Famed San Francisco chef Deborah Madison loves a juicy bite of fresh fruit on a summer day. After all, in addition to founding Greens, one of the first farm-driven restaurants in the country, she is the author of "Seasonal Fruit Desserts from Orchard, Farm, and Market."

But as spirited as fruit alone is, Madison notes that added spirits are the perfect summer complement to dress up fruit for parties. Usually, it just takes a quick pairing, with no additional work. Some coupling is as easy as putting the fruit with a liqueur made from the same fruit or its seeds. Other times it benefits from choices that don't clash and do pull out the best from each other.

Check out these favorites of hers:

—- Strawberries with Kirsch, Grand Marnier, maraschino, curacao, limoncello or strawberry liqueur

—- Blackberries, raspberries and other related berries with creme de cassis or Cointreau

—- Raspberries with framboise

—- Blueberries with Kirsch

—- Peaches and nectarines with Kirsch or Beaumes de Venise or other Muscat wines;; also in chilled red or white wine

—- Pineapple with Kirsch, maraschino or rum

—- Apricots and cherries, fresh or sauteed, with Kirsch, maraschino or noyaux

—- Chilled melon with Asti Spumante or Moscato, champagne, port or Vin Santo

Simple recipes, like this one from Madison's book, also are well worth the effort and a wonderful way for adults to refresh on summer days:

BROKEN JELLIED WINE

1 (1/4-ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup wine or water

1 1/2 cups sweet and/or sparkling wine

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 to 1 1/2 cups fresh fruit, cut or sliced into small pieces and lightly sugared (see Note)

Yields 4 to 6 servings.

Sprinkle the gelatin over 1/4 cup cold water and set it aside to soften.

Combine the sugar with the 1/2 cup wine in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the softened gelatin. Stir until it's thoroughly dissolved, then pour it into the 1 1/2 cups sweet or sparkling wine along with the lemon juice. Mix well, then pour into a bowl or a compote dish and refrigerate until set. Wine seems to take longer to set than cream or fruit juices, so plan on at least 6 hours, or even overnight for a firm set.

Chop the jelly into cubes, then serve it in the compote or in wine or champagne glasses interspersed with fruit.

Note: "For fruit, choose those that are ripe and full of flavor —- white peaches or nectarines, raspberries, or an aromatic melon. Slice those that need to be sliced into bite-sized pieces as close to serving as possible. Don't hesitate to mix fruits. White peaches and raspberries are always perfect together."

-"Seasonal Fruit Desserts from Orchard, Farm, and Market"

ORANGE LIQUEUR-NECTARINE-APPLE TART

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of 17.3-ounce package), thawed

Flour, for dusting

1 small Golden Delicious apple, peeled, halved, cored, thinly sliced

1 small nectarine, halved and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 4 teaspoons sugar

4 teaspoons honey

1 cup mascarpone cheese

1 teaspoon orange liqueur

Yields 4 tarts.

Line 1 large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the sheet of puff pastry on a floured surface and cut into 4 even squares. Separate the squares and leave some room between them on the baking sheet. Create a border around the inside of each square by scoring about 1/2-inch around the inside the square. Prick the dough inside the small square. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day.

Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. On each pastry square, overlap slices of apple and nectarine, within the border.

Brush fruit on each tart, with melted butter and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar.

Bake tarts until pastry is golden and apples are tender, about 20 minutes. Drizzle each tart with 1 teaspoon honey. Transfer tarts to racks; cool 5 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

While tarts are cooling, whisk mascarpone with orange liqueur. Top each cooled tart with a dollop of flavored mascarpone.

-FoodNetwork.com

AFTER-WORK GOURMET COOKBOOK SHELF

If Manhattan is the center of gourmet cooking, that would, geographically at least, make borough Brooklyn a bit off center. Not so, after a red-hot, decades-long build. Brooklyn is also the center of its own gourmet universe and many of the city's most acclaimed and innovative chefs emerge from there. Chef Bryan Calvert's Prospect Heights corner restaurant James (named after his great-grandfather, a turn-of-the-century New York City chef) has been synonymous with "New Brooklyn Cuisine," an eclectic mix of casual country, urgent urban and global fusion. He has captured that spirit in "Brooklyn Rustic: Simple Food for Sophisticated Palates." In his tasty world, a savory stuffed chicken is accented by lemon-miso sauce and he reimagines an everyday Swiss chard greens dish as a Thai curry.

Photo courtesy of FoodNetwork.com

Orange liqueur accents fresh nectarines in an innovative tart.

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.