Gone Fishin' -- In the Meanwhile Enjoy my Favorite Peach Post:

Peaches, cream, and more 

If its August.  If it's Colorado.  I'm eating peaches.  Any day. Every day.  For at least two weeks.  By themselves.  On Greek Yogurt with Colorado honey and slivered toasted almonds.  Or granola.   On top of vanilla frozen yogurt.  In a salsa on pork chops.  Etcetera.

Here are a few of the yummy things I've done.  Of course the best?  Above.  Fuzzy naked.

Peaches and Cream (and Cake) Two Ways or Have Your Cake and Eat it Two

 I don't want to live in a world without peaches.  Really.  And I only like canned peaches pureed into Bellini Soup (is there such a thing?) or on top of cottage cheese for lunch in the winter if I'm just desperate and out of time and am feeling tres fat.  And while, "Sorry don't get it done, Dude," is one of the more famous John Wayne quotes, I often remember him in front of a campfire, "Open me up a can of those peaches."  Poor cowboys.  They didn't have fresh peaches.  Just cooked, peeled, old canned things.

In St. Paul, we've had peaches from several places for a few weeks.  And some of them have been glorious.  We're still waiting for Colorado western-slope, but that's as it should be.  Having lived in Colorado for years, I'm not addicted to those peaches.  In fact, I like peaches from other states better.  (These are fighting words, I know.  Sorry, Colorado.)  There's just not enough rain in Colorado for fruit trees.  Around Penrose,  (south of Colorado Springs) there are some apple orchards that nearly bite the dust every few years despite large-scale irrigation.

Here are some of my favorite ways with peaches:

Unadorned and sweetly loved

Into a salsa for fish or pork or chicken or as a salad all alone with avocado

.

 Here's the link for the salsa recipe here at More Time at the Table.

Grilled with a little fresh cheese, thyme and a squiggle of honey

Here's the salsa served with a grilled pork chop and my mustard tarragon green bean salad.

 This year, I've been baking in the wee, small hours of the morning. (Don't you love that song?)  It's the only way to get something in and out of the oven without adding to the heat index.  I tried Peaches, Cream, and Cake in two varieties, taking each to friends' houses for dinner.  I can always be counted on to bring dessert.  Besides, it transports easily.

First off was Peach Shortcake and I recommend it highly if only because the shortcakes bake quickly and you could even do them in a counter top oven should you be blessed enough to have one.  I am not.  Second was Elvis Presley's Favorite Cake with Peaches and (homemade) Ginger Ice Cream.  For some reason (not wanting to appear the forever blogger at dinner)--I only have a pic of the cake.  But you'll get the idea.

Peaches, cream, and more

If its August.  If it's Colorado.  I'm eating peaches.  Any day. Every day.  For at least two weeks.  By themselves.  On Greek Yogurt with Colorado honey and slivered toasted almonds.  Or granola.   On top of vanilla frozen yogurt.  In a salsa on pork chops.  Etcetera.

Here are a few of the yummy things I've done.  Of course the best?  Above.

Grilled peaches:

Preheat clean grill to medium-high heat.  Cut peaches in half and remove pits.  Brush each half with a little bit of canola oil and place cut-side down on grill.  Let cook about 3 or 4 minutes and turn over when grill marks are well-established, but not blackened.  Cook another 2 or 3 minutes until tops of cut-side are somewhat visibly drying.  Remove and cool briefly.  Enjoy as is or try another good idea...

Grilled Peaches with Goat's Cheese, Honey and Thyme

God had to have been in on this creation.  Of course.  Here's how:

Grill peaches as above.  Top each with 1-2 T plain goat's cheese (softened a bit).  Drizzle with your favorite honey and sprinkle with a few leaves of fresh thyme.   (recipe copyright Alyce Morgan, 2010)

Grilled Peach Salsa

Lovely on BBQ Pork Chops (Really),

Salmon

Shrimp Tacos

Grilled Fish

Tortilla Chips?  Of course.  Here's how:

2-6 t very finely minced jalapeno (to your taste--start with 2t and more if you'd like)
1/3 c finely minced onion
2 large peaches (Colorado preferred), cut in half and grilled*, peeled after grilling, and chopped into 1/2"  pieces
1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced
1/2 ea medium red sweet pepper and green sweet pepper, diced
1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of 1/2 a lime
Dash of kosher salt and a couple of grates of fresh ground pepper

In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients gently but thoroughly. Taste and correct seasoning if necessary. (Add more jalapeno, etc) Serve on with grilled pork chops, shrimp or salmon or on seafood or fish tacos. (recipe copyright Alyce Morgan 2010)


Wine? If you make the bbq pork chops or salmon, try a little inexpensive Beaujolais. Other reds or bigger wines, will overwhelm this meal. It's summer and something lighter and refreshing will turn on these peaches. If you make the shrimp or fish tacos, a cold Spanish Albarino (lovely white) or even an Oregon Pinot Gris could do the trick.

(If you'd like to make the green bean salad, here's the blogpost for it, though I dressed it differently here.  Rather than a mustard vinaigrette, I mixed a bit of top-quality light Ranch with some roasted salsa for a dressing.)

Lovely frozen yogurt from David Levovitz' book THE PERFECT SCOOP. (Click for the recipe.)  Of course, we then had it like this:
 

                 Vanilla Yogurt with Sliced Colorado Peaches
 
Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the 'Hood
 

Our tomatoes are ripe.  Salads are every day now.
 

