Gastronome

BY NANCY DAVIDSON

FRUIT FUSION

Sink your teeth into flavor combinations that will dazzle your taste buds.

It happens all the time in Hollywood: The names of star-studded couples are merged to form the likes of Brangelina and Bennifer. Well, the same goes for fruits. Pluots, tangelos and peachcots are just a few of the many hybrid fruits you can find in today’s markets.

There are a few reasons why a farmer might crossbreed fruits. They may want something firmer that can better withstand the trip to the market. Or, the hybrid may be a brighter color, which is more appealing to customers.

But the No. 1 reason farmers create these two-in-one fruits is flavor. The pluot—a mix of plums and apricots—is probably the most popular hybrid. The flavor of the plum is more dominant, yet it’s sweeter

and less tart. (On the other hand, apriums, made from the same two

fruits, are dominated by the apricot’s flavor.)While farmers cultivate hybrid fruits, chefs are inspired by the delicious combinations of sweet and tart, firm and juicy, soft and velvety. Chef Douglas Keane of Cyrus Restaurant (www..cyrusrestaurant.com; 707-433-3311) in Healdsburg, CA (about an hour from San Francisco) loves the intense plum taste of the pluot, and uses it in his foie gras terrine with pluot-and-pickled-ginger compote and shiso.

The high acid level in the fruit is a perfect counterpart to the rich foie gras.

Most stone fruit hybrids are more likely to show up in desserts. At NYC’s Gotham Bar and Grill (www.gothambarandgrill.com; 212-620-4020), Pastry Chef Deborah Racicot, inspired by her New England background, has used apriums in a fruit crisp, served with lavender-scented goat cheese crème caramel. In Atlanta, Chef Todd Ginsberg of TAP (www.tapat1180.com; 404-347-2220) has made sautéed pluots rolled in sweetened breadcrumbs, served with crème fraîche ice cream drizzled with prune Armagnac sauce.

While there are no guarantees that celeb couples will stick together, you can depend on a hybrid fruit to be delicious, whether in a dish or on its own.

RECIPE

BLACKBERRY PLUOT COBBLER

Pastry Chef Cheryl Burr of San Francisco’s Bacar (www.bacarsf. com; 415-904-4100) loves summer stone fruit hybrids. Here, she shares her recipe for blackberry pluot cobbler, which she serves with yogurt ice cream and almond crumbles—but a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top would taste great as well.

FILLING:

7 whole ripe but firm pluots 4 pints ripe blackberries 1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup apple juice 5 tbsp cornstarch zest and juice from 1 lemon vanilla bean seeds (one bean)

TOPPING:

11/2 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup cinnamon and sugar mixture 1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp

3 oz cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 cup heavy cream

FOR THE FILLING:

Pit the pluots and slice each into 8 pieces.

Combine dry ingredients and toss with the slices and blackberries. Add apple juice and toss. Pour into 9-inch-by-9-inch casserole dish.

FOR THE TOPPING:

Combine dry ingredients with the cold butter chunks. Mix by hand until the butter is pea-sized. Add heavy cream and mix just until combined. Drop the batter in slightly flattened chunks on top of the cobbler filling. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until fruit is bubbly and crust is golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before serving so juices set.

Blackberry pluot cobbler: © 2008 Frankie Frankeny, FrankenyImages.com