Peach Crostini with Prosciutto and Ricotta

Is there anything better than a sweet, juicy peach right smack in the middle of summer?  A gorgeous, fat peach that you can almost taste just from the velvety smell of it?  

We are in the midst of a bit of a peach controversy in our house due to this recent article in The New York Times.  The Southern husband was brought up deep in the heart of Georgia which is, as he has pointed out about a thousand times lately, The Peach State.

The teenager, however, is now a full-fledged member of the Clemson University community, located in the great state of South Carolina.  And according to the Times, South Carolina has shipped double the amount of peaches as Georgia this year.  And being the enthusiastic, faithful Clemson Tiger that she now is, she is throwing her hat into South Carolina's ring, peach-wise.

This character is also originally from South Carolina, where she was rescued as a wee puppy.

However, she will pretty much eat anything, anywhere, from anyplace, so she's not taking sides.  She'd also love it if someone would PLEASE throw that dang Frisbee for her already.

Personally,  I'd just like to note for the record that the state in third place, with 32,000 tons of peaches is, yes, New Jersey.  However, regardless of where you get your peaches, make sure you get some just so you can try this nifty little appetizer.  Toast up some thin slices of french bread and top them with a spoonful of ricotta cheese and some fresh ground pepper.  Now lay a few shreds of prosciutto on the cheese, drizzle with a little honey, and top with a peach slice or two.

It's enough to make the peach factions lay down their arms and come together for a quick snack!

Peach Crostini with Prosciutto and Ricotta, adapted slightly from Bon Appetit

• 12 slices french bread
• 1 ripe peach
• 12 tablespoons fresh ricotta
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 thin slices prosciutto
• Honey

1. Preheat ovem to 350.  Brush bread slices with olive oil and bake until just crisp, about 10 minutes.
2. Halve, pit, and thinly slice peach.
3. Spoon about 1 tablespoon ricotta onto each toast and sprinkle with ground pepper. 
4. Tear prosciutto into feathery pieces and drape a few slices over ricotta on each.
5. Drizzle each with honey and top with 2 peach slices.

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Grilled Lebanese Flatbread

There's something about bread on the grill that is just out of this world.  Grilled cheese sandwiches, grilled pizza, grilled bread for open-faced sandwiches (my current summer obsession)...all of these things that are normally made inside take on a magical quality with just that tiny bit of charred-ness you get only from the grill.

And one of my most favorite variations on this is just plain old flatbread.  It's a quick and easy dough that you mix up in 5 minutes, let rise for an hour or so, knead for a few minutes and then roll out.  Brush it with olive oil, pop it on the grill, and about 5 minutes later you have this:

Gorgeous, warm, crusty bread.  You can tear it up and use it as something to spread cheese or hummus on.  You can dip it into a bowl of olive oil seasoned with pepper and rosemary.  You can use it as the base for an avocado, egg and smoked salmon sandwich.  Or you can just stand next to the grill the second it comes off and eat it right there.  I may or may not have been known to have done that.

Grills.  They're not just for burgers anymore.  

Grilled Lebanese Flatbread, from Mark Bittman

• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• Extra virgin olive oil as needed

1. Whisk together the salt, sugar, yeast and 1 cup warm water in a large bowl. Let the mixture sit until it begins to froth, about 5 minutes, then add the flour and mix until well combined. (If the dough is very dry, add more warm water a tablespoon at a time to moisten it.) Cover and let rise somewhere warm for about an hour.
2. Meanwhile, prepare a grill; the heat should be medium-high and the rack about 4 inches from the fire. When the dough has puffed up, transfer it to a well-floured surface and knead until soft and silky, 5 to 8 minutes.
3. Cut the dough into 8 equally sized pieces and roll each one out until it’s about 6 inches in diameter; don’t worry about making these perfectly round, but try to keep them relatively even in thickness. Brush one side of the breads with olive oil and put as many on the grill, oiled side down, as will comfortably fit at one time. While the first side cooks, brush the side facing you with more oil; when the breads begin to brown and puff up, flip them. When the second side is nicely browned, remove from the grill and serve immediately.

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Grilled Provolone, Egg and Pancetta Sandwiches

There are grilled cheese sandwiches, and then there are Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.  Before the teenager left for college, grilled cheese meant American cheese inside two slices of white bread, fried in a little butter until golden brown.  She's a grilled cheese purist, and hey, that is a perfectly good grilled cheese sandwich.

