Fried Peaches

I describe this as a peach wrapped in a churro!

• 4 ripe peaches (1/2 a peach = 1 serving)
• 1.5 cups flour
• salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup cold water
• 1.5 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp brandy
• 4 egg whites
• Vegetable oil (enough to cover–have a whole bottle handy)
• For coating the fried batter:
  • sugar
  • ground cinnamon

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the salt, flour, and egg yolks. Start mixing and pour in the water slowly followed by the brandy. Let this continue to stir for a minute or two until the batter becomes thick and smooth in appearance. Transfer this to another bowl and set it aside to rest for two hours

Now that its closer to frying time, get a pot of water boiling. Slit an X on the bottom of the peaches and place them in the hot water for about 30-60 seconds. Remove, plunge in an ice bath briefly, and now peeling off the skin should be a fairly easy task.

While you do this, fill a sturdy pot with enough oil to cover the peach halves and warm it up to about 350°F (figure around 10 minutes of medium-high heat on the stove top).

Now, back to the stand mixer. Beat the egg whites until you get firm peaks. Lighten the batter by mixing in about a quarter of the fluffed egg whites. Then, gently fold in the rest of the egg whites, taking care to only fold as much as is necessary as you don’t want to beat all the air out. The air is where you get the fluffiness for the end result.

With the batter all ready to go, the peaches halved, and the oil hot (drop in a bit of batter to verify its hot–it ought to bubble and ascend right up to the surface quickly), its time to get frying. Plunge a peach half into the batter, ensure its coated all over, and get it right into the oil (taking care not to splash it or burn yourself!). Work in batches, as whenever you deep fry, you want to keep the oil at a steady, hot temperature. Putting in a lot at once will drop the temperature and just lead to sad, soggy batter.

The batter should immediately poof up. After about 45 seconds go by, do your best to turn the peaches over so both sides brown evenly.

After about a minute and a half, its time to fish out the peaches. Let them drain on some paper towel, and when just cool enough to handle and not soaked in oil (but still hot and glistening), roll the peaches in a bit of mixed sugar and cinnamon so as to coat them like a powdered donut.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

A mild summer time salad!

4 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into approx. 1 in cubes
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

2 cups fresh pineapple chunks
1 red bell pepper diced
1 yellow bell pepper diced
1/2 cup shallots diced
1 jalapeno seeded and finely chopped
1/2 cup scallions thinly sliced scallions
1/2 cup fresh cilantro chopped
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Dressing
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
zest of 1 orange
2 tsp deli style mustard (the mustard with the brown stuff in it, not the yellow stuff you put on hotdogs)
1/2 cup vegetable oil

In a roasting pan, combine sweet potatoes and olive oil, salt, and pepper. Stir around coating potatoes in oil. Roast for 25-30 minutes at 425 F, until fork tender and golden brown.

In a large bowl, add potatoes and mix with the rest of the non dressing ingredients.

Let cool while you prepare the dressing. To prepare dressing, whisk together the apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, orange zest, mustard and vegetable oil.

Pour dressing over cooled potato salad. Toss.  Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve. Toss again prior to serving.

Lemon Meringue cookies

Perfect kick off to summer treat!

4 large egg whites
1 cup superfine sugar
1/4 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp lemon zest

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk egg whites together with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.
Add sugar two tablespoons at a time, mixing between additions to ensure sugar dissolves.  Continue until egg whites are stiff and glossy.

Fold in lemon extract and lemon zest.  Drop by Tablespoon onto two large baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Place in oven for 1 hour 30 minutes.  Turn off oven and leave oven door slightly open to let meringues slowly cool for 2 hours.