Peach and Berry Croustades

 Last nights dinner an utter disaster, make up cooking time and words can not describe the goodness featured before you - just yum!

Freshly picked Desert Peaches with three sugars - cane, maple and coconut.
From our garden - desert peaches, black raspberries and boysenberries

 Hot out of the oven and the spillage has turned into a caramelized crunch surprise.

 mmmm looking forward to giving this recipe a try in a week when are apricots are ready!

Peach and Berry Croustades

by Shelly Register
adapted 

  

        2 sticks (1/2 pound) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

        1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

        1/2 teaspoon salt

        1/4 cup cold water

        4 large peaches—halved, pitted and sliced 1/4 inch thick ( I used more)

        1/8 cup cane sugar

        1/8 cup coconut sugar

        1/4 cup maple sugar

        2 tablespoons cornstarch (due to the juiciness of my peaches I added 1T more)

        pinch cinnamon

        Salt

        1/2 cup raspberries

        1/2 cup bosenberries

        All-purpose flour, for dusting

        4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

        any sugar for topping ( I used course sugar)

        Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. In a food processor, pulse the butter with the flour and salt until it resembles coarse meal.
2. Add the water and pulse just until a dough forms.
3. Divide the dough into 6 pieces and flatten each into a disk.
4. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 375°.
6. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
7. In a medium bowl, toss the peaches with 1/2 cup of the sugars, the cornstarch and cinnamon; add a pinch of salt.
8. Fold in the berries.
9. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each disk of dough to a 6-inch round about 1/8 inch thick.
10. Transfer 3 to each baking sheet.
11. Spread the fruit on the rounds and fold 1-inch of dough over the fruit to form a rim.
12. Top the fruit with a piece of butter and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
13. Sprinkle the crusts course sugar.
14. Bake the croustades for about 50 minutes, or until the crusts are golden, rotating the baking sheets halfway through baking.
15. Transfer to racks to cool for 20 minutes.
16. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve.

Blood Orange Sorbet

About five or six years ago I planted a blood orange tree and we have waited and waited and waited for a bud and nothing so finally I had enough and last year I threaten the tree with removal.  My youngest laughed at me.  Lo and behold this year we have buds and fruit! Who says talking to your plants is a load of butter spread?  So, I am happy my youngest amazed and the tree gave me the finger by only fruiting on one side - so bizarre but I will take what I can get.
My oranges will not be ready until December; however, I found some at Trader Joes and decided to give sorbet a whirl in anticipation of my crop.

 visit my garden blog for tips on growing blood oranges

Blood Orange Sorbet

sorbet base from

The Ciao Bella Book of Gelato & Sorbetto

Simple Syrup
makes 1 1/3 cups

1 cup of filtered water
1 cup sugar


~Combine water and sugar in medium saucepan
~ heat on medium high heat
~ whisk and bring to a boil
~ reduce heat to medium
~ continue to whisk and simmer 4 minutes until sugar is dissolved
~ remove from heat and cool
~ place in a Pyrex and refrigerate at least 1 hour

1 cup blood orange juice [adjust to your taste]
1 recipe of simple syrup
1T key lime zest
splash of vodka

~ blend all ingredients together
~ make according to ice cream makers instructions
 

Coconut - Mango - Kiwi Popsicles

Coconut-Mango-Kiwi triopsicles delicious and so much fun to make.  We started with coconut juice and blended the mango and kiwi with lemon grass infused simple syrup.  The only change we would make would be to add some roasted coconut flakes to the coconut juice section.

Thanks goodness for Popsicle sticks since I continue to break the plastic pieces that came with the molds.  While slicing the strawberries I came up with the idea to put them on the ends of the Popsicle.  The kids loved that addition. 

 Coconut-Mango-Kiwi Triopsicles

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup water

pinch kosher salt

1 stalk of lemon grass cut

½ cup coconut juice

raspberries

1 medium mangos, peeled, pitted, and cut into chunks

½ cup sliced strawberries

4 kiwis peeled

 

~ combine the sugar, salt, lemon grass and cup water in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat

~ bring to a boil and make sure the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and let the syrup cool completely

~ transfer the syrup to a 1-quart liquid measuring cup and refrigerate until cool

~ meanwhile pour the coconut juice into the molds 1/3 full and place in freezer  ( I added a fresh raspberry next time I will add toasted coconut flakes and bits of raspberry) – coconut juice should be frozen before continuing

~ puree mango in blender and add 1/3 of the simple syrup (remove lemongrass first) blend again

~ pour 1/3 into each mold and add raspberries

~ puree kiwi in blender and add remaining simple syrup

~ pour into mold and add strawberry slices

~ put slice of strawberry onto each Popsicle stick

~ place Popsicle into each mold

~ place in freezer

~ to unmold, dip the mold in a deep pan of hot water until the pops pull out easily, 30 to 40 seconds, or let sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes

~ unmold and store the pops in individual resealable plastic bags; they are best eaten within 3 weeks

 

Grape Sorbet

 

Organic grapes are still available so I decided to make sorbet.  I just checked out The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz from the library.  His recipe called for corn syrup.  I am not a fan of corn syrup so, I pulled out my book Gourmet Sweets Desserts for Every Occasion and combined the two recipes.

