Week 29: Peaches, Peaches, Peaches...

So I am a huge fruit fan. I enjoy all kinds but my favorite by far is fresh peaches from the Okanagan. In the last post I talked about our trip but I did not mention that bought 40 lbs (20 for us and 20 for my parents. These were first pick of the season peaches so they needed some time to ripen but once they did they were amazing. This week I am going to go through 2 recipes because one I have made several time before but it is so good I thought I should bog about it. The other is a simple recipe but it was so yummy. I will start with the simple peach gelato recipe which is actually more of a sorbeto but who cares. You will need

4 cups of peeled peaches

1/2 cups of water

3/4 cups of sugar

1 egg white

Start by making a simple syrup from the sugar and water in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Once the sugar has dissolved remove from the heat and cool.  While the syrup is cooling peel and cut the peaches. Puree the peaches and if you want strain through a sieve. I did not do this because I like to have stuff in my gelato. Combine the peaches and syrup and let cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Pour mixture into your ice cream maker an 20-30 minutes later you are enjoying some summer freshness in a bowl.

The next recipe is for a peach pie I found in the Moosewood dessert cookbook several years ago that is a wonderful twist on a classic pie. It is a peach pie in a ginger bread crust. The ingredients are

Ginger bread

1 1/2 cups four

1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

1 to cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup chilled butter, cut into pieces

2 tbsp molasses

2 tbsp cold water

Pie filling

6 cups sliced peaches

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp grated ginger root

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375'. In a medium bowl sift together flour, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, salt and baking powder. Cut the butter into mixture and then mix with you fingers until it is crumbly and resembles cornmeal. Drizzle the molasses and water over dough and mix until the crumbs of dough begin to cling together. 

Set aside 1/2 cup of the dough and knead the rest into a ball. Press evenly into the bottom and sides of a pan and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

In a bowl, toss peaches with brown sugar and ginger root. Dissolve corn starch into lemon juice and sprinkle over peaches and mix. 

Pour the peach mixture into pie crust and crumble remaining dough over the peaches. Bake on upper rack for 40-55 minutes. Check after 30 minutes if crust is stating to brown cover with foil and continue to cook until peaches are tender.