Peaches for breakfast

     One of the better parts about summer, aside from the balmy weather and long days, is the amazing produce that is available.  I have nothing against apples and oranges, but my real fruit love sits squarely in the summer cornucopia:  berries and stone fruits.  I cannot get enough.
     In my exuberance to surround myself with these items, I occasionally buy too many at the store (shocking!), and then rashly set them out on the fruit tray in the kitchen.  Lo!  I get up one morning, and all said fruits are now on the verge of becoming moldy or at least chicken food.
     This very situation occurred to me this morning, with teetering-on-the-edge peaches and nectarines staring me in the face.  What to do?
     Oh, did I mention the other conundrum of the summer months?  Those blessed chickens, the ones that live at 6024 Chicken Lane, are in high production mode right now.  With the long days, we get between 3-7 eggs per day, and that doesn't even count the quail eggs.  Which is another topic for a different post.  So basically, we are swimming in stone fruits and eggs at our house.
     Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, just in need of creative ways to utilize the fruits of the season.  And what, dear friends, utilizes both of these items?  Clafoutis!  As I explained to Bryce, a clafoutis is basically one of the many foods that uses milk, flour and eggs.  The differences between pancakes, dutch babies, custard, clafoutis and various other cousins in this family is the proportion of those 3 ingredients.  Plus, in the case of said clafoutis, you get to add fruit, as it that is the classic presentation.  Frankly, I don't think I would care so much for one without fruit.  Classically it's cherries, but oh well, it was stone fruits that I used.  The consistency is more pudding-like, akin to custard.
     I found the basic recipe for this on the Fine Cooking website, but then manipulated it rather heavily.  And then my neighbor Robb basically pounded down my door to get some, so a blog post was in the making....

Stone Fruit Clafoutis 

serves 3-4, depending on whether Robb is around

1 T sliced almonds, toasted

2 T butter

1 lb fruit, I used peaches and nectarines, cut into coarse pieces

6T sugar, divided

1/2 c flour

1/4 t table salt

3 eggs

3/4 c milk

1/4 c cream

1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 425F.  If you are attentive enough, you can toast the almonds in the oven while you prepare the fruit, then remove and set aside, with 2 tsp of the sugar.  

While you are preheating the oven, put a ceramic pie plate in there to preheat with it.

Melt the butter in a skillet, add the fruit and sauté until the juices are reduced, about 3-5 minutes.  Add 3 T sugar, and continue to sauté, another 1-2 min. Remove from heat.

Whisk the flour and salt together, plus the remainder of the sugar, add the eggs and whisk until no lumps remain, then add milk, cream and vanilla.  

When the oven is hot, remove the pie plate, carefully butter the pan (I use the non-stick spray stuff), add the fruit and juices, and spread around evenly.  Add the milk/flour mixture.  

Bake about 7 min, then sprinkle the almond sugar mixture on top.  Bake another 8 minutes, or until the center is set, and the edges are puffed, golden and starting to pull away from the edges.  

Remove from oven and resist the urge to eat right away, let sit 10-15 min.  Then dig in. 

Notes:  this would serve equally well as a dessert....Also, other stone fruits, such as apricots, would be just as amazing.  

Utterly Simple Shrimp and Bittersweet Transitions

      Don't you just hate it when life throws you a curveball?  It's not like you can't hit it out of the park (or maybe you can't), but it's really inconvenient.  Irritating perhaps.  Heaven knows I have had my share of curveballs and I am sure there are more to come.  But it doesn't mean that I like them.  It also means that I am entitled to kvetch about them, as a sort of retort to the cosmos.
     This curveball is one that has, admittedly, been a long time coming.  I have no excuse as to unexpectedness.  But, being human, I have delayed the real grappling with this item.  Now it is nigh and delays are no longer an option.
      Being a Seattleite, if one is inclined to stereotypes, I am slow to embrace new social contacts.  I find large social gatherings painful.  I am loathe to engage in activities with relative strangers.  So I tend as well to keep my friends near, where I can reach them.
     Katie is without a doubt one of my oldest and dearest friends.  She has been nothing less than true blue and always there for me.  We go back over 20 years, to when we used to live across the street from each other.
     In the spirit of great tolerance and indulgence, she graciously accepted my ribbon-tied zucchinis on her porch, which sealed our fate, I think.  Our daughters are 10 months apart and are each other's oldest friends as well.  We have had many laughs and tears.  She has been my social link to many other folks I otherwise would never have had the social stamina to meet.
      We share countless interests:  gardening, books, music, love of the outdoors.  Doubtless one of the greatest shared interests is food.  No one shares the zest, nay, lust for food the way she does.   We have had countless conversations that started with, "I made a great dinner last night....."  after which she or I would proceed to regale the other with what it involved.
      This goes beyond what we cook.  No one else is as interested in sharing dishes in a restaurant and ordering a variety to really get a feel for a menu.  We share sandwiches, salads, entrees.  While others are hoarding their dishes to themselves, we always want to split our items.
     While she is best known for her amazing cakes and pastries, thanks to her pastry chef years, what I  marvel at the most is the simple but truly amazing foods that she makes, and the recipes that are hers alone.  Among these are her Veggie Soup, Mango Salsa, her Artichoke Dipping Sauce, her Thai Fish Sauce.  That is a mere sample.  We created a Christmas Seafood Stew a few years ago that is transcendent.
     Geez, this sounds like she died.   She hasn't, but she is moving away.  Away as in Bend, Oregon, which is a good 6 hour drive away.   So, while I have known that this was coming for a long time now, it is really happening in a week or so, and I'm NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS.  Neither is she, but it is what it is.
      That hasn't stopped us from making terrific food.  I was at her place a couple days ago and had the most amazing shrimp.  You use the Trader Joe's large shrimp, butterfly them, marinate them in one of her super simple marinades, skewer them and toss them on the grill.  We had them surf and turf style on Sunday with salad and potatoes.
      I loved them so much I made them again tonight, and threw them on a salad.  It's one of those 'signature' recipes that can go in many directions.  Just change up the herbs and you have a new dish.
      And as for Katie, I am going to miss her like my right arm.  The summer seems like it will be dull and quiet without her here.  
      I try to look on the bright side though:  I have a place to visit!  And it's a short flight!  They have cell phone and internet service there!  And if we are lucky, Bend won't be a culinary wasteland, and we will have many more entrees to split.   Katie, we might be living in different states soon, but I intend to keep you near anyway.  Maybe I will send you a zucchini or three.  You won't have your own garden so you will need them....

KT's Grilled Shrimp in a Lemon Vinaigrette

Serves 2-4

16 oz colossal shrimp (We use the Wild Blue Shrimp from TJ's)

               (defrosted, butterflied)

2T lemon juice

1 clove garlic minced

4T Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

2-4T chopped herbs:  I used basil, but use whatever is fresh

1/4 t paprika (optional)

Toss all ingredients together, let marinate 30-60 min.  Skewer and grill, turn once after 2 min, depending on how hot your grill is.  

This dish has many uses.  On pasta, a salad, as part of a meal with a salad or steamed veggies, an on and on the list is endless.