But here in our newly empty nest we are pushing the boundaries a little, grilled cheese-wise.  The empty nest version uses provolone cheese that has been set on top of thinly sliced sourdough bread and put in a skillet with a little butter until the cheese is melted.

While this is happening, we are cooking up some pancetta (thin round Italian bacon, and if you can't find it, regular bacon will work just fine) until it is just crispy.  While it is draining on paper towels, cook up a couple of fried eggs in that same skillet until they are just set.

Now lay a couple pieces of bacon on top of the melted cheese toast, lay an egg on top, and sprinkle with some grated parmesan cheese and a little basil.  Slice off a bite, making sure to get some of every single ingredient, and chew it up nice and slowly.

Realize that while you miss your teenager like crazy, there are advantages to living in a house where you don't always have to break out the American cheese when you are making grilled cheese for lunch.

Grilled Provolone, Egg and Pancetta Sandwiches, adapted from Bon Appetit

12 slices of pancetta (Italian bacon), or 4 regular bacon slices cut into thirds
2 tablespoons butter
4 slices sourdough bread
8 thin slices provolone cheese
4 large eggs
Parmesan cheese shavings
12 fresh basil leaves 

1. Cook pancetta or bacon in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Transfer to paper towels. Reserve skillet with drippings.
2. Melt butter in extra-large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 4 bread slices; top each with 2 provolone slices. Sprinkle with black pepper. Cook until cheese melts, 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat skillet with drippings over medium heat. Crack eggs into skillet; cook until whites are set but yolks are still runny, 2 to 3 minutes. 

4. Set 6 pancetta slices and 2 eggs atop each of 2 cheese toasts. Top eggs with Parmesan, and basil. Cut sandwiches in half and serve.

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Pan Roasted Baby Artichokes

Let's pretend you told me that I could only eat one vegetable for the rest of my life, and I had to choose immediately.  I'd have a quick pang about corn, and asparagus, but it wouldn't really be a tough decision.  I'm an artichoke girl at heart...I love the prickly, ornery things.  Next to nice, cooperative, easy veggies like spinach and string beans they are a pain in the neck to prepare, and usually a complete work-out to eat, but they are just so dang scrumptious.  I do love a vegetable that plays hard to get.

However, I did recently find a recipe that tames the artichoke just a little, and is a glorious, easy, versatile extravaganza of artichoke wonderfulness.  The key to this is getting baby artichokes - cute little guys that have not grown up enough to have the prickly, hard-to-deal-with choke in the middle.  Lately I have been finding them in little plastic cases in my regular old supermarket - about 9 to a case, which is perfect.  Here's what you do.

Take each baby artichoke and pull off the first few layers of those tough outside leaves.  You're looking for the more tender, light green layer of leaves towards the middle.  Once you get the outside layer off, grab your sharpest knife and lop off the stem, as close to the bottom as you can get, and the top 1/2 inch or so of the remaining leaves.  Now cut the artichoke into halves and then quarters, length-wise.  Drop the quarters into a bowl of cold water with lemon juice in it while you do the same thing to the rest of the artichokes.  It will take you about 10-15 minutes, tops, and by the end you will have worked out all your frustrations of the day.  It's very satisfying.

Now heat up about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of olive oil in a medium size skillet until it is smoking hot.  Drain the artichokes, blot them to get the water off, and then carefully add them to the oil along with a generous dose of salt and pepper.  Roast them in the oil for about 5 minutes or until they are tender...spear one with a knife to check.  Once they are tender, toss in some fresh chopped parsley, a little minced garlic and some red pepper, and stir it around for a minute.  Done!

Now, if you are going to serve them as is, you will want to scoop them out of the oil and drain them on some paper towels.  However, if you want to go direct to artichoke heaven, you can toss the whole thing - artichokes, oil, the entire shebang - into a bowl of hot pasta and toss.  Sprinkle with some parmesan cheese, a grinding of fresh pepper, and ask yourself what vegetable YOU would want if you were on a desert island.  

Artichokes, baby.

Pan Roasted Baby Artichokes, from The New York Times

• 24 baby artichokes, about 3 pounds
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Red pepper flakes
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped fine
• 3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Coarse sea salt
• Lemon wedges or red wine vinegar, for serving.

1. Peel off and discard a few outer petals of the artichokes until you reach the pale, tender center. Trim the top and stem end, then quarter each artichoke. There should be no discernible choke, but if there is, remove it with a paring knife. Put the artichokes in a bowl of cold water to which the lemon juice has been added.