Skippy Jon Jones and Tucker saying, "Hi!"
 

Emily's home for a week or so.  Here she helps beat melted chocolate, a little cream, and sugar for a frozen chocolate yogurt testing that looked like this when done:

 
I'm still working on this...want to try it with toasted almonds, etc.  I'll admit it was tres tres tres like it was... made with Valhrona Chocolate.  Definitely.  Oh my.  Ask for it if you're coming to dinner.

Speaking of coming to dinner:  I have one space left in Cooking with Music for September 18 at 12:30.  It's an Italian class with pizza appetizer, two main-course soups, and an apple crostada (free form apple pie) for $50.  Includes dinner (you also get to invite a friend) and wine.  Email me if you're interested.
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Right now, the sun is shining so brightly.  But on the windows I hear the tip, tap, tip of rain.  Opening the shades (closed to keep the sunroom cooler), I see it's definitely raining.   Sun, Rain=Rainbow!  I'll be watching out east for it.

It's time for a little music, a candle or two, cell phones on off, and watches stored.  Friday.  A bit of dinner together.  Breathing how blessed I feel to have almost my whole family in my house.
Alyce

Cooking with Music-French-Session II

If you haven't been here before, I occasionally teach cooking classes at home.  Each class teaches a whole menu and each menu is focused upon a culture, country or culinary form.  This is the second session of Cooking with Music-French and there were two students--mom and four-year-old daughter. 

While August isn't, perhaps, the very best time to learn how to bake quiche, it IS the very best time to learn how to make a great salad.  And is anytime a bad time to learn how to make a pie crust?  And, hey,  the quiche tastes wonderfully for lunch.  Chocolate mousse?  Whenever.  Here's today's bunch:

Chocolate Mousse = First, of course

Life is short

This is a no-egg chocolate mousse as eggs are bad boys right now:

Just melt 3/4 c chocolate chips with 3T butter and let that cool.

Whip up 1 cup of whipping cream and add 1T sugar at the end.

Fold a tiny bit of whipping cream into the chocolate to lighten it up a bit and

then fold into the chocolate the rest of the cream in three or four batches.  Spoon into pretty glasses or ramekins and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to a few hours.

Garnish with a dollop of whipping cream, some berries or grated chocolate

Et voila!  Mousse au chocolat!

Moving on from mousse to pate brisee, the super easy crust for the quiche.

"Hey, I can make a pie crust; who knew?"

Getting dirty...but eating fresh!  Like two minutes old.

Talk about organic food.  Making Jamie Olivers's chopped salad. (click here to see the video)

Pixie dusting the salad with kosher salt and the pepper she ground.

FINALLY getting to eat dessert.  Took long enough.

We did it.

We not only cooked, we cooked together.

What a day.

We can now make--for ANYONE!!--the following menu:

Menu

Salade Printemps (spring salad w/ fresh herbs)

Quiche avec jambon et fromage (Ham and Cheese quiche)

Mousse au chocolat  (Chocolate mousse)

Fromages (cheese)

Baguette (long, thin loaf of bread) avec buerre (with butter)

Vin: (wine)

Bourgogne (blanc) (2007)-Laboure-Roi, Meursault, Cote d'Or, France

Beaujolais (2008)- Pierre Chermette, Saint Verand, France

Next Cooking with Music is

ITALIAN

Pizza as an appetizer

Two main course soups (one vegetarian)

Apple crostada (free form pie)

Offered Saturday, September 18, 2010

12:30-?

We'll cook and eat together.

Students may invite one guest for dinner each- approximately 5:30pm

Includes wine

Cost:  $50 per student

I have one opening for this class at present, but am happy to repeat it if I have requests.

This is a meal wonderful to learn for a dinner party because everything but the pizza (and it's nearly ready) can be done in advance so that you can be...

NOT NERVOUS

HAVE TIME TO BATHE AND DRESS

ENJOY YOUR OWN PARTY

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Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the 'Hood or Kitchen:

Grilling Colorado peaches for a peach salsa or dessert...a blog to come!

There's the grilled peach salsa--perfect for bbq grilled pork chops, shrimp tacos or salmon.

Skippy Jon Jones--visiting Aunt Alyce and Uncle Dave again

And they called it "puppy love."

A few things you might do around the kitchen this week:

Buy a bunch of green beans, trim them and blanch them (2-3 min in boiling water) and throw them in freezer bags into the freezer for the winter.  I got mine for 88cents a pound.

Ditto zucchini or summer squash.

Ditto corn on the cob.  Cook it, let it cool, cut it off the cob and put it in freezer bags.

Buy a dozen red, green, yellow peppers and cut them up and freeze them in small quantities.

Go to the nursery or wherever and buy some herbs to pot and take indoors for the fall.

Stake out your apple-picking spot.  Plan a picking date.

Clean out your freezer and defrost it while it's still warm so you'll be ready to cook, bake and freeze this fall.

There's still time to make peach freezer jam while the peaches are very inexpensive.  I saw some Colorado peaches for 99 cents a pound at King Soopers'.

Eat lots of salad with lots of fresh herbs and great tomatoes.

Try a home-made Cobb or a Greek Salad with grilled chicken.

Make gazpacho.

Make caprese salad.

Consider making and freezing tomato sauce.

Blueberries from Canada are still available if you want to freeze some.  Just throw them in the bag unwashed.  (Rinse them when you use them.)

Sing a new song,

Alyce