Millions of Peaches... Peaches For Me.

So, I was walking through the grocery store the other day when I suddenly collided with the most amazing aroma.  You know what I’m talking about… that smell that makes you stop, dead in your tracks, and search out its origin.  You may even utter something like, “Oh my god, what is that smell?  I must eat that!”  If I said that to Hubby, he’d think I was talking about the air outside that amazing barbecue joint, but I’m not.  I refer, of course, to fruit.  And in this particular instance, peaches.  Sweet, juicy, perfectly ripe, fragrant peaches.  Did I care that they were selling them by the case and I couldn’t possibly eat them all within their short period of peak deliciousness? 

Nope!  I just had to figure out creative ways to use them, and since my kitchen is still a work in progress, jam was out of the question.  So, here are just a few of the ways I came up with to enjoy them. 

As you can see, I am actually using the not fuzzy variety, usually called a nectarine, but either will work just fine.  For most applications you’re going to start the same way.  Wash and dry the fruit, then carefully cut all the way around its vertical axis.

Holding both sides, gently twist the peach to release the flesh from the pit. 

Pull the halves apart, and carefully remove the pit with your thumb.  The hardest part is to not bruise the fruit in the process. 

The first dish I made is something I grew up eating.  Peaches and milk.  Yes, I know it’s traditionally peaches and cream, but in my house, it was peaches and milk.  It’s a delicious, simple dish that can be eaten for breakfast, or for a snack anytime.  Start by peeling and dicing a peach. 

Pour on some milk.

Sprinkle on a little sugar.

And dig in!

Next is another breakfasty, snacky, kind of dish.  A yogurt parfait.  It requires only three ingredients. 

Diced peach
Yogurt (I like vanilla)
Granola

I like using granola bars rather than regular granola, mostly because I’m more likely to actually eat granola bars.  Just make sure you get the crunchy ones, then you can just smash them up with something heavy.  I used the handle of a butter knife.

See how cool that is? 

So, drop in a few diced peaches.

Add ¼ cup or so of yogurt.

Sprinkle on some granola. 

Repeat.  Beautiful peach and yogurt parfait. 

The next creation requires a few ingredients, but it’s simple, refreshing, and delicious.  Peaches and cream soda. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 Peach
1 Tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon lime juice
1 Tablespoon cream
1 scant cup ginger ale

One peach will make enough puree for 2 or 3 sodas.  Peel and slice your peach, then throw it into the blender with the sugar, vanilla, and lime juice.  You should end up with a nice, smooth puree.  I’m using 12 oz. glasses, so adjust if you’re using larger ones.  For this size, pour ¼ cup of puree over a few ice cubes, then slowly add the ginger ale. 

It’ll fizz a lot, so be patient.  When you’ve filled the glass just about to the top, add the cream.

You can serve it like that, and let your guests stir it themselves, or you can stir it so everything comes together. 

We’ve done a few things using the peaches fresh, so it’s time for a warm dish, and it’s definitely time for dessert.  How about some caramelized peaches with ice cream? 

You’ll only need a few things.

2 – 4 peaches
2 Tablespoons butter
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
Really good vanilla ice cream  
Chopped almonds

Halve and peel your peaches and set them aside.  In a skillet melt the butter, sprinkle on the sugar, and stir in the water.  Heat over a fairly low heat and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Turn up the heat to medium high and add your peaches, cut side down. 

Basically you just have to stand back and watch, but do spoon the liquid over them occasionally.  Allow them to cook for about 6 minutes or so.  When they’re ready they should just be starting to brown on the bottom and look something like this. 

Remove the pan from the heat and allow it to cool for a few minutes before serving.  Then spoon one or two halves into each dish, top with ice cream and drizzle with caramel sauce from the pan.  Sprinkle on some chopped almonds, and you have peach perfection. 

So let’s recap with some close up, peach porn.  First was the peaches and milk.

Then the peach and yogurt parfait.

Next was the peaches and cream soda. 

And last but certainly not least, caramelized peaches with ice cream. 

I gotta be honest, even after all that work, I still think nature does it best.  There’s just nothing better than biting into a slice of fresh peach.  Lusciously sweet.  The juice running down your chin.  It’s like summer’s last hoorah as we head toward fall. 

Which fruit’s aroma lures you into buying it by the case?   

Teddy Bear Picnic

Ah, dinner. That meal I used to cook with leisurely ease.