2. In a wide, heavy, nonaluminum skillet, heat a 1/2 inch of olive oil over medium heat. Drain and blot the artichokes and, when the oil is nearly smoking, carefully add them to the skillet. Season well with salt and pepper, stirring to coat with oil. Let the artichokes brown slightly, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, until they are tender when probed with a paring knife.

3. Add the red pepper, garlic and parsley. Stir well and let sizzle for a minute or so. Transfer the artichokes to a platter, sprinkle with coarse salt and serve with lemon wedges, or sprinkle sparingly with red wine vinegar. Eat hot, or at room temperature. 

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Pasta with Shredded Chicken and Rosemary

I've said it before and I'll say it again...if a recipe has the words "shredded" and "chicken" in it, I am completely, 100% in.  There's something about bite-sized pieces of chicken that just means comfort food to me, and if you include a little pasta and cheese with it...oh my goodness.

And this particular one also involves one of my favorite fresh herbs, conveniently one that is currently growing like gangbusters in my back yard.  Rosemary!  If you are ever feeling blue, rub a few rosemary leaves between your fingers and inhale deeply.  It's pretty much guaranteed to make you feel better.

Anyway.  This is a fast and simple dish that will make short work of any leftover cooked chicken you have in your fridge.  Whenever I am grilling chicken for anything else, I make sure to throw a few extra pieces on, because grilled chicken is just about perfect in recipes like this one.  Let it come to room temperature and tear it into those nice little bite-sized pieces while you are cooking up some pasta.  I like to use orecchiette (those little round ones) because they do such a nice job of holding the sauce, but pretty much any short pasta will do.  Make sure you salt the pasta water up good, and scoop out some of the pasta water right before you drain it.

Once the drained pasta is back in the pot, toss in the chicken, some parmesan cheese, some of that glorious fresh rosemary, a little salt and pepper, and enough pasta water to make it into a nice light sauce.  Simmer it until everything is all warm and blended together.  Now all you have to to is spoon it into plates and dig in.

Shredded chicken...it never lets me down.

Pasta with Shredded Chicken and Rosemary, adapted from Real Simple

• 12 ounces orecchiette (about 3 cups)
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
• Coarse salt and black pepper

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve 1 ¼ cups of the cooking water. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot.
2. Toss the pasta with the chicken, rosemary, reserved pasta water, ½ cup of the Parmesan, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
3. Cook, stirring, over medium-low heat, until the sauce has thickened slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup of Parmesan. 

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Zucchini Pasta with Ricotta

So, how's the zucchini out by you these days?  Here in sultry New Jersey it has us surrounded, which is as good an excuse as any to make this easy pasta dish for supper...and which in turn lets me indulge two of my favorite things to do; using my lethal weapon of a mandoline, and making yet another pot of fresh ricotta.  Neither one of which should scare you off, since you can make this dish perfectly nicely with a regular knife and ricotta from the store, but I'm just saying.

Anyway, slice up your zucchini into nice long strips in whatever way you like to do it, and roasted them with a little olive oil until they are nice and golden and wonderful.  In the meantime, cook up a pot of linguine, and make sure you save a little of the pasta water before you drain it.  (This is a good basic rule in life...a little pasta water can do amazing things for pretty much any pasta sauce that needs just a teeny bit of loosening.)  

Now toss that pasta sauce with a little olive oil and salt and pepper, and then gently stir in some of your roasted zucchini.  Drizzle in a little of the pasta water if you think it needs it.  Top with some ricotta (and if you do want to make your own, click here for my favorite - and quick! - way to make it), and a little lemon zest.  Done!

Take that, zucchini!

Zucchini Pasta with Ricotta, from Everyday Food

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
• 2 pounds zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 pound linguine
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup ricotta

1. Preheat oven to 450. Brush two rimmed baking sheets with oil. Arrange zucchini in a single layer on sheets and brush tops with oil; season with salt and pepper. Roast zucchini until tender and lightly golden in parts, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.
   
2. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook linguine according to package instructions. Drain pasta and return to pot. Add oil, lemon zest, and zucchini and toss to combine. Serve pasta topped with ricotta.

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Corn Fritters!

I will pretty much eat anything that is described as a fritter, which basically means something that is held together with a thick batter and deep-fried.  This approach to life got me in deep trouble one summer at the shore when I passed by a deep-fried Oreo stand (a word to the wise, if you must have an Oreo fritter, stop with one.  Don't go for three.  It will only end in tears.)

