Friday, August 30, 2013

Late Summer Favorites

The end of Summer brings a lot of mixed feelings; some melancholy, especially now that the days are getting shorter, but excitement too--for Fall (my favorite season), and all the fun that comes with it. Also, this time of year is an amazing time to shop local for fresh fruit and vegetables! I can't get enough of the sweet Jersey corn and fresh peaches now available at my co-op! 



I love my corn on the grill--with butter and Jane's Krazy Mixed-up Salt (if you can find it!)

Heat the grill to medium. 
Pull the outer husks down the ear to the base. Strip away the silk from each ear of corn by hand. Fold husks back into place and tie the ends together with kitchen string. Place the ears of corn in a large bowl of cold water with 1 tablespoon of salt for 10 minutes.
Remove corn from water and shake off excess. Place the corn on the grill, close the cover and grill for 15 to 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes, or until kernels are tender when pierced with a paring knife. Remove the husks and eat on the cob or remove the kernels.
Closest picture I could find to what my Grandmother's looks like--minus all the burnt bits, of course.

My favorite dessert in the WORLD is my Grandmother's Peach Cake. Basically a peach upside-down cake smothered under a cloud of egg white. It's a bit hard to remove from the pan--and it may look like a mess at first, but that meringue layer hides a multitude of sins, and the cake itself is rich and delicious!It's been adapted from this recipe from the Joy of Cooking:



Preheat oven to 425 
Carefully grease an 8-inch pie pan (you can see that I used a square cake pan--perhaps part of my problem in getting the cake out of the pan!), and cover the bottom with approximately 2 cups sliced peaches. 
Sprinkle the fruit with:
2/3 cup sugar
Cinnamon or nutmeg (I used a bit of both)
Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon 
Dredge with:
1 tbs flour 
Pour over fruit:
2 to 4 tbs melted butter
Prepare the following batter:
Sift 1 cup AP flour
Re-sift flour with 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt 
Beat and add:
2 egg yolks, 1 tbs melted butter, 1/4 milk 
Beat these ingredients until blended. Cover the fruit with the batter. Bake for about 30 minutes. Turn cake out onto a platter (if you want to brown your meringue, be sure to use an oven-safe plate). 
Use the whites from the two eggs you separated earlier to make a meringue, spread over cake, and briefly brown before serving.
From now until 9/1, take an additional 20% off all sale merchandise in shop!!

Enjoy it while it's all in season and shop local! 

xx Arielle

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