Fruits in Home Cooking

It has been a peachy summer! I have to give credit to a former coworker who introduced me to my first peach cobbler. She warned me before my first bite that I was getting a real treat because doughy cobbler is hard to find. I was hooked since then and luckily for me I was able to find the recipe online. Now that I have my own kitchen I've made this Peach Cobbler "The Pastry Version" about 4 times and it's darn good.

I double the dough recipe and add an extra peach or two. I like fresh peaches and I prefer to buy organic because peaches rank high in the pesticides department. Leftovers reheat well in the microwave, about 2 minutes. It pairs well with plain vanilla ice cream. I've also learned that a blueberry compote, warm or cold, goes well with this dish.

I had some extra blueberry compote from my pancake adventure yesterday.

This was Saturday's breakfast. Orange Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry Compote.

I woke up and made coffee and got to work. Nothing like manually whipping egg whites into peaks to wake you up (and make you feel like your arm is about to fall off).

Thank goodness I tackled the compote first. The success of that recipe motivated me to make pancakes from scratch. Next time I'll try and substitute lemon for orange, as suggested by the source.

The pancakes were smaller than I expected. Next time I'll pour 1/2 cup of the mix.

In case you were wondering, yes I bought an electric hand mixer after this experience. I earned it!

I then decided to do Dunlop's Smacked Cucumber in Garlicky Sauce. I of course did the sweet and sour variation. It was good but I'd probably play around with the ratios next time.

Lastly this was my pork belly (cured in maple syrup) hash. Good dish but it'll be better next time.

I'm not going to bother curing the pork belly next time. I'll just fry it on cast iron to get the crispy texture and definitely without oil because the pork releases enough of it.

Also I left my russet potatoes in the pot too long. I learned 10 minutes in boiling water is too long for small to medium sized potatoes. I should have poked one of them to check around the 5 minute mark. Another thing I'd do differently is cook it in less butter afterwards. Once I threw the onions in I saw why the recipe called for so much butter but I think I may be able to get away with half the amount.

I am feeling inspired to cook and it was kickstarted by my ebook acquisition of the Bubby's Brunch Cookbook.