Berries are not the only lover of summer – stone fruits are sitting pretty, too.
From cherries to peaches to mangoes, stone fruits can be used to prepare sweet chutneys and jams to tart marinades and herby salads.
Stone fruit season runs from late spring through mid to late summer and into early autumn. Fresh stone fruits are a great healthy snack.
You can eat them on their own, turn them into a fruit salad or smoothie, or pair them with cheese.
This summer Juicy Delicious has brought chefs Caro Gardner and Mokgadi Itsweng together to create stone-fruit-inspired dishes that will elevate your holiday and festive feasts.
Caro Gardner’s spiced roast chicken with roast peaches and yoghurt dressing
Ingredients
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
⅓ cup raisins, finely chopped
2 tbsp mild curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
Pinch of cumin
1⁄4 cup peach chutney
⅓ cup olive oil
Salt and milled pepper
Juice and grated zest of 1 lemon,
1 lemon cut in wedges
1 whole chicken
2 medium red onions, sliced in wedges
4-6 peaches, sliced
4-6 baby fennel, washed and halved
For the dressing
½ cup yoghurt
3 tbsp mayonnaise
20g coriander
20g basil
50g walnuts, toasted
Salt and milled pepper
Juice of 1⁄2 lemon or lime
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Mix garlic, raisins, curry powder, turmeric, cumin, chutney, olive oil, seasoning and lemon. Rub seasoned oil all over the chicken.
Fill the cavity with lemon wedges.
Season, place on a baking tray and roast in the oven.
Add onion wedges with the chicken and roast for 45 minutes before adding peaches and fennel, add an extra drizzle of seasoned oil and roast for an extra 30 minutes or until cooked through.
Blend dressing ingredients together and set aside. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve roast chicken with roast peach and fennel drizzled with herby yoghurt dressing.
Mokgadi Itsweng’s pickled plum and zucchini carpaccio
Ingredients
180ml white wine vinegar
125g castor sugar
3 sprigs rosemary
3 sprigs thyme
3 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 tbsp grated ginger
1⁄4 tsp salt
1⁄4 tsp peppercorns
3 plums sliced into wedges
1 red onion thinly sliced
3 plums thinly sliced, using a peeler or a mandolin slicer
4 medium-sized zucchini, thinly sliced into circles, using a peeler or mandolin slicer
20g wild rocket leaves
20g sunflower seeds, lightly toasted
Sunflower seed dressing
100g raw sunflower seeds
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp chopped mint
1 tbsp chopped basil
1 tbsp chopped parsley
2 garlic cloves
60ml water
20ml olive oil
1 tbsp honey 1 tsp salt
Method
In a saucepan, bring to the boil the vinegar, sugar, rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves Cook for 5 minutes, remove from heat, and allow to cool slightly.
In a separate bowl, place the garlic, ginger, plum wedges, and red onion, and mix them together before pouring the hot pickling vinegar mixture over the plums and onions. Mix well, cover, and leave to marinade for 2 hours.
While the plums are marinated, make the dressing by blending all the ingredients for the dressing until smooth and creamy. Cover and set aside.
To plate, neatly arrange the zucchini and the thinly sliced plums on a platter, then top with rocket leaves.
Scoop the plums and onions from the pickling solution and place them on top of the rocket leaves.
Serve dressed in sunflower seed dressing.