What screams late summer more than tomatoes, peaches and corn? These happen to be my favorite seasonal fruits and vegetables so I had to come up with a recipe that combined them all.

The only reason I’m sad to bid farewell to summer (fall is my favorite season) is the departure of tomatoes. They are at their most flavorful right now and I have challenged myself to find every way possible to cook with them.

Outdoor cooking is another benefit of summer – there’s nothing quite like food prepared over open flames. In today’s dish, I’ve grilled a homemade flatbread dough as well as the corn and peaches and topped them with marinated heirloom and cherry tomatoes.

I marinated the tomatoes and peaches in olive oil and champagne vinegar, the latter seemed fitting as what’s not to love about champagne and peaches? Giving them a light bath in this mixture added a nice bright touch of acidity and brings out the sweetness in the fruit.

Make sure the peaches are quite firm, not soft – or else they’ll fall apart on the grill!

I chose ricotta as cheese for my flatbread, but vegan mozzarella would be nice too for a ‘cheesier’ dish. You can make your own ricotta using this recipe I provided in my ultimate vegetable lasagne blog post.

Alternatively, Kite Hill has a ricotta I quite enjoy.

You can make your own flatbread (I’ve provided a recipe below) but store-bought pizza dough would work well or you could buy naan or other types of already-made flatbreads and lightly grill them to add a bit of that char flavor to the bread.

When the flatbread is grilled, I drizzled it with some vincotto and topped it with fresh basil and mint for that extra summery flavor.

Vincotto is one of my favorite condiments. The name means ‘cooked wine’ in Italian, and is essentially grape must that’s cooked down with spices and similar to a syrupy, balsamic reduction.

Vincotto is an ancient recipe from Puglia, that used partly dried grapes from Malvasia and Negroamaro and once it’s cooked down, it’s stored in oak barrels. Much like other quality vinegars, the best vincotto is aged for several years.

Here’s the vincotto I used:

If you can’t find vincotto, you can reduce balsamic vinegar so it becomes thick and syrupy.

All you’ll do is add about 1 cup of good quality balsamic vinegar to a pot and simmer it over medium heat until it has reduced to about ½. This concentrates the sugars and makes for an excellent topping on ice creams, salads, roasted fruit, grilled vegetables and more.

Wine Recommendation

Flatbreads almost beg for a glass of wine, and I was having difficulty choosing whether I wanted red, white or rosé. Then I realized that I had yet to open a bottle of one of Clos Cibonne’s incredible rosés this season, a tradition I keep every year.

Clos Cibonne’s rosés are my absolute favorite for a variety of reasons, but I love that they always age their wines so that the newest vintage available right now is 2021.

They are unique rosés capable of aging for a decade or more and are just as sophisticated as red and white wines in structure, complexity, and flavor.

For this dish I chose their 2021 Cru Classé Tradition which paired particularly well with both the tomatoes and peaches on the flatbread, the main ingredients.

2021 Clos Cibonne Côtes de Provence AOP Cru Classé ‘Tradition’ Rosé

Clos Cibonne is a historic Provençal cult estate that was founded in 1797. The winery got modernized in the 1930s when it was purchased by the Roux family and now focuses on making highly regarded rosés from the Tibouren grape.

The Cru Classé Tradition is a blend of 90% Tibouren and 10% Grenache, fermented with native yeasts and aged sur lie in 100-year-old foudres for at least 12 months before bottling.

The wines are aged under fleurette, a thin veil of yeast, much like the wines from the Jura and Jerez. This provides extra complexity and freshness to the wines.

Clos Cibonne practices organic farming and can be considered a natural wine.

Salmon-orange in color, the wine has expressive floral notes combined with Mediterranean shrub and red berries. On the palate, I love the savoriness of this wine which are intermingled with cream, strawberries, tangerine, and nectarine flavors, with a slight spiciness on the finish.

The spices, coupled with the texture and many different layers make this a much more interesting rosé than 99% of the rosés on the market. Truly my favorite all around (and that’s hard to say!).

It might put you back about $40+ but it is so worth it!

Grilled Corn, Peaches & Tomato Flatbread

Makes 3-4 flatbreads

1 small red onion, sliced in wedges
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil plus extra for drizzling
2 firm peaches, halved, stones removed, cut into wedges
1 large ear of corn, husk removed
4 heirloom tomatoes, cut into wedges*
2 sprigs fresh mint, garnish
2 sprigs fresh basil leaves, garnish
Vincotto or reduced balsamic vinegar, to drizzle
3-4 flatbreads* recipe to follow
1 cup (250 grams) vegan ricotta

*You can use a mixture of heirloom and cherry tomatoes for a nice variety in texture, flavor and look.

Heat the grill or grill pan over medium-high heat.

In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil and champagne vinegar. Add the corn, red onions and peaches; let marinate about 10 minutes while the grill pre-heats.

Marinate the tomatoes in a little olive oil, champagne vinegar, salt and pepper.

When the grill is hot, drain any excess marinade from the corn and peaches and season generously with salt and pepper. Cook the corn for 3-4 minutes on each side and the peaches and red onion wedges for about 1-2 minutes on each side, until nicely charred and deep grill marks develop.

Carefully chuck the corn, discarding the core.

If baking the flatbread from scratch, bake it a day in advance. Drizzle each flatbread with olive oil and grill on each side until grill marks form and crisp, 1-2 minutes on each side.

While the flatbread is cooking on the second side, smear a generous amount of ricotta on the grilled surface.

Scatter some of the chucked, grilled corn, peaches, sliced red onions and tomatoes on top.

Cover the grill with the lid and cook for about 2 minutes, until cooked through and griddle marks have formed on the second side.

Remove from the heat, drizzle with vincotto or a balsamic vinegar reduction, and garnish with fresh basil, mint and a couple of cracks of black pepper. Slice and serve hot, paired with your favorite wine.

HOMEMADE FLATBREAD

*Flatbread recipe has been adapted from America’s Test Kitchen

3 cups (about 480 grams) bread flour
2 tablespoons organic sugar
½ teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1⅓ cup ice water*
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 teaspoons salt

*It is important to use ice water in the dough to prevent it from overheating while it’s in the food processor.

Pulse flour, sugar, and yeast in a food processor until combined, about 5 pulses. With the processor running, slowly add ice water and process until the dough is just combined and no dry flour remains, about 10 seconds. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.

Add oil and salt to the dough and process until the dough forms a satiny, sticky ball that clears the sides of the bowl, about 30 -40 seconds. Transfer dough to a lightly floured counter and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball, about 30 seconds. Place dough seam side down in a lightly greased large bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours or up to 3 days.

Print