Anyway, this recipe, which comes from the wonderful cookbook A SOUTHERLY COURSE, calls these Corn Oysters...I think because they would be a good vegetarian stand-in for fried oysters..but to me they are just dang good corn fritters, made with a classic buttermilk, flour, corn meal and egg batter, mixed up with some fresh corn and, of course, deep fried.  Sometimes you just have to.

The key with this one is to separate the eggs.  The yolks get mixed into the regular batter, while the white get beaten and folded in at the end.  Somehow this turns the whole thing into a light, golden bundle of fritter heaven.  A little salt sprinkled over the top, and I could forget there was such a thing as an Oreo anywhere on the planet.

Fritters!  :)

Corn Fritters, adapted from A SOUTHERLY COURSE

• 2 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 teaspoon dark brown sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 6 ears fresh corn, kernels sliced off the cob
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Coarse salt

1. Whisk together egg yolks, brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Add the corn and stir to combine.
2. Whisk togethet the hour, cornmeal and baking powder with the remaining salt.  Stir into the corn mixture until just combined.
3. Heat 2 inches of oil in a large pot or skillet to 325 degrees.
4. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into corn mixture until well combined.  Drop batter into the oil by tablespoonfuls and fry for 2-3 minutes per side until golden.  Drain on a wire rack set over paper towels.  Sprinkle with coarse salt and serve!

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Spicy Chilled BLT Soup

It all started with this guy.

Here's the thing.  I can grow herbs with no problem...LOTS of them.  Basil, tarragon, rosemary, parsley, thyme, sage, mint and mint and more mint.  But that's it...when it comes to vegetables I am a dismal failure.  My mom, on the other hand, can grow tomatoes and green beans and pumpkins and zucchini and a million other things, and when I was leaving her house the other day I embezzled this guy from a giant jalapeno pepper bush that she had going.  (Bush?  Vine?  Plant?  Tree?  I don't know the technical term...I just know I saw him, and he was calling out to me, so I picked him.)

And then I remembered that I had this recipe for a spicy BLT soup that I had been meaning to make, and guess what it called for...yep.  One perfect little jalapeno.  And this is as good a time as any to give you my standard jalapeno advice, which is to wear surgical gloves (which you can get by the box) in your friendly neighborhood drugstore.  All it takes is forgetting to do this and then taking out your contact lenses ONE time to emblazon this on your brain forever and ever.

Anyway.  The soup is basically a quick and easy gazpacho-type number, which is thickened up a little by adding some torn up breads before you puree it.  And then just before you serve it, you garnish it with however much B, L and T you would like.  (I like a lot.  I am all about the garnish in this one.)  You could also float some nice homemade croutons on top if you have any hanging around...I didn't, but I plan to next time.

And to think, it all started with a stolen pepper!

Spicy BLT Soup, adapted from COOKING BY THE MOMENT

• 2 pounds chopped tomatoes
• Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1 small cucumber, peeled and chopped
• 1-2 jalapenos (depending on how spicy you like things), stemmed, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, smashed and peeled
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1 slice white bread, crust removed and torn into pieces
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• Crumbled cooked bacon, shredded lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes and croutons for garnish

1. Sprinkle tomatoes with 1/4 teaspoon salt and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Combine tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, onion, garlic, vinegar, bread, oil and sugar in blender and puree until smooth, about one minute.  Refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours.
3. Stir, season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with as much garnish as you like!

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Texas-Style Blueberry Cobbler

Okay, first imagine your regular blueberry cobbler, which usually involves a thick, sweet biscuit dough dropped on top of blueberries.  Now rewind and imagine that instead of that biscuit dough you have a lighter batter - think almost pancake batter - that you drop the blueberries on top of instead of the other way around.  Now imagine that you sprinkle the whole thing with a lemon-infused sugar, and that this lighter dough rises up all around the blueberries as it bakes, and that the edges get a little bit crunchy but the center is still light and sweet and mingled with the blueberries, which have sort of melted into a warm lemony blueberry jam.

I think I have to go breathe into a brown paper bag for a minute.

