Peaches plus

Peaches and rhubarb are only the beginning of peaches-plus combos I have come to love over the last few years; just this summer I’ve also experimented with peach-raspberry tarte tatin, peach-blackberry crumble and, over Christmas, peach-redcurrant jam.

Peach-redcurrant jam

I used what I had in the fruit bowl to make this when I realized I had enthusiastically overbought redcurrants, forgetting that no one but me likes them. This batch was probably about 600 g/20 oz fruit, roughly 65/35 peaches/redcurrants. I added in half the weight of sugar – some of it from my stash of citrus sugar. It wasn’t a long cooking job, as it was such a small amount; I followed my usual method and I got about 2 jars out of it – one 360 g/12 oz size, and one 240 g/8 oz. I didn’t bother with canning for only 2 jars, just stashed them in the fridge for easy access for breakfast toast, yogurt-and-granola, etc.

The peaches and redcurrants make for a great sweet-tart combo – worth a try if you can a) get your hands on some redcurrants (this batch is the only time I’ve seen them for sale anywhere in Australia in the past 6 years) and b) don’t immediately eat them all yourself.

Happy 2018

It's already 2018 in Australia, and in a Christmas-vacation-week fit of inspiration, I've already come up with a list of manageable (and measurable) resolutions/goals for myself. I'm applying one of the lessons I learned in 2017 from reading this fascinating book, and publishing them here as a way of providing external accountability for myself.

1 new recipe/week - to broaden my cooking horizons (and provide RL blog fodder, I hope).

2 new books/month - I spent a lot of 2017 escaping reality by doing what a friend calls "comfort reading" and what I call "re-reading all my favorite books." So this year I'm tackling the very large piles of unread books which have been collecting next to my bed, in my living room, behind my desk...(note: cookbooks don't count). I'm also open to recommendations.

3 minutes meditation/day - the next step of meticulous mindfulness.

4 fasting days/month - I tried intermittent fasting about 5 years ago and found it had a positive effect on my eating habits generally. So I'm going to try it again this year, aiming to start with one day a week. (Maybe some new recipes from this also!)

5 30-minute exercise sessions/week - linked to #4; I've been managing to do some form of dedicated exercise 3 times a week pretty consistently for the last 5+ years, and have found it beneficial for both my physical and mental health, so I'm going to try to bump this up.

6 pages creative writing/week - some for here, and some for destinations TBD.

I'm planning to update on my progress here monthly. If you're looking for external accountability too, feel free to share your 2018 plans/goals/resolutions too.

Happy New Year!

Coffee cake

I've been getting more interested in coffee cake lately, after one of our guests brought a particularly delicious one to the Lasagna Lunch. I've also recently rediscovered one of my favorite flavor combos from my first stint in Australia - rhubarb and peaches - when the first peaches of the season turned up at the farmer's market. I combined them to make a coffee cake which, though I say it myself, was thoroughly delicious.

Rhubarb-peach coffee cake

Dry ingredients

8 oz/240 g self-raising flour

1 tsp/5 g salt

4 Tbsp/60 g sugar (I used my citrus sugar here)

Wet ingredients

4 oz/120 g milk

4 oz/120 g Greek yogurt (for a slightly denser and more complex muffin)

1 tsp/5 g vanilla

2 eggs (= 4 oz/120 g)

4 oz/120 g (1 stick) butter, melted

Embellishments

1 cup chopped rhubarb and peaches, tossed with 1-2 oz/30-60 g sugar

Crumb topping (I used a combination of roughly 2 oz/60 g each butter and sugar + 4 oz/120 g flour)

Heat oven to 350F/180C. Line an 8 in/20 cm square cake pan with parchment paper. 

Make the crumb topping by whisking together the ingredients. (I also added some cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger to the mix.) Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a medium-sized jug, whisk together all the wet ingredients except the butter; add the butter slowly and carefully last, so as not to scramble the egg. Dump wet into dry and whisk until just combined.

Scoop all but about one cup of the batter into the prepared baking pan. Scatter the fruit across the surface of the batter, then do the same with the remaining cup of batter and the crumb topping.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned, rotating pan halfway through.