Stone Fruit week

This is stone fruit season. Are you ready for a week’s worth of stone fruit recipes? Yes? OK, let’s get to it.

According to the Cook’s Thesaurus –

“The family of stone fruits includes cherries, plums, apricots, nectarines, and peaches.   They all arrive in the summer, though you can sometimes find pricey imports during the off-season.  Stone fruits don’t become sweeter after they’re picked, but growers often harvest them while they’re still a bit underripe so that they won’t bruise during transit.  At the market, select specimens that have the color, if not the softness, of fully ripened fruit, then take them home and let them soften at room temperature for a few days.”

How about we start off with a cool refreshing drink on this hot summer day?

Stone Fruit and Cucumber Rosé Sangria

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 half English cucumber, half of it diced, the other half thinly sliced, divided
1 bottle Rosé wine, chilled
1 half lemon, thinly sliced, seeds removed
1 peach, pitted and thinly sliced
1 plum, pitted and thinly sliced
1 apricot, pitted and thinly sliced
Club soda, chilled

Place the sugar, water, and diced cucumber in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Remove from heat and let come to room temperature. When cooled, strain out the cucumber and refrigerate the cucumber simple syrup.

Once the simple syrup is chilled, pour the Rosé, 2 tablespoons of the simple syrup, and all the sliced fruit and the sliced cucumber into a pitcher.

Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour for the flavors to meld.

Use the back of a spoon to slightly mash the fruits then pour over ice into wine glasses, leaving an inch or so at the top of each glass. Top off each glass with a splash of chilled soda water and enjoy.

Serves 4