This week started out with my first ever people photo shoot. We're doing the photography for a wedding in October and I needed to get some practice before heading out and taking pictures for such a big event. So I asked a friend who is getting married next summer if I could use her and her fiancé as my guinea pigs. She said sure. I now know more about what to look for and am better prepared for the wedding. Thank you!

And now back to food. We had nectarines, AGAIN, which had to be used- quickly. So I decided to try my hand at making the traditional Swiss tart called "Wähe". These tarts can be either sweet or savory. When sweet they are filled with just about any kind of fruit and when savory they are filled with cheese and/or vegetables or even meat, usually ham. The french cheese tart I made, would be considered a cheese Wähe in Switzerland. So I looked at several recipes before deciding to put one together, using components from various ones.

Nectarine Tart

Sweet Pastry (slightly adapted from the Ottolenghi cookbook)

300 g plain flour

100 g powdered sugar

100 g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 egg yolk

2 Tbs cold water

Put the flour and sugar in a food processor and add the butter. Blend until you get a coarse breadcrumb consistency, making sure there aren't any large lumps of butter left.

Add the egg yolk and water and mix just until the dough comes together, being careful not to mix any longer than necessary. You may need to add a small amount of extra water.

Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and knead very lightly for a few seconds, only to shape it into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill until ready to use. The pasty will keep in the fridge for a week and at least a month in the freezer.

Press the dough into a fluted tart pan. In Switzerland there are special Wähe tart pans which can be bought in different sizes. They are made out of metal, and the sides are angled.

Filling (based on Annemarie Wildeisen's recipe)

5 nectarines

250 g crème double

40 g natural raw sugar

100 g hazelnuts, finely ground

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cut the nectarines in half, remove the pit and slice into wedges. Mix the sugar into the crème double. Fill the bottom of the tart crust with the hazelnuts. Place the nectarines on top of the nuts and pour the cream over the top. Bake for about 40 minutes and let cool before serving. Best served at room temperature. A scoop of vanilla ice cream would be the perfect way to round it off.

When I was in Italy this spring I made sure I brought back a bag of chickpea flour and one with chestnut flour. I wanted to try some new things. I received Virginie Besançon's pretty cookbook for my birthday and saw a recipe for chickpea cakes I wanted to try. But what to serve with them? The recipe has them served with tomatoes à la provençale, but I thought I might like something else. I stayed with the tomatoes, but oven roasted them and added some pesto for the herbs.

Chickpea Cakes with Oven Roasted Tomates (Panisses grillées et tomates by Virginie Besançon)

Note: The recipe is originally for 4 people. I made it for the two of us and served it with a salad. There were enough leftovers for a snack the next day. If serving it for 4 I'd probably make 1.5 times the recipe and at least double the tomatoes. A crisp green salad would be a perfect way to round it off.

Cakes:

650 ml vegetable broth

200 g chickpea flour

salt and freshly ground pepper

2 Tbs olive oil

Tomatoes:

5 medium sized tomatoes (ca. 300 g cherry tomatoes)

olive oil

fleur de sel and freshly ground pepper

1 tsp pesto (or more depending on how much you want it to taste like basil and garlic)

Preheat oven to 170° C. Cut tomatoes into fourths, or if using cherry tomatoes, in half. Place tomatoes skin side down on a baking sheet covered with parchment. Drizzle oil over the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Roast in oven for about 50 minutes.

Bring the broth to a boil in a non-stick pan and sift in the chickpea flour, add salt and pepper. Cook for about 5-10 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly. The mass should start to pull away from the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and place the mass in a bowl to cool slightly. Shape the mass into a log and cover with plastic wrap. Place in fridge until cold.

Heat olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. Cut the log into 1-1.5 cm thick slices and fry until golden on both sides. Remove tomatoes from oven and place in a bowl, along with all the juices. Stir in the pesto. Place the cakes on plates, topping them with the roasted tomatoes and the juice.