Category Archives: Fresh Fruit

Sep16

Giant Peach Pancake

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Giant Peach Pancake

  Feeding a Crowd and Want the Wow Factor? 

        3 words:  Giant Peach Pancake!

Giant Peach Pancake 

This easy, low fat pancake is a frequent go-to in the kitchen. The ingredients are simple: fresh fruit (this one uses peaches but I love it with apples, sour cherries and also apricots), a few eggs, milk, and a bit of flour. It’s quick and glamourous! Only stipulation is that the crowd must be sitting with forks raised when this masterpiece emerges from the oven. Like a soufflé, the pancake rises with heat and loses its loft once it’s out of the oven, so eat it up fast! Somehow, this is never a problem at my house!!!

Pancake Batter

¼ cup butter or margarine melted
6 eggs1
½ cups 1% or skim milk
1 tsp vanilla1
½ cups unbleached flour

Heat oven to 425 degrees F (220 C).

In a food processor or with electric mixer, beat eggs for a few minutes, add milk and vanilla. A bit at a time, add the flour, blending continuously as the flour is added. The mixture should be smooth but not over beaten!

Place a large cast iron or other skillet or a couple of smaller ones, into the oven and melt butter in the skillet. Pour the batter into a hot skillet and bake on bottom shelf for 10-15 minutes.

Peach Sauce 

4 cups sliced peaches ( I like the slices larger, so cut into 12ths ..)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

Mix fruit, sugar and spices together in a large saucepan or skillet and cook gently till warmed and sugar starts to caramelize. With apples, add 1 tbsp rum and 1 tbsp apple juice for extra juice. Peaches have enough moisture and don’t need the liquids added…

Add the warm fruit sauce, and bake for a further 10 – 15 minutes, or until pancake puffs up, golden brown, and the fruit sauce bubbles happily round the edges. Mmmmm…

Remember that crowd of brunch guests have to be ready, waiting and eager as the pancake will settle the instant it emerges from its hot oven. No fear. The drama of the moment when this giant pancake graces the table, is well worth assembling an audience and preparing for the inevitable applause.

Jul21

Summer bounty — what to do with all that fresh fruit?

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Summer bounty — what to do with all that fresh fruit?

Oh yeah.. it’s summer. The mercury has risen and the days are long once more!

Our summer harvest begins with rhubarb, then luscious strawberries, blueberries and peaches in the height of August.

Summertime Fruit Flan at the Beach

July 20th, 2011 – Check out the Rhubarb-Apple Bran muffin recipe in the Muffins section. Yummy and healthy with tart rhubarb and sweet apple!

Jul20
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August the 4th, 2011 is the date for the Pie Off. It’s at my place. My first pie-off.

Now… for those of you new to the tradition like me, here are the newly created, but highly official …

Official Pie-Off Rules

  1. Each guest must bring a pie – sweet or savoury. No looky-loos.
  2. You can have your pie – and eat it too. That’s the rule.
  3. The ideal number of pie-off participants is 12 — the largest number of slices a pie can be divided into without compromising its shape and texture.
  4. Pie-off attendance is secret. Sotte voce. If you are invited, keep that invitation under wraps, to yourself. There’s not enough pie to go around. Too many people love pie.
  5. Participants may enter both the Sweet and the Savoury competition.
  6. It is a competition. Pies are hotly debated, championed, and tasted.
  7. Each pie is divided into the number of slices of participants.
  8. Proper pie-off protocols must be followed: Savoury pies to start, a light lettuce salad to cleanse the palate, followed by the sweet pie selections.
  9. Everyone gets a vote and a slice of each pie. One vote per pie.
  10. As the pie is tasted, the pie cook tells the story of the pie. Where the ingredients came from, the tale of the gathering or hunting for the pie innards, the labours that lead to the pie, the pie lore…
  11. After all pies have been tried, the “off” part of the Pie Off begins. Votes are calculated for the winning pie in each of the two categories.
  12. In reality, everyone’s a winner as we all eat a lotta pie and have a great time together!

The Pie Off!