Summer desserts

Ginger-Peach No Churn Ice Cream E.A.T. #32

~ Teresa Blackburn ~ 20 Comments

 

I have been away from Food on Fifth for a while. I have missed it. Life just gets in the way and there is not much you can do about it…especially if a food blog such as Food on Fifth is a labor of love and not work.

This summer has been very hot and dry and busy in my world of food styling. More so than ever. I have worked, and am working, on quite a few cookbook projects, as well as various other editorial magazine shoots and with my commercial clients. Blogging has not been easy, but I am trying to get back to it as it is one of  my relaxing pleasures. It is a solitary endeavour and I enjoy that. The kitchen is my haven to be alone and play with food and try to make yummy things to share.

I cannot say much about the cookbooks in particular, but I just finished styling a peach cookbook and with peaches on the brain I thought an easy, no frills, no churn peach ice cream would be a delicious and cooling thing to share.  So it is….with a bit of ginger and buttermilk to cut the sweetness. Give it a try. It will cool you down I promise!  It is as easy as this.

Very scoopable and so cooling on this 90+ degree day.

I picked these little peaches from two trees in my neighborhood. You can’t get more local than that.

Peeled, pitted and pureed,  mixed with heavy cream, whole milk and buttermilk, just a bit of refrigerated ginger paste, sugar and salt.

Frozen in an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan….stirred to mix the frozen part with the not frozen part a couple of times…that’s all you have to do. Easier than a trip to the grocery!

Ginger-Peach No-Churn Ice Cream

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Ingredients:

  • 1 cup pureed fresh peaches – peeled, pitted
  • 2 tablespoon ginger paste, the refrigerated kind in a tube
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

  1. Whisk together the peach puree, ginger paste and sugar until the sugar begins to melt.
  2. Whisk together in another bowl the cream, milk and butter milk and salt.
  3. Whisk pureed peach mixture into the cream mixture until well blended.
  4. Pour into a metal 8 x 4 inch or 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Cover pan with aluminum foil. Freeze for 2 hours.
  5. Remove pan from freezer and using a fork, stir frozen mixture around the edges of the pan and from the bottom into the center. Repeat process in another 1.5 hours, smoothing out the mixture using a spoon. Freeze another 2 hours or until ready to serve. You can freeze overnight as well.
  6. Scoop and serve. This ice cream stays nice and scoopable for days if it lasts that long.

Teresa Blackburn   www.teresablackburnfoodstyling.com

 

Georgia Peach Magic Cobbler and Climate Change

~ Teresa Blackburn ~ 10 Comments

I’m not really sure what to say…or do…or think. I had all good intentions of posting a light and airy conversation and some pretty pictures and a happy, happy southern summer recipe featuring this lovely bag of Pearson Farms Georgia Peaches from The Peach Truck stand at the downtown Nashville Farmer’s Market.

I was not going to talk about anything political. Two things in one day changed my mind. The first thing was an article I was reading early this morning in The New York Times from Wednesday’s edition about peaches. This article mentioned Pearson Farms in particular,  but in general the condition of orchards all across the country and about how the climate this past year has really affected the summer peach crops.

The second thing to interrupt my good intentions was Trump’s decision this afternoon to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. Anger, incredulity and sadness like a wave swept over my good intentions.

My grandmother might have said something about the pathway to hell being paved with good intentions. Enough said. So I shall continue with my post taking all of today’s information and upsets into consideration…

Buy some peaches when you see them…make a cobbler, or ice cream, maybe a peach tart, or eat in hand letting the juice run down your arm…don’t wait….the times are a’changin. Today’s peaches might be a thing of future stories and memories to savor.

Bag ripened peaches….peeled and sliced….

….butter and batter on the bottom of my Lodge Cast Iron double handled skillet…topped with sliced peaches and brown sugar.

Baked until hot and caramelized on top….

….with a scoop of vanilla. A bite of goodness in this uncertain world.

Drop and email, post card or letter to your elected officials letting them know you support the Paris Climate Accord and your local fruit growers who are affected every day by our changing weather.