Grape Sorbet

from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

and

Gourmet Sweets

adapted and combined

2 cups of grapes

1T water

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2t lemon juice

1T vodka

~ remove grapes from stems

~ place in a non-reactive pot add water, cover and cook over medium heat until the skins have burst and the grapes are soft

~ let cool

~ blend grapes 

~ add sugar, lemon and vodka

~ blend

~ freeze according to ice cream makers instructions

Pineapple Sorbet

 We love love love our gelato maker.  My experiments with fruit continues.  Coming up later: grape, fancy sweet cantaloupe, and persimmons sorbet.  So refreshing, during this ^*^%* hot weather!

Pineapple Sorbet

from Cook' Illustrated July/ August 1995

adapted

1 pineapple

1/2 cup sugar

some agave

1T lemon juice

1T vodka or rum

~ stem, cut in 1/4ths, peel and core pineapple

~ puree in blender

~ add sugar, agave, lemon juice and vodka

~ puree

~ put in ice cream maker

Fabulous!  Tasted rich like a sherbet.

Old Fashion Sugar Free Applesauce

One of the most amazing tools the apple peeler that cores and slices. What to do with sad apples?  Make apple sauce of course!  When I was growing up my Mom made her sauce with diet Shasta soda.  Since the glorious flavor of saccharin is so hard to find these days, I decided to go the sugar free route.
 

 

Applesauce

from: Lost Recipes by Marion Cunningham

3 or more cups

adapted

apples sliced and cored 4 or more just adjust water amounts

water 1/2 c per 4 apples

sugar if needed...I used none

3T lemon juice

~put apples and water in saute pan

~cook on medium 

~stirring often

~apples should be tender in 5-6 minutes

~add sugar if needed and lemon juice

~blend well 

~cook for another minute or two

~mash with fork or use an immersion blender to break up skin

Planting Day and list of pesticides in fruits and vegetables

 Today we are planting seeds to start our winter garden, yeah! Seeds purchased from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.

*cauliflower (purple of sicily)*cucumber (hmong red)*cardoon (gobbo di nizzia)*herbs (borage, cumin, thai dill, caraway, fenugreek)*squash (zucchino rampicante)*pepper (purple beauty,corno di toro giallo)*lettuce (rouge d'hiver)*radish (chinese red meat)*beans (aquadulce fava)

list from

Food News

The Full List: 49 Fruits and Veggies

from best to worst

Rank Fruit or Veggie 1 (Best) Onions 2 Avocado 3 Sweet Corn (Frozen) 4 Pineapples 5 Mango (Subtropical and Tropical) 6 Sweet Peas (Frozen) 7 Asparagus 8 Kiwi Fruit (Subtropical and Tropical) 9 Cabbage 10 Eggplant 11 Cantaloupe (Domestic) 12 Watermelon 13 Grapefruit 14 Sweet Potatoes 15 Honeydew Melon 16 Plums (Domestic) 17 Cranberries 18 Winter Squash 19 Broccoli 20 Bananas 21 Tomatoes 22 Cauliflower 23 Cucumbers (Domestic) 24 Cantaloupe (Imported) 25 Grapes (Domestic) 26 Oranges 27 Red Raspberries 28 Hot Peppers 29 Green Beans (Imported) 30 Cucumbers (Imported) 31 Summer Squash 32 Plums (Imported) 33 Pears 34 Green Beans (Domestic) 35 Carrots 36 Blueberries (Imported) 37 Lettuce
DIRTY DOZEN
38 Grapes (Imported) 39 Potatoes 40 Kale / Collard Greens 41 Cherries 42 Spinach 43 Sweet Bell Peppers 44 Nectarines 45 Blueberries (Domestic) 46 Apples 47 Strawberries 48 Peaches 49 (Worst) Celery

Save the bees don't use pesticides

Plum Sorbet

"Mom can you make me sorbet?" yells out my youngest.  Grinning I reply sure what flavor would you like as I looked over the nearly deceased fruit. We have pears, plums, grapes, banana, and apples.  A perplexed look crosses her face and we decide plum.

The last time I made sorbet I hit the hare trigger switch on my blender and everything went flying into the air.  watermelon sorbet on the walls, on the window, all over my gelato maker, my mixer...New rule unplug the blender before the lid comes off!

Quickly, we threw everything in that evil blender.  We had only 20 minutes until we needed to hop into the car and head to dance.

Plum Sorbet 

5 very large plums

1/2 c sugar

couple squirts agave

2T lemon juice

1T vodka

~ Put plums in blender and puree 

~ Add  sugar and agave blend on-off until fully dissolved

~ Mix in lemon juice and vodka

~ Chill or put directly into ice cream maker

 This was deemed a make again.