One summer morning, I decided to make good use of the ripe stone fruit I had picked up at the farmer’s market. I didn’t have any brioche at home, but I did have a loaf of sourdough. It turned out that the tanginess of the bread was delicious with the sweet fruit. And amaretto adds just the right hint of almond.

　　

Ingredients

Serves 4

　　4 ripe apricots, pitted and cut into thin wedges

　　4 ripe Italian plums, pitted and cut into thin wedges

　　2 ripe peaches, pitted and cut into thin wedges

　　2 ripe nectarines, pitted and cut into thin wedges

　　1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped

　　1/3 cup sugar

　　2 tablespoons amaretto

　　Unsalted butter, preferably cultured, at room temperature

　　4 slices good sourdough bread

　　

Step 1

Toss the apricots, plums, peaches, nectarines, vanilla seeds and pod, sugar, and amaretto in a large bowl until the sugar dissolves. Let stand for at least 20 minutes, but preferably for 2 hours.

　　

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously butter a small rimmed baking sheet.

　　

Step 3

Generously butter one side of each slice of bread. Arrange buttered side up in a single layer in the pan. Spoon the fruit and their juices over the bread. Be sure to get a nice mix of colors on each slice. Bake until the bread is browned and crisp and the fruit tender, about 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

　　

c’est bon

Step 4

Cut plums as you do mangoes, running the knife down along the pits. That makes it easy to slice them into neat wedges.

　　Reprinted with permission from Home Cooking with Jean-Georges: My Favorite Simple Recipes by Jean-Georges Vongerichten with Genevieve Ko. Copyright © 2011 by Jean-Georges Vongerichten; photographs copyright © 2011 by John Kernick. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.Jean-Georges Vongerichten is one of the most influential chefs in the world, having single-handedly redefined haute French cuisine, lightening and refining it by adding select Asian accents. He is the chef-owner of dozens of restaurants in fourteen cities around the world. His flagship restaurant, Jean Georges, at New York's Columbus Circle, is one of six restaurants in the United States to have been awarded three coveted Michelin stars; it received four stars from the New York Times. The winner of multiple James Beard Foundation awards, he lives in New York City and Waccabuc, New York, with his family.Genevieve Ko is a cookbook author and the senior food editor at Good Housekeeping magazine. She has written for Martha Stewart Living, Gourmet, and Fine Cooking and lives in New York City with her family.