Peach/blueberry Cobbler

This is a wonderful cobbler--not the usual dry, tasteless cobbler. The cobbler itself is sweet but is offset by the tartness of the fruit which does not have much sugar. You may need to adjust the cooking time to a little longer. The cobbler dough should be somewhat stiff but not dry.

Enjoy with ice cream or cream. It is a marvelous summer time dessert :)

Put in an 11 X 7 pan:

2 1/2 cups fresh peaches-peeled and thinly sliced

2 cups fresh blueberries

In a small saucepan, combine:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3 TBL corn starch

Stir until smooth: 3/4 cup water

Cook over medium heat until very thick

Pour over fruit and stir until all fruit is evenly coated.

In a bowl combine:

1 1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix in until smooth:

1/3 cup melted butted (do not substitute margarine—just say NO!)

1/2 cup milk

Drop in spoonfuls over the fruit mixture and sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Crushed sugar cubes work very well J

Bake at 350° for 35 minutes.

Summertime ice cream

Summer time would not be complete without a sinfully rich dish of homemade ice cream. I prefer the custard based recipes as I really appreciate the richness a custard imparts to the ice cream and I also appreciate cooking the eggs :)

This recipe evolved during our summer family reunion in Hayward, WI. I did not like anything I found on the internet, so I created a recipe that does not call for evaporated milk, packed pudding mix, or sweetened condensed milk. This is a real, old fashioned custard ice cream. Enjoy!

Homemade Custard Ice Cream

In a heavy sauce pan whisk together:

4 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

2 cups half and half

1 2/3 cup sugar

Stirring constantly, cook over low heat until 190°--the custard stage. Mixture will slightly thicken and thickly coat a cool metal spoon. Be patient as this will take about 15-20 minutes. DO NOT ALLOW TO COME TO A BOIL! The custard will curdle. You can whisk some of the lumps out if it becomes too hot to save the custard.

Add 1 ½ TLB of high quality vanilla—stir in completely

Let the custard cool in the refrigerator—it is best if allowed to cool for 4-8 hours.

When you are ready to make the ice cream, add:

2 cups half and half

2 cups cream (you can add all half and half for a lighter J ice cream)

Whisk together and pour into ice cream maker canister and follow freezing directions.

Cherry Garcia Cookies

I was craving ice cream and cookies one night. Instead, I ate some dried cherries (a little more healthy). The idea to make cookies with them came to mind and this is what I found. I tweaked it a bit, adding more semisweet chocolate chips and reducing the white chocolate ones. They came out really well.

Cherry Garcia Cookies

Ingredients:
• 1 cup dried cherries
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, (packed)
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup coarsely-chopped macadamia nuts

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Place dried cherries in a bowl soak in cherry liqueur overnight. Or, you can cover them with boiling water. Let sit 30 minutes to plump up. Drain well, pat dry, and coarsely chop.

Whisk together salt, baking soda, and flour in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Add flour mixture to butter mixture half at a time and mix until combined. Fold in cherries, white chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and macadamia nuts. Refrigerate cookie dough 30 to 45 minutes to firm up.

Drop dough by the tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets, placing cookies about 1-1/2 to 2 inches apart. Bake 12 to 14 minutes until lightly browned around the edges. Cool 10 minutes on cookie sheets before removing to racks to cool completely. Store in a covered container.

Cooking Frenzy Continues

Yes, this would be the third entry for today. Though when I have the day off, I tend to just cook all my meals at home. After today's breakfast adventure, I went on a few errands with Nik including one to World Market.

Now, if you knew the part of town that I lived in, you'd be asking why I went to World Market when the half-a-dozen different markets just within a few blocks representing an equal number of nationalities would be necessary. Well, I certainly do appreciate the wide variety of foods available to me in this neighborhood; however the typical ingredients found in Italian foods are often in short supply- especially when certain ingredients do not over-lap with other cuisines. On my list of things to make before school starts and I begin finding time available to me to cook dwindle, quality risotto requires arborio rice. I also recently ran out of balsamic vinegar (gasp!) and decent extra-virgin olive oil (double gasp). Thankfully all three are readily available at the World Market in Evanston and are much cheaper there than if I were to venture out to the Whole Foods in the same area and better quality that the kinds offered at Trader Joe's down by my work.

So tonight's dinner was one dish and light after the ultra-rich hollandaise sauce of this morning.

Risotto
3 1/2 cups chicken broth (stock base substitute is entirely fine and unnoticed)
a few splashes of Vermouth (gives much better taste than white wine unless using a very good and usually fairly expensive wine)
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice

Heat the chicken broth and vermouth over medium heat in large sauce pan. Add arborio rice. Cover and let cook for 10 minutes.

3 Tb Olive Oil
4 cloves of garlic chopped to medium sized bits
4 medium-sized shallots chopped
Cremini mushrooms cut into moderate-sized pieces (as many as you like)

Sautee the garlic and shallots for 5 minutes or so over medium-low heat (too much heat will risk burning your garlic; you want it hot enough to soften them and flavor the oil). Once the shallots and garlic pieces are soft, add the mushrooms and stir together. Cover and let cook for another 5 mintues or until mushrooms have darkened slightly.

Add mushroom mixture (including oil) to rice. Stir in chopped fresh chives. Cook uncovered until most of the liquid has evaporated and rice is soft.

*I like to add finely grated Parmasean cheese once I've turned off the heat. I just like a hint of the flavor, so it isn't much. And if you try to add that kind of cheese when it isn't finely grated, you'll end up chunks of it instead of it melting into the rice. It also gives pops of cheesy flavor- but not in a good way like chunks of mozarella in a marinara sauce.

Dessert for us was simple. Nik made ginger snaps; I, a peach and blueberry sherbert.

Ice Cream:
6 ripe peaches, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup blueberries
1 Tb ginger
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream

Put into blender for a few minutes.
Make per your ice cream machine's instructions!

*I'll let Nik post up the ginger snap recipe!