Georgia Peach Magic Cobbler

  • Difficulty: very easy
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Ingredients:

  • 4 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches
  • 1 stick of butter
  • 1/2 cup self-rising flour
  • 1/2 cup self-rising cornmeal
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar + extra for top of cobbler
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • zest of one lemon

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Melt butter in a 2 quart cast iron skillet or other baking or casserole dish.
  3. Whisk together the self-rising flour and cornmeal, buttermilk, 1/2 cup brown sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Pour batter into the bottom of the skillet over butter. Do not stir.
  4. Scatter sliced peaches over the top of the batter. Do not stir.
  5. Sprinkle additional brown sugar over the top of the peaches.
  6. Bake for 40-45 minutes until batter is golden brown and peaches are a bit caramelized.
  7. Serve scooped into bowls with vanilla ice cream.

 

Plum Yum Almond Cake

~ Teresa Blackburn ~ 33 Comments

long plum yum

Every summer as The Plum Tree on my street becomes laden with ripening fruit it looks like it is about to topple over. The owner is clever in using large sticks and boards to prop up the limbs that without some intervention would no doubt break off. The Plum Tree needs a bit of trimming here and there, a little bit of pruning love, but, alas, it is not my tree.

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On the other hand, I have been enjoying the fruit of this tree for 10 years this summer. This year has a wonderful crop. I picked a small boxful this weekend…many from the ground and a few from the tree. It is never good to be greedy with another’s fruit!  Here is what they looked like when I got them home…..

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….rinsed & drained…..

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,,,,cut in half & cored….

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….topping off my easy-to-make almond cake batter….

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….Plum Yum…..

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Plum Yum Almond Cake

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: plum easy
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Ingredients:

  • 4 ripe, but firm plums, cut in half & cored
  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup raw sugar
  • 1/2 cup almond flour mixed with 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsps almond extract
  • 1/2 cup almonds , slivered or sliced
  • powdered sugar for garnish

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. In a 9″ deep dish pie pan or cake pan melt the 1 stick of butter.
  3. Whisk together eggs, sugar, flours & extract just until blended. Do not over whisk. Scrape batter into pie pan with melted butter.
  4. Arrange the plum halves, cut side down, on top of the batter & scatter the almonds over all.
  5. Bake for 40 minutes until cake is a light golden brown. It is okay if the very center is a bit jiggly. Cool on a wire rack. Serve dusted with powdered sugar.

Notes: This cake is a dense moist cake and best eaten the day it is made. I did heat a slice in the oven the day after I made it and it was delicious with a cup of coffee.

If you prefer you can use more plums to cover the top of the batter more.

Recipe by: Teresa Blackburn         http://www.teresablackburnfoodstyling.com

Borrowed from the British “A Summer Fruit Pudding” for the Fourth of July

~ Teresa Blackburn ~ 32 Comments

summer fruit pudding

“A Summer Fruit Pudding”

This classic British dessert is just the thing to make for the upcoming 4th of July holiday weekend. I do hope the irony of this is not lost on you.

All you need is some fresh berries….blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or strawberries…any combination of these summer berries and a loaf of day old bread. There is no baking so no heating up the kitchen. It is easy to make, a beauty when finished and the taste is like biting into “summer”…very refreshing, not overly sweet and served with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream or whipped mascarpone cheese.

The most important part is allowing the fresh berries to macerate with sugar for about 30 minutes ahead of time.

summer berries with fruitsugared berries

Choose a bread with some body that is a day or two old and just a bit dried out. I used a Brioche but a loaf of plain old white bread works just as well, as does Angel Food Cake.

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After the berries have macerated they are slowing boiled for a few minutes with some water until the berries release most of their juice and get a bit softened. This takes about 5-8 minutes on a low boil.

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I used a glass mixing bowl lined with plastic wrap for the mold, but a metal bowl or plastic will be fine. Later when the pudding is chilled it will be easy to turn it upside down on a serving platter.

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While I am slicing the bread (you can make with or without the crust), and lining the bowl I let the berries drain very well so there is about 3 cups of berry juice to about 4 to six cups of softened sugared fruit.

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Dipping the slices of bread and lining the bowl comes next.

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Don’t you just love that color? The berries are then scraped into the center of the bread, topped with a couple of more soaked bread slices and covered with a sheet of plastic.

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The pudding needs to have pressure on it so that the bread and the berries become “one”. I do this first with my hands and then place a plate  with a heavy can sitting on top while the pudding is chilling for at least 12 hours or overnight.

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Here is the turned out, chilled, a firm “pudding” (what the British pretty call dessert for the most part….as in “What’s for pudding?”)  topped with additional berries and superfine sugar (caster sugar). I served this with a dollop of whipped mascarpone.

