Required Reading

Sometimes all you need for dessert is a piece of fruit, or a bowl of berries. But other times, fruit can inspire all kinds of elaborations, and be the basis for wonderful desserts.

If you like sophisticated desserts built around the flavors of the seasons, take a look at Ripe for Dessert (Harper Collins; $34.95) by David Lebovitz. He was the pastry chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., for a decade, where he had access to the finest and most unusual fruits in the market.

He has created recipes ranging from simple showcases for a particular fruit, such as peaches in red wine, to desserts that are good on their own, but are elevated by the addition of fruit, such as polenta cake with saffron-poached pears.

There are compotes, puddings served with fruit, frozen desserts like pomegranate granita, tarts like apricot and marzipan, even desserts with dried fruit, like chocolate cherry fruitcake. They are sophisticated in taste, and some are elaborate to make. Others are quite simple.

Resist serving these with anything else. They deserve to be savored by themselves.

Recipe

Peaches in Red Wine

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups fruity red wine, such as merlot, zinfandel, or Beaujolais

4 ripe peaches, yellow and white, if possible.

In a bowl, whisk the sugar into the red wine until completely dissolved. (Superfine or "baker's sugar" works very well here.)

Peel the peaches, cut them in half, and remove the pits. Cut the peaches into 1-inch-thick slices and submerge them in the wine. Taste and add more sugar if desired. Chill for at least 4 hours.

Serving: Divide the peach slices and wine among 4 shallow bowls. You can prepare the peaches in wine up to 8 hours in advance and keep them chilled until ready to use.

from Ripe for Dessert

What's for lunch?

If you're serious about the five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, and care about vegetable variety, there's no better place to eat out than a Chinese restaurant.

I recently had lunch at P.F. Chang's, and got my five a day all in one meal. I had a plate of coconut curry vegetables ($6.95). Carrots, broccoli and sugar snap peas even gave me two colors of vegetable. They shared a creamy curry sauce with red peppers, onions, celery and tofu. Peanuts gave it some crunch and extra protein. And, taking advantage of one of the best things about P.F. Chang's, I had it on short-grained brown rice, which they cook just right and offer as an alternative to white rice.

Then, to put myself over the top for the day, I had it with an Auntie Chang's fruit frappe ($4.25), which includes pineapple, bananas and strawberries. It's served with the umbrella and fruit on a stick, so I'm sure that, even though I was being more virtuous than usual, everyone around me thought I was drinking a Zombie by myself in the middle of the day.

P.F. Chang's China Bistro; 2633 Edmonson Road, Norwood (Rookwood Commons) 531-4567