The first day of September was celebrated with a warming courgette, tomato and cheese bake. I’d like to say I grew the courgettes myself, but that would be disingenuous. Instead they were harvested from my local Co-op along with some sweet and juicy corn cobs (‘cobblettes’ apparently). Complementing our wholesome seasonal fare was a lovely organic, red Provençal Vin de Pays Méditerranée called ‘Béret’.
Continuing the seasonal l theme the afternoon was spent blackberrying along an old railway track accompanied by our trusty terriers. The fruits of our labour have now been baked with apples in an almond crumble (thanks to Thane Prince for the inspiration). We served this up with Greek yoghurt and a small glass of Pineau des Charentes.
A discovery this summer has been the sweet and sour delights of the Sicilian dish Caponata. Fried aubergines, celery and onions stewed with vinegar, sugar and sultanas (& occasionally tomatoes, pine nuts and capers) this tasty dish is equally good served hot or cold. I’ve used it as a pasta sauce but recently we were served it with scallops wrapped in parma ham by the Spectaor’s wine guru Jonathan Ray and it was amazingly good. Try with a Tavel rosé for a Mediterranean Indian summer or early Autumn treat.
By: Pippa Goldfinger.
