Peach Season

There's a lot of fabulous peach recipes out there.


Blackberry-peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream, for example.


But mostly I just like eating them, preferably standing over the sink. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Storm the Gates

In salute to Bastille Day and the end of the French Revolution, I made crepes for dessert tonight. The crepes were filled with raspberry jam, fresh raspberries and peaches, and a dollop of cream. A few toasted almonds were sprinkled on top.


Before that we had quiche, along with a big green salad and cantaloupe. The quiche was made with eggs, milk, spinach and fontal, a semi-soft cheese. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Peach-Almond French Toast with Peachy Maple Syrup

Breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite things. This recipe, based on one from Bobby Flay, combines several of my favorite flavors: peach, almond, and maple. The soaking mixture for the bread--I used challah--included milk, cream, fresh peach purée, eggs, almond extract, and brown sugar. And the syrup combined pure maple syrup, thinly sliced peaches, and toasted almonds, with more peaches and more almonds for the topping. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Peach-Raspberry Pie

Peach season is here, and one of my favorite ways to use them is in pie. This recipe is loosely based on a deep-dish cobbler from chef Rick Bayless. My filling uses about 3 lbs of fresh peaches and a generous handful of raspberries, along with sugar, ginger, and a little cornstarch to thicken. Just a slice ... - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Peaches!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Perfecting the Perfect Peach

There are about a thousand (million) recipes out there for peach ice cream. But there are very very few peach ice creams that are actually good. Haagen-Daaz makes a peach sorbet that is great, and even better when paired with raspberry or mango sorbet. Sorbet is fairly straightforward--fruit, sugar, and water. However, of those millions (billions) of peach ice cream recipes I've seen lately, I don't think there are two that are alike. Some have a custard base--with as many as 10 egg yolks--and then some use only heavy cream or heavy cream and whole milk or half-and-half and some other percentage of milk or half-and-half and heavy cream, etc. Are the peaches cooked? And if so, are they roasted or cooked down in a syrup? Vanilla extract or almond? Peach liqueur? Too many decisions. So after considering the billions (trillions) of recipes out there, I decided to go with my new favorite ice cream guy, David Lebovitz, whose cookbook, The Perfect Scoop, is fun to both read and cook from. His recipe combines pureed cooked peaches with sugar, vanilla, sour cream, and heavy cream. I substituted half-and-half for the heavy cream and added a little almond essence in addition to the vanilla. The result? An ice cream that's high in peach flavor--which is hard to do when you're adding all that cream--but it's not quite as creamy and smooth as I was hoping for, quite possibly because of my detour from the recipe. Ahem. It's still peach season, however, and I won't mind testing this recipe again. :-D

Grilled Curry Chicken With Coconut Rice

Based on a recipe from Food & Wine magazine, this recipe is tasty variation from the usual grilled chicken flavors (which are good, but so is change.) The recipe blends red curry paste--though you could use green or yellow--with coconut milk and brown sugar, and I added freshly grated ginger and lime zest. I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, as that's what we had on hand and served the chicken with coconut rice pilaf (which used up the rest of the coconut milk), grilled peaches, and green beans.

Summer Fruit Crostata

Based on a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa, this crostata is filled with summer fruit: peaches, apricots, and blueberries. In all, I think I used five peaches, three apricots, and half a cup or so of blueberries--the crostata was very full, but it cooks down a lot. I added grated ginger and lemon zest to both the crust and the filling, and served it with lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Hot Peach Bacon

Inspired by a recipe from Bobby Flay in the July issue of Food & Wine, I grilled hamburgers tonight. The lean ground beef (93% vs. the 80% that Bobby recommends) was lightly salted, peppered, and oiled and then topped with Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog goat cheese. On top of that, we had my take on Bobby's baked bacon--I used The Virginia Chutney Co.'s Hot Peach Chutney, instead of mango chutney, and it was just amazing. The chutney is sweet and a little bit spicy--but not hot--and I don't think anyone here would mind if I made bacon this way each and every time from now on. Along with the burgers we had rice pilaf, a big salad, and grilled baby zucchinis. Hot Peach Bacon Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lay thick-cut bacon on a cookie sheet that was first lined with aluminum foil and then covered with parchment paper (much easier cleanup that way). Brush both sides of the bacon with hot peach chutney. Bake the bacon for 25-30 min., turning it once halfway through, and then drain on a rack set on top of more foil.

Just Peachy

Peaches are my absolute favorite fruit, possibly my favorite food of all time. They're just that good. I saw a few peaches at the farmers' market last weekend, but today they were everywhere--along with cherries, apricots, blueberries, and a million other things I wanted to buy. Thing is, I'm going out of town later this week, so in theory I shouldn't be buying too much. Instead, I bought a quart of cherries, a ton of green beans, and all of these peaches. I just couldn't say no to them.

And so, I made peach-sour cream coffeecake muffins with a crumb topping. A whole coffeecake is too much all at once, but the muffins can be popped in the freezer and pulled out when needed. The basic recipe is here. I peeled and cut up about 5 or 6 peaches and tossed them in about 1/4 c of flour (set aside from the recipe, not in addition to), to keep them from sinking, and folded them in at the end. I skipped the glaze and used only half of the crumb topping--muffins don't use as much as a full coffeecake, but I've usually had some leftover anyhow.

I also made peach barbeque sauce using a recipe in Eating Well. I put it on chicken, while others put it on tofu. Definitely make it, but make at least a double recipe, because you'll want more.

Just Peachy

Catching up here, but peach season is coming to an end, and it's very sad. However, in the meantime, I've been enjoying some fabulous peaches in all ways, shapes, and forms.

Here's a Peach Cobbler (Cook's Illustrated)

Baked Chicken With Apricots and Peaches.

I poured one jar of apricot jam that had been warmed in the microwave over about 1.5 lbs of chicken thighs, some med. diced onion, and a couple of peaches that had been cut up. Add salt and pepper and any other flavorings. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 min. or so and serve over rice or noodles.

A peach of a shortcake

It's peach season, and what better way to eat them, aside from dripping over the sink, than in shortcakes? Flaky, slightly sweet biscuits from the Barefoot Contessa, freshly whipped cream, and piles of raspberries and peaches ... go ahead, it's ok to drool!