Anyway, apparently this is how they do cobbler in Texas, or that's what the folks at Cooks Country are telling me.  And whether it is Texas or New Jersey or anywhere else on the planet, I'm here to tell you that this is my new Cobbler Of Choice...I can't imagine ever going back now.  Apparently if you are going to be COMPLETELY traditional, you need to make this with peaches instead of blueberries, and believe me when I say peaches are next on my cobbler list.  And then blueberries again.  And then blueberries AND peaches.  And then....well, you see where this is going.  One way or the other, you need to make this. 

Here's the recipe, Texas-style!

Texas-Style Blueberry Cobbler, from Cooks Country

• 4 tablespoons butter cut into 4 pieces
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 3 cups blueberries
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Place 4 tablespoons cut up butter in 9x13 inch baking pan and put in oven until butter is melted, 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove but leave oven on.
2. Pulse 1/4 cup sugar and lemon zest in food processor until combined, about 5 pulses.
3. Using potato masher, mash blueberries with 1 tablespoon of the lemon sugar until berries are coarsely crushed.
4. Combine flour, remaining sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl.  Whisk in 8 tablespoons melted cooled butter and milk until smooth.  Pour batter into the baking dish with the melted butter.
5. Drop spoonfuls of blueberry mixture evenly over batter, sprinkle with remaining lemon sugar and bake until golden brown and edges are crispy, about 45-50 minutes.
6. Cool about 30 minutes and serve warm.

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Grilled Clams with Lemon Ginger Butter

Okay, so I know that clams are probably not the first thing you think of when you get that urge to crank up the grill.  Me either...my mind goes right to burgers, or chicken, or (my fave!) grilled pizza.  But one day I happened across a recipe for grilled clams with lemon ginger butter and grilled bread, and I just couldn't look away.  Live dangerously, I thought, and I went out and bought me a couple of pounds of clams.

Now, you aren't actually putting the clams directly on the grill itself.  They are going to cook in one of those big disposable aluminum pans that you can get in the supermarket, and which you can toss after dinner, thereby saving you (or your Southern husband) from washing yet another dish.  But before we get to the clams, we need to discuss the lemon ginger butter.  Prepare yourself.

You take a 1/2 a stick of soft butter, and mix it up with some minced shallot, some chopped fresh parsley, a little lemon juice, some lemon peel, and some minced fresh ginger.  Add in a little salt and pepper.  Now take a few slices of French bread and spread a thin layer of this fabulous butter on one side.

Now crank your barbecue up to high and lay the clams in a single layer in your aluminum pan.  You may need two pans, which worked out great for me since my store sells them in sets of two.  It's like it was meant to be.

Put the pan on the grill, close the cover, and open it up about 8-10 minutes later.  The clams should now be opened up and cooked.  So far so good!  Scoop the clams out with a slotted spoon and pop them in a big serving bowl.  Your pan will have a nice amount of clam juice in it - this is good.  Very good.  Grab the rest of the lemon butter that didn't go onto the bread, add it to the pan, and put the pan back on the grill until it is all melted and wonderful.

Now you have your lovely cooked clams...

And your hot melted butter sauce...now pop the buttered bread on the grill and toast it until it is all wonderfully charred and crispy.

Now take the pans of lemon butter juice and pour it over the clams in the bowl.  All of it.  Go crazy.

I don't bother dividing the clams among separate plates - I just put the big bowl in the center of the table with the toasted bread, give everyone a plate with some toasted bread, put another bowl on the table for the empty shells, and say "Dig in!!"

And you thought the grill was just for burgers.  :)

Grilled Clams with Lemon Ginger Butter, from Epicurious

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature
• 4 teaspoons minced shallot
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
• 6 1/2-inch-thick diagonal baguette slices
• 2 pounds Manila clams, scrubbed

1.Prepare barbecue (high heat). Using spatula, blend butter, minced shallot, minced fresh parsley, fresh lemon juice, minced fresh ginger, and finely grated lemon peel in small bowl; season to taste with salt and pepper. Thinly spread lemon-ginger butter on 1 side of each bread slice. Arrange clams in single layer in disposable aluminum pan. Place pan on grill, cover barbecue, and cook just until clams open, 8 to 10 minutes (discard any clams that do not open).


2. Using slotted spoon, transfer grilled clams to 2 shallow bowls. Grill bread until slightly charred, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Add remaining lemon-ginger butter to juices in pan; stir on grill until melted. Pour juices from pan over clams. Serve with bread.