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For a dinner party I recently made this again but this time I used an Angel Food Cake instead of bread. As the cake was already sweet I used less sugar on the berries. This version may be my new favorite. I served it with homemade vanilla ice cream.  Another variation on the theme. Maybe next time I will try pound cake?

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Traditionally this “pudding” was served as a healthy alternative to heavy sugary desserts at health spas in England. If you give this a try let me know how your version turns out.

Summer Berry Pudding

  • Servings: 8-10
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summer fruit pudding

Ingredients:

  • 6 cups of mixed summer berries, rinsed & drained + 1/2 cup mixed for garnishing
  • 1/3 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar) + extra for garnishing
  • 1 loaf of day old bread (White, Brioche or you can use an Angel Food Cake)
  • 1/2 to 1 cup water

Directions:

  1. Toss 6 cups of berries  with 1/2 cup sugar. Leave to sit for about 30 minutes.
  2. Add berries & juice to a saucepan. Add 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil. Turn to simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
  3. Meanwhile cut bread into approximately 1″ slices. You can remove the crust or not.
  4. Line a glass, metal or plastic round mixing bowl (about a 2 qt bowl) with plastic wrap allowing it to hang over the edges of the bowl completely covering the inside.
  5. Pour berries & juice through a strainer sitting over a bowl. Let drain for 10 minutes.
  6. You will need about 3-4 cups of juice. Add more water if need be.
  7. Gently dip each slice of bread into the juice lining the bowl completely with the soaked bread. Place one piece of bread in the bottom of the bowl to cover the center.
  8. Dump the berries in the middle of the bowl & cover them with 2 more slices of juice soaked bread. Cover with another sheet of plastic wrap, pressing down with your hands to make sure all the bread is soaked.
  9. Place a saucer or small plate over the plastic wrap and top with a heavy can to press the mixture together over night in the refrigerator.
  10. When ready to serve, remove the top sheet of plastic wrap & turn the bowl upside down onto a serving plate. Remove the bowl & plastic wrap from the summer pudding.
  11. Garnish with additional fresh berries and a generous dusting of sugar.
  12. Use a spoon to scoop out servings and add a scoop of ice cream or whipped mascarpone if desired. Whipped cream would be good as well.

Notes: You can make this with sliced Angel Food Cake as well for an interesting twist. Try adding some peaches to the berries or plums.                                                                  Tip: If you do not have caster sugar…which is just a finer granulated sugar..you can make quickly by putting regular granulated sugar in a food processor and pulse for a few seconds. Very easy to do.

recipe and photos by Teresa Blackburn      foodonfifth.com     teresablackburnfoodstyling.com  

Upside Down Olive Oil Georgia Peach Cake (Gluten Free Y’All)

~ Teresa Blackburn ~ 43 Comments

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“Upside Down Olive Oil Peach Cake”(Gluten Free)

This past week has been busy in a fun way. Photo shoots both editorial and commercial, celebrations of a new cookbook release that I worked on, and a weekend full of the World Cup and a lazy baking Saturday. The other fun thing for me is that as of today I am adding a “printable recipe” at the end of all my posts! This will make it easier for you to try out some of the offerings from Food on Fifth.

The Peach Truck Peaches

I do think I have a case of “peach madness” this summer. I blame this totally on the arrival of “The Peach Truck” in Nashville from Georgia with bags and bags full of delicious peaches. I eat them rinsed, fuzz and all, on cereal, on toast. I have made frozen yogurt, pies  and more recently this upside down cake using peaches and olive oil along with a  flour I ran across in the grocery store a few days ago…Domata Gluten Free Recipe Ready Flour.

Domata Recipe Ready Gluten Free Flour

I realize that everyone knows about Georgia Peaches, but are you aware there is a thriving olive oil business down in Lakeland, Georgia…acres and acres of olive trees? I didn’t until I was given a bottle by cookbook author, Matt Moore, while working on a photo shoot with him. Amazingly good and perfect for my cake. A belated thanks Matt.

Whether testing recipes for clients or cooking at home I always gather and measure all my ingredients before I start just to make sure I have everything I need. I find it very annoying to get to the middle of a recipe and realize I am short an egg or do not have enough milk. Very annoying.

Peach Cake ingredients

I used a fluted pan just because I think it is pretty.

Peach Cake in the Oven

I let this cake cool for about 30 minutes before turning it out onto a plate.

Peach Cake Baked

Flipped out onto a plate & ready for a powder sugar dusting. Love the color of those peaches!

