ginger peach cobbler

adapted from Diner Desserts, by Tish Boyle

3 pounds ripe peaches
1/2 c granulated sugar
2 T all purpose flour
1 t peeled and grated fresh ginger
1/2 t cinnamon
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 T heavy cream

1 1/4 c all purpose flour
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 t baking pwder
1/4 t ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 T chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c plus 1 T heavy cream
1 T finely chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13" glass baking dish.

To make filling: blanch peaches by plunging them into boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove them to a bowl of ice water, and, using your hands, slip off the skins. Cut into 1/4" thick slices off the pit, and put slices into a large bowl. In a small bowl, stir together well the sugar, flour, fresh ginger, cinnamon, lemon juice, and cream. Pour the mixture over the peach slices and toss to coat. Transfer the fruit to the prepared baking dish.

To make biscuits: put the flour, sugar, baking powder, ground ginger, and salt in a food processor and pulse until combined. Add the butter pieces and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir the vanilla into 1/2 c of the cream and add to the flour mixture. Pulse just until the dough starts to hold together. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured piece of waxed paper and shape it into a disk. Roll the dough out 1/4" thick. Using a 2" round biscuit cutter, cut out as many biscuits as possible. Gather up the scraps, roll and repeat until you have 12 biscuits.

Arrange the biscuits on top of the fruit filling, spacing them evenly (they will not spread much if at all). Brush the biscuits with the remaining 1 T cream and sprinkle with the crystallized ginger.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbling and the biscuits are golden brown. Serve warm.

apricot cherry sauce (for lamb, pork, etc.)

8 fresh apricots, blanched, peeled, pitted, halved
20-30 fresh cherries, pitted
1-2 T butter
2 T turbinado or demerara sugar
2 T balsamic vinegar, preferably white*
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/8 t. ground coriander
1 t almond extract
fresh rosemary
dash salt

Melt butter slowly in heavy bottomed pan over low heat. Cut the apricot halves into quarters. Add apricots and cherries to pan and cook for a couple minutes until fruit starts to soften noticably. If your fruit is not juicy, you may want to add just a little water to help it get started. Add a tablespoon of the vinegar and the almond extract, the cloves, coriander and stir. Cook until the alcohol from the almond extract has burned off and taste. Add a dash of salt and the sugar and cook a few more minutes. Taste again, adjust the sugar/vinegar and add some fresh rosemary. I used the torn leaves of most of a five inch stalk. Cook a few more minutes and taste. The rosemary adds a fair amount of depth, but a lot depends on the flavor/quality of your fruit. Cook until it reaches desired thickness and fruit-broken-down-ness, stirring occasionally.

Made this as an accompaniment for the rosemary lamb for tomorrow's dinner. Would probably be awesome with pork. You could substitute peaches or nectarines for the apricots. We just made this up tonight, so it may get adjusted/refined for dinners to come.

*I prefer white balsamic for this recipe as it doesn't darken the fruit, but I had better quality regular balsamic so I compromised with 1.5 T white, and .5 T regular balsamic, which still darkened it quite a bit.

brie and fruit french toast

For 12 sandwiches:

6 eggs, lightly beaten
2 c. milk
¼ t nutmeg
¼ t cinnamon
1 apple<>
Cranberry or apricot or other preserves

Slice French bread in 24 slices and put 12 of them in a large baking dish. Core apple and thinly slice into 12 or 24 pieces. Put 1 or 2 apple slices on each piece of bread. Slice the Brie into thin pieces and put the cheese on top of the apple. Put a spoonful of preserves on each sandwich and top with the other slices of bread. Mix eggs, milk, and spices together well and pour half over the sandwiches. Turn each sandwich over and pour the rest of the egg mixture, making sure each sandwich is thoroughly coated. Cook on lightly oiled, preheated griddle heated to 360°. Place sandwiches brie side down, turning once after cheese has begun to melt. Toast should grill to an even golden brown. Serve immediately with fresh berries, bacon, and warm maple syrup.