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Orzo with Goat Cheese, Peas and Mint

Usually, I make a big deal of Eating Dinner Together At The Dining Room Table As a Family.  Especially on Sundays.  There's just something about being at the table, with placemats and candles and fabric napkins that makes me feel like all is right with the world.  And now that my teenager is leaving for college in a matter of days, I've gotten even more, shall we say, insistent?  I'm trying to memorize every last detail of her sunny face across the table from me.  Somehow I don't think gazing into this face across the table is going to be the same.

Although I'm thinking I am going to miss the teenager so incredibly much that I might actually break down and let the dog sit in her chair, just so it's not so, well, EMPTY.

Anyway.  Family dinners are great, but every once in a while there is nothing like eating supper out of mis-matched bowls on the sofa in front of a movie, with the dog curled up at your feet looking pleadingly at whatever you are eating.   And this is one of those meals - a warm, comforting, cheesy bowl of easy to eat orzo mixed up with just enough wonderful and comforting things to make it both interesting and scrumptious.

And putting it together could not be easier.  Cook up some orzo, which is rice-shaped pasta and one of the world's best comfort foods.  Once it is done and drained, pour it into a bowl and stir it up with a little olive oil and lemon zest, and then toss in some peas (fresh are fabulous if you can find them, but frozen cooked peas will work just fine), some crumbled goat cheese, a little fresh chopped mint and some salt and pepper.  Voila!  Instant comforting coziness...it's great warm, warm temperature or even as a chilled pasta salad kind of dish.

Personally, I plan to eat mine at all different temperatures curled up on the coach until my baby comes home for Thanksgiving break.  I hope the orzo supply holds out!

Orzo with Goat Cheese, Peas and Mint

• 1 pound orzo, cooked
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
• I cup peas, fresh or frozen and thawed
• 6 ounces crumbled goat cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
• Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

1. Combine hot cooked orzo with olive oil and lemon zest.

2. Stir in remaining ingredients.  Can be served warm or cold!

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Peaches and Cream Pie

Peaches, peaches, peaches.  I love them...the way they taste, the way they smell, the fact that they are perfect, perfect symbol of summer.  

However.  They are NOT the easiest fruit in the world to work with when you are baking with them.  You have to boil them for a few minutes in order to peel them, and then you have to deal with getting the dang peach pit out of the center.  All the peaches I have ever met hang on to that pit for dear life, and so I usually end up spending a lot of quality time with my paring knife and peach juice running down my arm.  So if I am going to go through all that (and who knows, maybe it is just me and the rest of the world only runs into well-behaved peaches), then whatever I am making better be worth it.

Ladies and gentlemen, please meet Peaches and Cream Pie, otherwise known as Worth It.

One of my other issues is usually with peach pies...actually with most fruit pies...and that is that while they are usually scrumptious, they are also, well, super-messy.  All that lovely juice quadruples in volume in the oven, and when you cut into your gorgeous pie it kind of collapses on you into a delicious but soupy puddle of fruit and crust.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but just once I wanted to make a well-behaved pie.  And here it is...and here's the secret.

You still have to wrangle with the peaches - the peeling, the pitting, etc - but once you have your peaches peeled and pitted and cut in half, you lay them on a foil-lined cookie sheet and sprinkle them with some sugar, and then you bake them until they have caramelized and released some of that juice I was talking about.  (And as an extra added bonus, you can also pre-bake your pie shell in the very same oven.  Better and better!).

Then you slice up the caramelized peaches, drop them in your conveniently pre-baked pie-shell, and cover the whole thing with a custard mixture of eggs and cream and bake it until it is golden and wonderful and perfect.  You can tell when people start wandering into the kitchen and lurking around near the oven.  You then have to break the news that not only does it have to cool for about three hours, but you were actually planning to serve it AFTER dinner and not before.

Of course, you could make an exception, just this once.

Peaches and Cream Pie, from Cooks Country

• One 9 inch unbaked pie shell
• 2 pounds ripe peaches, peeled, halved and pitted
• 2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Cover pie shell with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 40 minutes, then freeze for 20 minutes.  Adjust oven racks to upper middle and lower middle positions and preheat to 375.  Line chilled pie shell with foil and top with pie weights.

2. Place peach halves cut side up on foil-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar.  Bake on the upper middle rack until softened and juice starts to release, about 30 minutes, flipping halfway through baking.  Now add pie crust to oven on the lower middle rack and bake for 15 minutes.  Carefully remove foil and weights and bake crust and peaches for 5 minutes more.  Remove and cool both crust and peaches for 15 minutes.

