Sunday, August 7, 2011

PEACH SEASON!!!

This weekend one of my co-workers got a ton of peaches from a side stand, and was incredibly nice to share them with me. They were starting to get a little overly ripe so I went to it making some delicious peachy-ness!

I made a peach, gruyere, and caramelized onion quesadilla AND a peach, blueberry galete. Yum yum!!!

Tortilla Ingredients:
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tbsp baking powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- enough water to make it pliable and tacky but not sticky

Quesadilla Ingredients:
- gruyere
- onions (fajita-style slices)
- chopped chives
- 1/2 in. slice peaches
- olive oil
- pinch salt
- pinch pepper
- pinch sugar

Tortilla Recipe:
1. Mix together dry ingredients.
2. Add water until it forms a ball.
3. Knead for about 8 minutes
4. Separate into balls.
5. Let rest
6. Roll balls out flat
7. Heat frying pan on medium heat, add a little butter and fry on both sides.

Quesadilla:
1. stir-fry onions with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and sugar until start to get wilted and golden.
2. Place tortilla in frying pan and cover with cheese, chopped chives, peaches, and caramelized onions.
3. Put other tortilla on top and fry until cheese is melted.



Peach and Blueberry Galette
( I got this recipe and slightly adapted it from http://www.thegalleygourmet.net/2011/07/sunday-dinner_17.html)


serves 6-8

For the Pastry Dough
1 1/2 cups unbleached-all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
10 Tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3-6 Tablespoons cold water

For the Fruit Filling
1 pound (about 2 large) ripe and juicy peaches, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 half freshly squeezed lime juice
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of kosher salt
1 Tablespoon milk
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar for sprinkling

Mix together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and sugar until combined. Scatter the butter pieces on top of the flour mixture and use a pastry cutter until it resembles coarse bread crumbs and the butter is the size of small peas. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of water over the mixture and mix; repeat with the remaining water until the dough begins to form small curds and holds together when pinched with fingers. (Depending on the humidity in the air you may not need all 6 tablespoons of water- I only used 4 1/2 tablespoons today). Empty the dough onto a work surface. Using a bench scraper, form the dough into a rough mound about 12 inches long and 4 inches wide perpendicular to the edge of the counter. Starting at the farthest end, use the heel of your hand to smear about one-sixth of the dough against the work away from you. Repeat until all the dough has been worked. (This technique is called frisage - I just learned how to do this) Gather the dough into another mound and repeat frisage technique. Form the dough into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold and firm but malleable, about 1 hour.

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 400º F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. (If the dough has been chilling for longer than an hour, let is rest at room temperature for 15 minutes to become malleable). Separate into two balls. Lightly dust a large sheet of parchment paper with flour. Roll dough into a round circle about 1/4-inch thick, dusting with flour as needed. Transfer parchment and dough onto a baking sheet and refrigerate until cool and slightly firm.


Meanwhile, gently toss together the peaches, berries, and lime juice in a medium bowl. Sprinkle the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt over the fruit and gently toss to combine. Remove the dough on the baking sheet from the refrigerator. Sprinkle top with sugar. Carefully place peaches in a spiral and place blueberries on top in the center of the dough, leaving a 2 1/2-inch border around the edge. Carefully fold one edge of dough over 2-inches of fruit, leaving a 1/2-inch area of dough between fruit edge and inside edge of galette. Repeat folding around the tart, overlapping dough every 2 to 3 inches while gently pinching dough at the pleat, but without pressing dough into the fruit. Using a pastry brush, brush the dough with the milk and sprinkle with the tablespoon of sugar. Do the same with the second one. Bake for 30-40 minutes, the fruit juices should be bubbling and the crust golden brown. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and cool for 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!


Source: Adapted from Joy of Cooking, 1997 and America's Test Kitchen

1 comment:

cafenginer said...

I sliced my peaches first, before caramelizing the onions. So as to keep them from turning brown, I went to the pantry to see what I could find? I splashed a little Apricot Brandy over them and tossed gently to coat. Our new pan is gigantic (12" round) so it took a lot of batter to fill it out. Still, the first two turned out OK so I assembled two Peach, Guyere and caramelized onion crepes, sat down w/a very nice California Pinot Grigio & supped. I'm so inspired by Ms. Clark's ideas, I think I'll invite her over for dinner soon! :)