It feels like the beachy days and disco nights of summer just began…but Labor Day is just around the corner, and with it comes the first chill breezes of fall. One of the casualties of the end of summer is, of course, the end of nectarine season, perhaps the worst of the little tragedies we suffer every year as the summer dies a quiet little death. If you haven’t had your fill of the tart-sweet delicious fruit this summer, there’s still time to remedy it! Here’s 3 great ways to use up what’s left of the nectarine crop.

Nectarine Chicken Salad

2/3 cup pecan halves
2 quarts salad greens (8 oz.), rinsed and crisped
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup walnut oil (or more vegetable oil; see “Nut Oils on Salad,” below)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
4 boned chicken breast halves with skin (2 lb. total), rinsed, patted dry, and fat trimmed
Salt and pepper
2 firm-ripe nectarines (12 oz. total), rinsed, pitted, and thinly sliced
5 ounces fresh chèvre (goat cheese), crumbled
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spread pecans in a baking pan and bake until golden under skins, about 10 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop.
2. Mound salad greens on four dinner plates. In a small bowl, stir vegetable oil, walnut oil, and vinegar to blend. Set aside.
3. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Lay on a lightly oiled barbecue grill over a solid bed of medium-hot coals or medium-high heat on a gas grill (you can hold your hand at grill level only 3 to 4 seconds); close lid on gas grill. Cook chicken, turning occasionally, until meat is no longer pink in center of thickest part (cut to test), about 15 minutes total. Transfer chicken to a cutting board. Remove skin if desired.
4. Slice chicken across the grain 1/2 inch thick; arrange over greens. Tuck nectarine around chicken. Scatter goat cheese and pecans over the top. Stir dressing; pour over salads. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Nectarine-Orange Pudding
1/3 of a cup of water
6 nectarines
½ cup of sugar
1/3 cup of orange juice
8 teaspoons of powdered gelatin
1 cup of whipped cream
1 tablespoon of Cointreau (Orange Liquor)

Orange Sauce Recipes
1 cup of orange juice
½ of an orange’s peels, cut in thins strips
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoon of Cointreau (Orange Liquor)
2 tablespoon of corn starch dissolved in 4 tablespoon water

1. Place a pot on the fire with the water, nectarines, sugar and orange juice. As soon as it boils lower the flame and let it cook for 4-5 minutes or until the fruit softens. Take the nectarine out and leave aside. Sprinkle the gelatin in the hot liquid in the pot and stir until it dissolves.
2. Blend the nectarine (with peel) and the liquid with the dissolved gelatin. Then strain the mix to get rid of the peels. Place the cream in a bowl and stir the fruit puree with the Cointreau. Oil six pudding molds and place the mixture of fruit, cream and Cointreau. Cover and refrigerate till ready.
3. Sauce: Place in a pot the orange juice, orange strips, sugar, Cointreau, and the dissolved corn starch. Cook at low flame till mixture boils & thickens. Withdraw and let it cool down. Unmold the pudding and serve with sauce.

Nectarine-Carrot Soup

2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 fresh California nectarine, peeled and quartered
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
 1/4 teaspoon grated orange peel
 Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt
 2 fresh California nectarines, sliced

Melt margarine in large saucepan over medium-high heat; add onion. Cook and stir about 3 minutes or until onion is softened. Add quartered nectarine,carrots and chicken broth. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until carrots are fork-tender. Pour into blender; process until smooth. Add orange juice and orange peel. Season with pepper. Pour into serving bowls. Garnish each serving with 2 tablespoons yogurt and nectarine slices.