Compote

Pile it on waffles, stir into Greek yogurt, or spoon over cheesecake or crepes: Blueberry compote knows no bounds.

Use this fruit compote to fill pastries, spoon over ice cream, or mix into smoothies.

We usually rail against kitchen tools that do only one thing and take up precious drawer space, but cherry pitters earn their keep as far as we are concerned.

This compote would be quite fine on toast.

Dark sweet cherries and apple cider lend sweetness and depth to this bourbon-and-black-pepper-spiked cranberry sauce.

You will need to make this colorful dessert at least 8 hours in advance. If you want to stretch it to serve 12, spoon a half-cup of fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt into each bowl and top each serving with a half-cup of Spiced Fruit.

Julie Robles, one of the first cooks at Lucques and later the chef de cuisine at A.O.C., came up with this delicious savory (as opposed to sweet) cherry compote. This time of year I go crazy for cherries and also serve this compote on roast pork or with an assertive cheese like Taleggio.

In Italy, there are many variations of semifreddo, which, literally translated, means “partially frozen.” Sometimes a semifreddo is made from sponge cake layered with slightly frozen cream; other times it’s cake-free, simply a lighter version of ice cream. At Lucques, we make this semifreddo from an uncooked “custard” base that has beaten egg whites (to make it buoyant and light) and whipped cream (to prevent it from freezing completely) folded into it. The result is a creamy frozen dessert that doesn’t require an ice cream maker or a true custard cooked at the stovetop. Strawberry and rhubarb are a classic combination, but though it’s tempting to temper the sourness of the rhubarb with sweet strawberries, I prefer the intense mouth-puckering quality of rhubarb on its own. This is a great party dessert since you can prepare all the components ahead of time.

It’s no secret that nearly everyone at Martha Stewart Living—especially Martha—loves meringue, and these billowy puffs, with their distinctive peaks and berries-and-cream filling, illustrate why. The cupcakes need to bake for about three hours, so plan accordingly. And avoid making meringues on a humid day, as they will never become crisp.

Season: winter. It may seem somewhat unnecessary to preserve dried fruit, but I love having a few jars of this compote on the shelf. The once-shriveled fruits become plump and luscious and are quite delicious served alone for breakfast or with yogurt or crème fraîche as a dessert. I like to make this in early November, when newly dried prunes, figs, and apricots are available. Keep on the lookout for small, dried wild figs, which will plump up perfectly to their original shapely selves. The glistening black prunes from the Agen area in southern France are also key players–I prefer to use these un pitted because they infuse the compote with an almondlike essence. A simplified version of the oven method is used–everything is cooked and hot to start with, so the jars don’t need to be heated for an extended time in the oven.

Season: August to September. The fig is a member of the mulberry family and is generally best suited to warmer climates. A contented, well-positioned homegrown tree can crop well, usually in August and September. There are countless varieties, ranging in color from purply black to yellowy green–any can be used for this recipe. Just make sure, when picking or buying, that your figs are ripe, as they do not ripen after picking. This recipe uses a simplified version of the oven method. Everything is cooked and hot to start with, so it’s not necessary to heat the jars for an extended time in the oven. A few jars of these honey-soaked fruits, stored away for the winter months, will be a blissful reminder that the hot days of summer were not just a fig-ment of your imagination. .

Local rhubarb season overlaps with strawberry season in the Finger Lakes, and that’s enough to fire both the imagination and the grill at Stonecat Café. Culinary wizard Scott Signori slathers this unique sauce over Peter McDonald’s pasture-raised chicken and suggests washing it down with Ithaca Nut Brown Ale.

Compared to cheesecake made primarily with cream cheese, this rendition of the American classic is notably light. We make it with Cowgirl Creamery (opposite page) fromage blanc, which is lower in fat than cream cheese, plus ricotta and mascarpone to enhance the texture. A thin layer of Cowgirl Creamery crème fraîche blankets the top. The result is an easy, elegant, lemony dessert to serve in slender slices with a fruit accompaniment, such as sugared berries, a raspberry sauce, or the strawberry-rhubarb compote suggested here.

This is only one example of the many summer fruit compotes that turn combinations of fruit into delectable desserts. All the fruits of summer—plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines, cherries, figs—can be cut up and soaked together in their own juices with a little sugar and lemon juice. Summer fruit compotes are delicious by themselves; on pancakes or waffles; with almond cake or angel food cake or a plate of cookies; or with ice cream, whipped cream, or sherbet.