4 posts tagged “fruit”
Last weekend I visited an orchard and picked blackberries and peaches. While I snuck a few juicy plump bites of blackberries, the mosquitos snuck a few juicy bites of me. It's been an itchy week.
Excited about the berries, I wanted a dessert that combined dark chocolate and blackberries. September's issue of Food and Wine came through for me again, with their recipe for dark chocolate molten cakes with three fillings. Blackberry filling wasn't an option, but I thought I could adapt their raspberry filling without problems. The cakes turned out delicious, but not pretty. I couldn't get them to come out of the ramekins without disaster, so no photo, no blog entry. Sorry. However, I've found that I'm not the only one with love for this issue of Food and Wine. Food blogger, Dine and Dish , also shares the love and happened to make these exact molten chocolate cakes. She filled hers with caramel filling. Please drool over her photo.
With one dessert disaster down, I turned to husband, and he came through with the above peach-blackberry crisp. He is a good crisp maker. Unfortunately, I don't have a recipe for the crisp for you. Husband loosely follows a recipe, I think modeled after one from the Joy of Cooking. (At this time I wasn't in the kitchen...I was at the table with my bowl and spoon ready).
The crisp paired well with the peach ice cream I made a week or so ago. Yes, it's hard for us to believe that homemade ice cream had lasted at least a week in our refrigerator, but it had. The ice cream was very good, but had a bit of an icy texture. I guess we like our ice cream a little more creamy in texture. Evaporated milk replaced the cream in the recipe, so the taste was creamy, but the texture didn't follow through. I think this recipe would be great as ice cream pops, so that's what I recommending it for. Or if texture isn't a problem and you want a tasty ice cream with out cream's fat content, this is a recipe for you.
Fresh Peach Ice Cream
adapted from Saveur Magazine, June/July 2006
makes 1 quart
1 c. sugar
2/3 c. evaporated milk
1 1/2 c. whole milk
2 eggs
1 large peach, pitted, skinned and pureed
1/2 c. peach soda
pinch of salt
Put sugar, evaporated milk, 1/2 c. of whole milk and eggs into a medium saucepan and whisk until well combined. cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 30 minutes. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl and set aside to let cool.
Once mixture has cooled, add pureed peach, peach soda, remaining whole milk, and a pinch of salt and stir well to combine.
Pour mixture into an ice cream make and process according to the manufacturer's directions.
I picked a small bucket of cherries last week. Picking them was quite easy...it took just under one hour for my bucket. Pitting them was not...it took a few hours. It was such a tedious task I divided the time over a few days. Waa waa, I shouldn't cry too much. We've had fresh cherries to eat, and there's some in the freezer for future pies. Husband loves sour cherry pies.
Sour Cherry Muffins with Coconut Struesel tasted great! They, however, were not pretty muffins. I didn't listen to my intuition when assembling. The recipe says to fill the muffin cups to the top. I've made enough muffins to know not to do this. I did it anyway, and I had flat, spread out, spilled over muffins. The coconut struesel topping made the muffins. Delish!
Husband and I have spent the last two weekends relaxing at home. The first at my parents' and the second at his. Don't you love summertime? Thanks M and D. Thanks MIL and FIL.
Happy Mother's Day!
I had a performance today, so there was no celebrating with my mom. :( Husband, however, got to spend the day with his mother and his family. That would have been fun for me too. :(
Did I dream this dessert? The picture is something of a mirage. I remember making it for the occasion, but no proof exists in my mouth or my stomach. It's not often I don't get to sample my work. It must have been a hit with Husband's family, (or so bad it was thrown out). This is what was brought home.
When we brought the rhubarb home from the farmer's market, the plan was for a strawberry-rhubarb pie. Luckily before I started the pie crust, I remembered I had not replaced our rolling pin. What to do? A crumble.
Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble
adapted from Karen Barker of Fine Cooking Magazine
1 T. unsalted butter, room temp.
For the topping:
1 c. flour
1 c. lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. old-fashioned oats
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. kosher salt
8 T. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
For the Filling:
5 c. rhubarb, sliced
2 c. strawberries, sliced (this was substitution, recipe called for 7 c. rhubarb)
1/2 c. lightly packed brwon sugar
1/2 c. turbanado sugar (this was a sub. on my part, ran out of brown sugar)
1/4 c. cornstarch
1 T. fresh lemon juice
2 t. finely grated lemon zest
1/4 t. kosher salt
350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 pyrex baking dish with the softened butter.
Make the topping: in a food processor, combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, and salt and pulse several times to combine. Add the cold butter and pulse until the mixture has the textrue of coarse meal and clumps together when squeezed lightly, about 1 minute.
Make the filling: Combine rhubarb, strawberries, sugars, cornstarch, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt in a large bowl and stir with a spatula until evenly mixed. Transfer the rhubarb mixture to the baking pan, and sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit.
Bake until the topping is lightly browned, the rhubarb is tender, and the juices are bubbling thickly around the edges, 45-60 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool to warm or room temp. and allow the juices to thicken, at least 1 hour.