I had a whole three hours to make dinner last night (well, all night really, but I was getting hungry) and I ended up with a stirfry. Tons of time and I make a super fast dinner. I am highly amused. It was one hell of a tasty stirfry, and based on a dish I used to have at a little Asian fusion place on the island. It’s actually gained a lot of popularity and you can find it as a “tapas” sort of dish all over the place now. It’s fun to eat, totally sharable, and a little on the messy side, but that just makes for tasty sticky fingers to lick, which is always fun on date night. ;)

But it’s not just a stirfry, it’s a wrap that you build as you eat. Think tacos, but with lettuce instead of tortilla shells, and stirfry instead of meat, beans and cheese… mmm… tacos…

Stirfry. That’s what I made (but I may need to make tacos some time soon)

The place on the island used a wicked hoisin sauce in theirs. Hoisin is like bbq sauce, but with Asian flavours. It has all the same elements: a base (usually tomato in the west, beans in the east), some salt (soy works), some sour (rice vinegar rather than cider or white), some sweet (brown sugar is what I usually see in bbq, but honey sometimes too), and then the seasonings.

Black bean paste is the typical base for hoisin, but peanut butter can work to. And since I was fresh out of bean paste, I opted for the pb. And before I start, I have to admit to a bit of a guilty pleasure.

So, when I was a kid, my mom refused to buy this one kind of peanut butter that I was sure that aaaalll my friend’s moms bought. And now that I’m a reasonable hand drawn facsimile of a grownup, I can buy what ever kind I want. So there. I know it’s going to make Taneasha have half a heart attack, and so I apologize in advance for my love of sugar sweetened, partially hydrogenated oil stabilizied, Kraft (*cringe*) peanut butter. I know the all natural stuff is better for me. I don’t care. I want the one with the bears on it.

Chicken Stirfry in Lettuce Wraps with Home Made Hoisin Sauce

What You Need:

Hoisin

•  4 tablespoons soy sauce
•  2 tablespoons peanut butter or black bean paste
•  1 tablespoon honey or molasses or brown sugar
•  2 teaspoons rice vinegar
• 1 clove garlic
•  2 teaspoons sesame oil
•  1 tsp Sriracha cock sauce

Stir Fry:

•  1 clove garlic
•  1 bit of minced ginger
•  1 tbsp peanut oil
•  a few drops sesame oil
•  1 chicken breast
•  1 large red bell
•  ½ small onion
•  a few mushrooms
•  ½ c cashews
•  1 head lettuce

 What You Gotta Do:

Dump all of the ingredients for the hoisin into a bowl much bigger than you need.You can leave out the hot sauce and add it a bit at a time once it’s mixed.

Mixing the hoisin doesn’t take long, but it really looks strange at first.

Don’t worry, keep whisking and it’ll all come together. See.

Add as much or as little (or none if you insist) of the hot sauce as you like. Dip a bit of lettuce in to taste as you add.

There, you just made hoisin sauce. Fancy schmancy. It really does work well on the bbq too.

Since the stirfry cooks really fast, it’s best to have everything chopped and ready to go before you start heating the pan. Start with the chicken, then grab a fresh cutting board.

I used a head of romaine for my wraps. I like the boat shape of them. The restaurant where I first had this dish served it with a quarter of a head of iceburg. Use which ever lettuce you prefer, but make sure it’s one that will hold up under the weight of a warm stirfry.

Rinse the lettuce and dry it well. I lay my leaves out on a teatowel and roll them up. Works just fine, and keeps them out of the way while I’m cooking.

 

Chop the onion, pepper and mushrooms into less than bite sized pieces, and mince the garlic and ginger.

Heat a dry pan over medium heat, add the cashews. Those are some wrinkly nuts.

Shake them around from time to time so they don’t burn, just get nice and toasty brown. Dump them out of the pan and back into the bowl.

Add some peanut oil and add a few drops of sesame oil to the hot pan. Peanut oil has a really high smoke point, and sesame oils is probably one of the lowest. Combining them tempers sesame’s tendency to burn before you can get anything else into the pan.

Sautee the chicken in the oil until the pink is all gone,

Then add the veggies.

Shove them around in the pan until the onions are just barely translucent and have lost their crunch.

 

Add about half of the hoisin sauce. The rest can be stored in the fridge for… probably as long as the shelf life of the ingredient with the shortest shelf life. I dunno, it’s never lasted more than a week or two in my fridge.

Mix in the sauce then add the cashews. Cashews will soften quite a bit in a saucy stirfry, so you only want them in there long enough to get them coated.

It looks good, but it seems to be missing something…

I haven’t been able to find cilantro or beansprouts to save my life lately, so I scrounged a half wilted green onion from the bottom of the veggie drawer.

That did it. Cilantro would have been much better, but this'll do.

Serve the stirfry in a bowl, with the lettuce leaves on the side.

Hold a leaf in your hand and spoon in a bit of the stirfry. Just like building a taco.

mmm…. Tacos….

What are you bringing to the teddy bear (peanut butter) picnic??