recipe weekend
Sep. 17th, 2017 08:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitSomething I've cooked recently: Not a lot. I've been on a mission to eat all the summer peaches and tomatoes, and so there's been a lot of bread + tomatoes dressed with olive oil, and bread + tomatoes and mozzarella dressed with olive oil, and bread + tomatoes and ricotta dressed with olive oil. Also I have been "roasting" lots of red bell peppers under the broiler; I should freeze some, because I don't love the jarred kind.
I have baked a couple of nice things with peaches. Last weekend I made this peach and almond upside-down cake. I made a few modifications, as I tend to do: I increased the almond meal to 100 grams and cut the flour down to 155 grams, reduced the sugar in the cake batter to about 180 grams, omitted the almond extract since I didn't have any, and added about half a teaspoon of cardamom to the batter. It turned out very well despite the changes; the cake is a bit crumbly due to the extra almond meal but I don't mind that, and it's definitely sweet enough for my taste despite the reduced sugar.
Today I finally made a recipe I've wanted to try literally for years: Peach Slump with Ricotta Dumplings, from The Joy of Cooking.
A slump is a dessert of stewed fruit topped with dumplings, and I adore dumplings, and for once I finally remembered to buy ricotta and peaches at the same time. The original recipe calls for hazelnuts to be toasted and ground up, but I substituted almond meal since (a) I had almond meal on hand, (b) it was less work, and (c) hazelnuts are expensive.
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 pounds fairly firm peaches (this is a good use for under-ripe peaches)
1/3 cup almond meal
1 cup all-purpose flour (shaken around a bit to lighten and spooned into the cup, then leveled)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup ricotta cheese, preferably whole-milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
Heat the water and sugar gently until the sugar is dissolved, then set aside. (The recipe says to do this in a wide pan, but I did it in a 3-quart saucepan and it worked very well.) Pit the peaches (no need to peel) and cut then into bite-sized chunks. Don't cut them too small. Add the peaches to the sugar syrup and bring to a boil, covered, over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer, still covered, for 10 minutes.
While the peaches are simmering, whisk together the almond meal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the ricotta, eggs, and milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together until well combined.
Lift the lid on the simmering peaches and dollop in the dumpling mix in big spoonfuls. Cover tightly and simmer for 30 minutes without lifting the lid again. Then lift the lid and check if the dumplings are done--they should feel firm and fairly dry. If they're not, simmer for another 5 or 10 minutes. Serve right away.
This is really, really good. The peaches hold their shape pretty well if you use firm ones, and I love the soft but light texture of the dumplings. The dumplings are only barely sweet, which makes them a gorgeous contrast with the sweetness of the fruit and syrup. This would be great to serve to guests, because it's unusual but not complicated. You could do a lot of the work in advance--have the cut peaches ready in the syrup and the dry and wet mixes in their separate bowls--and then it can cook mostly unattended.
Something I have concrete plans to cook in the near future: I don't have any concrete plans, except to keep eating tomatoes and peaches while they last.
Something I vaguely intend to cook someday: tomatoes and peaches aside, I am looking forward to autumn cooking. I want to bake my favorite apple cake again, and maybe a pumpkin roll or pumpkin muffins, and cook chicken with olives and preserved lemon, and make soups and bake bread. And maybe I'll try that Ottolenghi recipe for roasted vegetable tart, although I should probably do that soon while the veggies are still in season.
I have baked a couple of nice things with peaches. Last weekend I made this peach and almond upside-down cake. I made a few modifications, as I tend to do: I increased the almond meal to 100 grams and cut the flour down to 155 grams, reduced the sugar in the cake batter to about 180 grams, omitted the almond extract since I didn't have any, and added about half a teaspoon of cardamom to the batter. It turned out very well despite the changes; the cake is a bit crumbly due to the extra almond meal but I don't mind that, and it's definitely sweet enough for my taste despite the reduced sugar.
Today I finally made a recipe I've wanted to try literally for years: Peach Slump with Ricotta Dumplings, from The Joy of Cooking.
A slump is a dessert of stewed fruit topped with dumplings, and I adore dumplings, and for once I finally remembered to buy ricotta and peaches at the same time. The original recipe calls for hazelnuts to be toasted and ground up, but I substituted almond meal since (a) I had almond meal on hand, (b) it was less work, and (c) hazelnuts are expensive.
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 pounds fairly firm peaches (this is a good use for under-ripe peaches)
1/3 cup almond meal
1 cup all-purpose flour (shaken around a bit to lighten and spooned into the cup, then leveled)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup ricotta cheese, preferably whole-milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
Heat the water and sugar gently until the sugar is dissolved, then set aside. (The recipe says to do this in a wide pan, but I did it in a 3-quart saucepan and it worked very well.) Pit the peaches (no need to peel) and cut then into bite-sized chunks. Don't cut them too small. Add the peaches to the sugar syrup and bring to a boil, covered, over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer, still covered, for 10 minutes.
While the peaches are simmering, whisk together the almond meal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the ricotta, eggs, and milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together until well combined.
Lift the lid on the simmering peaches and dollop in the dumpling mix in big spoonfuls. Cover tightly and simmer for 30 minutes without lifting the lid again. Then lift the lid and check if the dumplings are done--they should feel firm and fairly dry. If they're not, simmer for another 5 or 10 minutes. Serve right away.
This is really, really good. The peaches hold their shape pretty well if you use firm ones, and I love the soft but light texture of the dumplings. The dumplings are only barely sweet, which makes them a gorgeous contrast with the sweetness of the fruit and syrup. This would be great to serve to guests, because it's unusual but not complicated. You could do a lot of the work in advance--have the cut peaches ready in the syrup and the dry and wet mixes in their separate bowls--and then it can cook mostly unattended.
Something I have concrete plans to cook in the near future: I don't have any concrete plans, except to keep eating tomatoes and peaches while they last.
Something I vaguely intend to cook someday: tomatoes and peaches aside, I am looking forward to autumn cooking. I want to bake my favorite apple cake again, and maybe a pumpkin roll or pumpkin muffins, and cook chicken with olives and preserved lemon, and make soups and bake bread. And maybe I'll try that Ottolenghi recipe for roasted vegetable tart, although I should probably do that soon while the veggies are still in season.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-18 03:59 am (UTC)This sounds amazing. I'm curious about it just for the ricotta-and-almond (or -hazelnut) dumplings alone.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-18 05:50 am (UTC)I agree about jarred capsicum - it's either too vinegary or too oily and is never great. Roasted peeled capsicum does freeze well in terms of flavour but when we did it, it was quite squishy when thawed. Still great, though!
no subject
Date: 2017-09-18 08:33 am (UTC)Apparently we're making the Slump recipe as soon as we have peaches. I am pleased!
no subject
Date: 2017-09-24 05:05 pm (UTC)