Everything is just peachy - recipes

Published Nov 27, 2014

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Cape Town - Pyramids of golden apricots and trays of the early green peaches are mouth-watering signs that spring is giving way to summer.

Over the festive season and beyond, every meal from breakfast to supper can feature stone fruit to make the most of their seasonal goodness.

From a pricey start, both fruit have already reduced somewhat in price, and it’s worth shopping around: on the same day I saw early peaches offered at R29.99 and R12.99 in different supermarkets, while the hawkers could be even cheaper.

Apricots will be with us until after new year, delicious raw or lightly poached, and an essential ingredient for one of the most popular jams.

They make delicious drinks, delectable desserts, tangy chilled soup, chunky chutney and excellent dried fruit.

I have a couple of old trees that produce an astonishing quantity of fruit, and have started my annual task of harvesting and freezing which ensures a year-round supply.

Having experimented with various methods, I find that the best way is to halve them, remove the stones, and place about 2kg at a time in a large pot of light syrup (6 cups water to 3 cups white sugar, brought to the boil and stirred to melt the sugar).

Bring the apricots just to a simmer, and switch off the plate: they will continue cooking for a couple of minutes which is sufficient. Cool, then transfer to 2 litre ice cream containers, add enough syrup just to cover, put on the lid, label and freeze.

If you like your apricot jam chunky, defrost the apricots and syrup, transfer to a large pot, heat until lukewarm, remove from heat and add white sugar – 1.5kg of sugar to 2kg halved fruit, stirring until completely dissolved.

Add the juice of half a lemon, then bring the mixture to a simmer and cook over medium heat, skimming off foam if necessary, until setting point is reached. Spoon into about six sterilised warm jam jars and seal.

The first peaches – freestone, with juicy flesh – are to be relished, as all too soon the clingstone take over, and dominate until autumn.

Use either sort to make salsas to accompany seafood and add them to chicken salads with a curried mayonnaise.

When clingstone peaches sell at bargain prices, invest in a tray and fill bottles with curried peaches – a heritage Cape pickle and essential accompaniment to every braai.

 

Sarah’s apricot and litchi cobbler

To make the spiced sugar, combine 250g castor sugar with 2 cinnamon sticks, 2tbs ground cinnamon, 1tbs grated nutmeg and 1 vanilla pod, split and seeded. Keep in an airtight container and shake before using.

Find this recipe in a new title from Struik Lifestyle called For the Love of Baking by Sarah Dall.

Serves 6

600-700g poached apricot halves or 2x410g cans apricots halves, drained

1x410g can halved litchis, drained

20ml (4tsp) sweet spiced sugar

30ml (2tbs) cake flour

125ml (half cup) desiccated coconut

125ml (half cup) ground almonds

4 egg whites

Preheat oven to 160°C and have a 22cm ovenproof cast-iron pan or dish ready.

Place the apricot halves and litchi halves in the pan or dish and sprinkle with the sweet spiced sugar.

Mix together the cake flour, coconut and almonds. Whisk the egg whites to the soft peak stage, then fold into the dry ingredients.

Spoon dollops of the mixture onto the fruit, leaving gaps. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the topping is golden-brown and cooked through. Serve with thick cream.

 

Sarah’s poached peaches in rosé

Easy, summery and pretty, this idea from Sarah Dall’s For the Love of Baking is adaptable as well.

Sarah suggests serving the peaches on a bed of double-thick cream, and finished with toasted almonds.

Serves 8

8 cling, or loose-pit yellow, peaches

1x750ml bottle rosé wine

100g castor sugar

1 vanilla pod, split

Double thick cream or Greek yoghurt, to accompany

a few rose petals

toasted almonds (optional)

Place the peaches, wine, castor sugar and vanilla pod in a large saucepan and cover the liquid with baking paper. Bring the poaching liquid to a gentle simmer, and poach the peaches until they are soft and easily pierced with a knife.

Remove from the stove and cool. When completely cooled, remove peaches from the poaching liquid and carefully remove the skins. Place the peaches into a large bowl and cover with the poaching liquid and rose petals. For the best taste and colour, refrigerate, covered, overnight.

 

Seductive summer peach drink

From Nina Timm’s popular title Easy Cooking from Nina’s Kitchen, published by Struik Lifestyle, comes this pretty summer cooler, which can be mildly alcoholic or not, as you choose.

Nina says that it makes a great welcoming drink for a hen party.

She also cautions that real peach juice be used, not peach-flavoured juice.

500ml (2 cups) peach juice

4 sweet loose-pit yellow peaches, peeled and cut into pieces

30ml (2tbs) sugar

juice and grated rind of 1 lime

750ml bottle of rosé sparkling wine or ginger ale

fresh mint leaves for garnishing

Place all the ingredients except the sparkling wine or ginger ale and mint in a food processor and pulse until smooth.

Taste and adjust if you think the punch needs a little more sugar or lime.

Pour the mixture into a plastic container (a two-litre ice-cream container is perfect) and place in the freezer.

Using a fork, loosen the ice mixture after every hour in the freezer to form a sorbet.

Repeat until the sorbet has frozen completely and contains loose flakes or ice crystals.

Pour the sparkling wine or ginger ale into glasses and spoon some of the sorbet into each glass.

Serve garnished with small mint leaves.

 

Grilled mahi-mahi with peach salsa

Mahi-mahi is another name for dorado, a fish found in sub-tropical and tropical waters. Replace with a white-flesh fish that is on Sassi’s green list – such as angelfish or hake. The recipe comes from Eats by Mary Rolph Lamontagne, a new title from Struik Lifestyle.

Serves 4

6tbs soy sauce

3tbs sesame oil

1tbs grated fresh ginger

3tbs lime juice

3tbs honey

800g white fish fillets or steaks

Peach salsa:

quarter cup chopped red onion

half cup chopped peeled peaches

half red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

2tsp lime juice

1tsp minced fresh coriander leaves

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Mix the soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, lime juice and honey together. Pour over the fish in a shallow dish and marinate for 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl, make the salsa by mixing all ingredients together. Set aside for 30 minutes before serving.

Heat a griddle pan over medium high heat. Remove the fish from the marinade (reserve the marinade) and grill in pan until just cooked through

Pour the marinade into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and leave sauce to simmer.

Glaze the fish with the sauce then serve with the peach salsa.

Cape Argus

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