Fall Fruits

There’s a saying in Italy that one should never tell a farmer just how good his cheese and pears taste together (presumably because if he knew, he would hoard them all). In this salad, chef Silvana Baranzoni adds eggplant and walnuts to that beloved duo.

For his salad, chef George Mendes uses fresh horseradish and Gegenbauer cider vinegar, a rare Austrian import. This version calls for jarred horseradish and supermarket apple-cider vinegar.

Jacques Pépin loves to serve this delicate apple tart as a buffet dessert, since it's beautiful, easy to slice and simple to eat, pizza-style, while standing. The miraculously easy and versatile pastry dough comes together in a food processor in less than 20 seconds and can be filled with all sorts of fruits or vegetables. Because the tart is free-form, the pastry can be rolled into either a round or a rectangle.

This jammy, mustard-seed-spiked condiment from chef and butcher Chris Eley is terrific served alongside everything from grilled sausage to roast turkey.

F&W published the recipe for this not-too-sweet fruit pancake to celebrate the publication of the 2005 edition of Paula Wolfert’s 1983 classic, The Cooking of Southwest France. Flaugnarde (flow-NYARD) is a sibling of the more familiar, baked fruit dessert called clafoutis. It’s just as good for brunch as it is for dessert, served puffed and hot, right out of the oven.

This stunning plum-studded sabayon—an airy custard sweetened with clover honey and Moscato—is summer's answer to crème brûlée.

Topping focaccia with pear is the perfect contrast to the strong flavor of blue cheese.

Apples baked in flaky pastry with cinnamon sugar are irresistible, especially when served with vanilla ice cream. To save preparation time, we use frozen puff-pastry sheets.

Chef Paula Wolfert takes pears to the next level with this Moroccan-inspired and lightly spiced fruit dessert

These flaky little pies a fun way to serve dessert, especially when topped with a scoop of ice cream.

Matthew Accarrino cleverly adds juicy fresh figs to this delicious pancake-like French dessert, then tops it with port-infused whipped cream.

Fresh apricots become a tangy fruit butter that’s perfect with fresh ricotta and crackers or simple buttered toast.

In 2009, Allison Kave and her boyfriend, Jay Horton, were winners in Brooklyn, New York's Pie Bake-Off with this clever pie. The challenge was to use a local ingredient, so they chose apple cider and developed this delicious combination of cream pie and apple pie.

This is a terrific cross between a tart and a cake; it has a crisp, delicate crust as well as a cakey filling made with nutty browned butter and vanilla bean. Pastry chef Katherine Thompson serves it all year-round with different toppings, but for the holidays, she loves to pile on fresh cranberries.

This hearty salad combines thyme-scented barley with pomegranate, apple, and pine nuts.

Chef Matt Danko uses his father’s recipe to make sharlotka, a deliciously light and fluffy Russian apple cake.

This reimagined cheese plate combines roasted figs, pears and quince with blue cheese and toasted hazelnuts.

Chef Amanda Freitag, a judge on Chopped and host of the new show American Diner Revival, sometimes eats these tender pancakes for dessert, topped with a scoop of ice cream.

Nina Planck believes in eating "real" food in its purest, least-processed state, including unpasteurized whole milk with a thick layer of cream on top. She makes this elegant, juicy custard tart with fresh butter, eggs, milk and—when they're available locally—sweet, firm Green Gage plums.

Todd English tops his delicious flatbread with sticky-sweet fig jam, pungent Gorgonzola cheese and salty prosciutto. A shortcut: Use store-bought pizza dough instead of homemade.