Upside Down Peach Cake

Peach Cake dusted with Powdered Sugar

So pretty and moist, with an almost pudding-like texture and nice crispy edges. Not too sweet (you know I do not like overly sweet desserts) with the flavor of the peaches coming through strong.

Why an olive oil cake? Olive Oil in a cake never “sets up” again as does butter or solid veg shortening after the dessert cools, therefore the cake is much more moist and stays that way. I made a pound cake using olive oil & Blood Oranges and it was fantastic. For a more lucid and exact explanation as to why cakes made with olive oil are more tender check out this article by Fine Cooking.

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Of course we ate a slice while the cake was still warm on Saturday, but the next day, chilled,  it was still as good…in fact so good that my friend Terry M. ate 2 pieces while we worked the Sunday NYTimes Crossword puzzle! Yep, that good.

Upside Down Olive OIl Peach Cake

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
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Peach Cake dusted with Powdered Sugar

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups gluten-free baking flour (Domata is the brand I used), or all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups raw or turbinado sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp each baking soda and baking powder
  • 1 1/3 cups good quality olive oil
  • 1 1/4 cups whole milk
  • 3 eggs
  • the zest from one orange + the juice
  • 4-5 fresh peaches peeled and sliced
  • powdered sugar for garnish/serving

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl.
  3. Using a mixer blend together the olive oil & sugar. With mixer running drizzle in olive oil. Scrape down sides of bowl as need be. Turn mixer to low and add eggs & milk.
  4. Add orange zest, orange juice and flour with mixer on low-speed just until well blended.
  5. Place sliced peaches in the bottom of a well-greased 8 or 9 inch baking pans. Pour batter on top of peach slices and spread evenly.
  6. Place in oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes until cake in set in the middle and is golden brown. If cake starts to get too brown cover loosely with a sheet of foil.
  7. Remove from the oven. Let cool on a rack and serve at room temp or chilled.
  8. Dust with powdered sugar when serving if desired.

“July Fresh Peaches & Cream Corn Ice Cream with Blackberries”

~ Teresa Blackburn ~ 13 Comments

“July Peaches & Cream Corn Ice Cream with Fresh Picked Blackberries”

I first tasted corn ice cream in Quintana Roo, Mexico a few years ago. I have never forgotten the rich, sweet fresh corn flavored frozen dessert and have often tried to recreate it. I have used various recipes that I have found on-line and in cookbooks but I found them all too fussy & too lengthy (it shouldn’t be rocket science). This week while at the Farmer’s Market buying some fresh corn I had a “corn ice cream epiphany” and came up with this recipe that is as good as my first tasting. Try this recipe which is simple and uses Peaches & Cream corn and you will be just as seduced by the taste as I have been.

Fresh Peaches & Cream Corn

To Make Fresh Corn Ice Cream:

1. I used an electric ice cream freezer. Whatever freezer you use prepare it according to the instructions that came with your freezer.

2. Shuck & clean the silk from 4 ears of sweet corn such as Peaches & Cream or Silver Queen. Using a sharp knife, cut corn from ears into a bowl. Then scrape each with the knife to “milk” the corn. Save one ear & cut into smaller pieces and set aside.

“shuck, silk, cut, scrape, milk”

3. Place cut corn & cobs into a pan with 2 cups whole milk. Heat over medium heat until mixture comes to a low boil. Turn heat to low & simmer for about 8 minutes.

4. Remove pan from heat & take cobs out of mixture & throw away. Puree corn mixture in a food processor.

5. Pour pureed mixture through a mesh strainer sitting over a glass bowl. Use a rubber scraper to press liquid out.

6. Into bowl of corn-milk liquid add 3/4 cup turbinado or raw sugar & 2 tsps vanilla extract. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add in 1/2 cup cream & blend. Pour mixture into a measuring cup…you should have about 2 1/2 cups liquid. If you do not then add more cream to make this amount. Cover & chill for at least one hour before making ice cream. The raw sugar & vanilla will give the mixture a caramel color.

7. Freeze corn mixture in ice cream freeze according to directions until creamy-frozen.

8. Serve immediately with fresh picked blackberries scattered over ice cream or cover & place in refrigerator freezer until ready to eat.

Fresh picked Tennessee Blackberries from the West Nashville/Sylvan Park Farmer’s Market

It is very hard to describe the subtle deliciousness of this ice cream. It is unique in the creamy sweet corn flavor with a hint of vanilla which is all rounded out by the raw sugar.

Bon Apetit!