3. Reduce oven to 325.  Cut peaches length-wise in quarters and arrange in a single layer over crust.  Combine remaining sugar, flour and salt in bowl.  Whisk in cream, egg yolks and vanilla until smooth and pour the mixture over the peaches.  Bake until filling is light golden and set, about 45-55 minutes.  Cool for three hours before serving.

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How To Make Fresh Ricotta

Okay, the first thing I have to say is, hang in there with me for a few minutes.  I know you are thinking, make your own cheese?  REALLY?  Here on this blog where I have said about a million times, it's all about getting in and out of the kitchen in 30 minutes or less?  Has she finally eaten one too many piece of bacon and gone off her rocker?  

Hang in there with me while I promise you these three things:

1. If you can boil water, you can make your own ricotta cheese.

2. It will take you less than 15 minutes from start to finish.

3. It will taste so good, you will wonder why on earth it took you so long
to figure out that you should have been making
your own ricotta cheese for the past hundred years.

4. It will take all your willpower not to stand there next to
your bowl of delicious fresh ricotta
and not eat it all in one fell swoop.

Okay, that's four things, and I have no idea what a fell swoop is.  But you get my drift.  Try it with me just once, and I promise you will be hooked for life.  Here's what you do.

Get out your handy strainer and put it in your sink.  Line it with a little cheesecloth, which you can find in your supermarket, sometimes with the baking stuff and sometimes with the laundry stuff, for mysterious reasons.  I usually fold it into a square that has about 3-4 layers until it looks like this.  This will take you two minutes.

Now take a nice heavy saucepan and pour in 4 cups of whole milk, one cup of buttermilk, and 1/3 cup of heavy cream.  Set it on the stove and put the heat on to medium high and bring it to a boil.  In the early going, you may want to clip a candy thermometer on to the pot so you can watch the temperature, because when the temperature gets to about 185 degrees, the curds (the solid part) will have separated from the whey (the liquid part), and it's time to strain it.  If you don't have thermometer don't fret, because you can pretty much see it happening.  The milk mixture will boil, and it will gradually curdle and separate into the solids (the curds) and the watery looking liquid (the whey).  This will take about 10 minutes...sometimes less.  When it does, take the pot off the burner and reach for your handy slotted spoon, and start scooping out the solids, letting the liquid drain off.  Drop the spoonfuls of solids into your strainer.

I like to sprinkle a little coarse salt onto the cheese every couple of spoonfuls or so.  Once you are done, let it drain for about 2 minutes (if you like your ricotta moist) or 5 minutes (if you like it drier).  You can leave it right in the strainer, or you can be like I was when I first made it and hang it dramatically from your kitchen faucet (see picture above).  Taste it after a few minutes...if it's gotten too dry just stir in a tablespoon or two of milk, and if it's too moist for you, let it keep draining.

Fifteen minutes have now passed, and you have made your own ricotta cheese.

And if you are like me, you will never even LOOK at those ricotta containers in the supermarket again.  

Things you can make with your glorious ricotta include...

Summer Lasagna.  A cool lasagna that includes fresh zucchini, sweet little cherry tomatoes, basil from your back yard...and ricotta.

Zucchini Carpaccio.  Almost as fun to pronounce as it is to eat.  Almost.

Or you can cook up some soft scrambled eggs with fresh chives and during the last minute of cooking, swirl in some ricotta.  Heaven.

Or you can just stand there at your kitchen counter and eat it with the closest available spoon.   I may or may not have done this at times.

Happy fresh ricotta.  No fear!

Easy Fresh Ricotta, adapted from the 101 Cookbooks recipe

• 4 cups whole milk
• One cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• Coarse salt

1. Line a fine mesh strainer with several folds of cheesecloth and set it in your sink.

2. Combine milk, buttermilk and cream in medium heavy saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil until cooking thermometer registers 185 degrees...if you don't have a thermometer, keep an eye on it to see when the curds (the solid white parts) are mostly separated from the whey (the cloudy liquid).  This will take about 10 minutes...stir a couple of times during the boiling process.

3. Remove from heat and using a slotted spot, scoop spoonfuls of the curd into the cheesecloth-lined strainer, sprinkling with a little salt every few spoonfuls or so.

4. Let the ricotta drain for about 5 minutes and then taste to check the consistency.  If you like it drier, then let it drain a little more.  If you like it moister, stir in a tablespoon or two of milk.  This ricotta is best used right away, but will keep for a day or two in the fridge. 

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