Saturday, July 21, 2007

Kitchen Sink Peaches

Last Saturday we were fully engaged in our home improvement mode. We stopped at Lowe’s in Rohnert Park and managed to spend more than expected on bits and pieces for our project. It popped into my brain that the Sebastopol Farmer’s Market was just up the road a ways. Why not a little diversion?

The market is small town friendly. We purchased some lovely spinach quiche still warm from the oven. The vendor was a beautiful young lady with a killer smile. We wanted to chat with her about the products but she was being "inspected" by another woman carrying a clipboard with a laminated ID badge hanging from her neck. I’m sure the health department has good intentions but she wanted the vendor to refrigerate the quiche. Yuck! These goodies would probably be sold long before they would present a health risk.

A few booths away the beautiful color and aroma of peaches beckoned. There in all their glory were several different varieties of peaches that begged to be eaten. The case price was less than a dollar a pound. The vendor from Twin Peaks Orchard explained that there had been a warm spell and many had ripened at once. He cautioned that they were picked dead ripe and would need to be dealt with rapidly.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

My definition of a "kitchen sink peach" is one that must be eaten over the sink so the juice won't drip all over you. These specimens fit that profile. What do you do with all those peaches? Let’s see - there is peach pie, peach cobbler, peach ice cream. I'm starting to sound like Bubba Gump. The first thing I did was eat one over the sink.

The inner bartender in me thought of Bellinis. I pureed a few of the “June Flame" peaches in the food processor, added a touch of sugar and the juice from half a lemon. Pour the puree into a glass and add sparkling wine of your choice. Garnish with peach slice of course!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

My wife, the pastry chef, adapted a peach crostata from Chef Tyler Florence's recipe from the Food Network. Behold the result.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Peachy!

4 comments:

cookiecrumb said...

Do you dare to drink a peach?
Yes you do!
And the galette looks wonderful.
Yay, summer.

meathenge said...

Whull, yeah. But what kind of projects/improvements? Will be heading out to find an exhaust hood for my range today. Looked at some online and my tastes lead me to some really nice 600 dollar rigs. I will not be spending 600 dollars on such a thing.

Biggles

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

I would seek out every great bellini in a 100 km radius. Your wife's peach crostata looks droolworthy as well!!!

mustang64 said...

I've used the phrase "kitchen sink peaches" for years. I never heard anyone else use it till now. It says it all, doesn't it?