberries are sprinkled with a little sugar and Kirsch, and heated and mashed lightly before using. PAN-ROASTED, CARAMELIZED PEACHES Ingredients: 4(11/2-2pounds) peaches and nectarines halved, pit- ted 1/3 cup brown sugar ½ teaspoon cinnamon (optional) ½ teaspoon ginger finely minced/ grated (optional) 1/8 teaspoon (pinch) salt sea or kosher 1Tablespoon Kirsch (op- tional) 2-4Tablespoons butter unsalted Instructions: Clean and cut peaches into halves, removing the pits; slice nectarines Combine the sugars, cinna- mon, ginger and salt, mixing well. Liberally sprinkle the cut side of the peach halves and nectarine slices with the sugar mixture. Melt the butter in a large cast iron skillet, on medium high heat. Arrange all of the peach halves and nectarine slices in a single layer in the skil- let, cut side down. Cook until the cut sides begin to brown, and the fruit begins to release some of its juices. Set aside until ready to use, covering loosely with a piece of aluminum foil. If making ahead, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1-2days. Bring to room temperature or warm through before as- sembling. The marscapone filling provides the "creamy" bal- ance to the crispy meringue shell. Nothing screams creamy more than mascar- pone and whipped cream. Quick and easy to make, the five ingredients are whipped to perfection in a matter of minutes and can be refrigerated until ready to use. MASCARPONE CREAM FILLING Ingredients: 8ounces mascarpone cheese 1½ cup heavy cream-whip- ping cream ¼ cup sugar superfine or castor* 1teaspoon vanilla Instructions: Beat the mascarpone cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium low speed, just until creamy, about 30seconds. Add the remaining ingredi- ents and continue beating until fluffy with stiff peaks, about 1-2minutes. Can be stored in the refrig- erator in an airtight con- tainer up to 24hours. Meringue Notes: When making meringue there are a few rules of "kitchen chemistry" to follow to assure your egg whites take on the air needed to form glossy, bil- lowy peaks. These rules ac- tually excite many a baker, feeding our slightly per- snickety love of preciseness and order. The whites should be fresh and not too cold. Ev- erything that comes in con- tact with the egg whites must be completely dry, clean and free of oil. Plas- tic bowls are not recom- mended as they can absorb oil from previous use. Beating of the whites should start slowly with the mixer speed maxing out at medium. The acids in the cream of tartar and vine- gar encourage the proteins to bond and reach their full volume. Pasteurized whites must have an acid added to them. Adding the sugar after beat- ing the whites until foamy, and in a gradual, steady stream not only gives sweet- ness, but also adds struc- ture, helping the foam to bond and the whites to sta- bilize. The meringue shell can be as dramatic or rustic as you like, depending upon how you choose to form it. You can make individ- ual pavlova, as we did or one large shell. We drew 4-inch circles on the parch- ment so the individual me- ringues are uniform in size. Whether you are comfort- able with a piping bag or just learning to use one, me- ringue is great start as it is forgiving and easy to work with and makes the shape a bit fancier. You can also use a spat- ula or spoon to smear equal amounts of me- ringue to the desired shape and size. I was taken aback by how dramatic and cool this dessert is. A crispy melt- in-your-mouth meringue shell, filled with a luscious mascarpone cream or ice cream and smothered with warm seasonal fruit. It re- ally doesn't get much better than this. Enjoy! SWEET BASIL AND THE BEE Things to eat before summer is over PHOTO BY NANCY LINDAHL The cascades of tomatoes available now make it the perfect time of year for making tomato sauce. 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