peachy keen
What a peachy weekend! Thanks to my wonderful sonographer Marcia (what a peach!), a 25# box of fresh Fredericksburg peaches were delivered to our door Friday afternoon. The peach was calling, so we mashed up a few ripe-ripe-ripe delicious, juicy peaches and added bourbon, a bit of lemon juice, and some agave nectar, and life was a peach.
OK, I think that's my limit. Peach forgive me (yeah, that was a Joe-caliber pun - love you, darling!).
The peach marshmallows turned out pretty well. They look way cool when you put the peach puree and some water in the mixing bowl and sprinkle gelatin on top.
And then as they cool they become this sheet o' peachy marshmallow-ness.
The real winner for the weekend was the peach wontons. A few months ago, we had brunch at a cute little spot called Chelsea Grill on Montrose. The main course was just OK, but the appetizer has been on my mind since the visit - fried wontons filled with sweet potato, ricotta, spiced pecans and sage, drizzled with chili oil and a balsamic reduction sauce. Oh, my, was that good. We had a package of wonton wrappers in the fridge, on call in case ravioli preparation recently didn't work out (it didn't, but my wonderful hubby salvaged enough dough to spare the wontons). What better time to make my own version at home, though with a completely different sweet and savory filling!
We loved the wontons. We loved them so much we had another batch again for dinner. We will most certainly have more, very soon. I was astonished how easy it was to prepare and fry these little guys up. For dinner, we added crab wontons as well, which made for a very fried and very tasty meal. The peach filling was a little too liquidy, so closing the wontons was a bit of an adventure, but the crab filling was just right, and I was able to make adorable little nurse's-hat-shaped wontons.
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OK, 2 days later and we've made another batch of peach wontons and crab wontons and thickened the peach filling up a bit with some more dry cottage cheese - pretty good! Used up the last of the wonton package though so I guess we're done with that adventure for a while.
Got a peach cornmeal upside-down cake in the oven right now. If the dough is any indication, this is gonna be just peachy. We'll let the girls at work be the judges tomorrow.
So a rough idea of the peach wonton recipe, making a guesstimate of the measurements...
Peach Goat Cheese Wonton Goodness
4 appetizer servings (but really, you'll want 2 appetizer servings per person!)
2 ripe peaches
1/2 cup dry cottage cheese*
2 ounces goat cheese
1 teaspoon basil
8 wonton wrappers
Peanut oil
1/4 cup balsalmic vinegar
Chili oil
*Apparently you can find dry cottage cheese, or farmer's cheese, next to the regular cottage cheese at some grocery stores, but not at mine. Instead, you can buy large curd cottage cheese and drain it over a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth.
Slice the peaches, remove the pit, and mash them up to the consistency of a lumpy puree. If they're really juicy you will need to drain some of the liquid off (come to think of it, you can probably reserve it and add it to the balsalmic vinegar as you reduce it - gonna have to make this stuff a 4th time...). Add goat cheese, cottage cheese, basil, maybe a bit of sugar if you're planning on a dessert instead of an appetizer, salt and pepper to taste.
Drop about a teaspoon of the mixture in the middle of a wonton wrapper. Use your finger or a pastry brush to apply water to the borders and place another wrapper on top, press on the edges to seal. Bring all 4 corners together in the middle with a little more water and press them all together. Repeat 3 more times.
Heat 2-3 inches of peanut oil in a deep pot. Drop the wontons into the pot, fry until golden brown. While they're frying, heat 1/4 cup of balsalmic vinegar, stirring frequently, until it boils and starts to thicken. Remove from heat, pour into a heat-resistant container. Remove the wontons from the oil and transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Let cool for a few minutes, then place on your serving plate. Drizzle with chili oil and balsalmic reduction.
Careful - it's hot!
Just took the peach cornmeal cake out of the oven and it looks bee-yoo-ti-ful!
Millions of peaches... peaches for me...
OK, I think that's my limit. Peach forgive me (yeah, that was a Joe-caliber pun - love you, darling!).
The peach marshmallows turned out pretty well. They look way cool when you put the peach puree and some water in the mixing bowl and sprinkle gelatin on top.
And then as they cool they become this sheet o' peachy marshmallow-ness.
We loved the wontons. We loved them so much we had another batch again for dinner. We will most certainly have more, very soon. I was astonished how easy it was to prepare and fry these little guys up. For dinner, we added crab wontons as well, which made for a very fried and very tasty meal. The peach filling was a little too liquidy, so closing the wontons was a bit of an adventure, but the crab filling was just right, and I was able to make adorable little nurse's-hat-shaped wontons.
---
OK, 2 days later and we've made another batch of peach wontons and crab wontons and thickened the peach filling up a bit with some more dry cottage cheese - pretty good! Used up the last of the wonton package though so I guess we're done with that adventure for a while.
Got a peach cornmeal upside-down cake in the oven right now. If the dough is any indication, this is gonna be just peachy. We'll let the girls at work be the judges tomorrow.
So a rough idea of the peach wonton recipe, making a guesstimate of the measurements...
4 appetizer servings (but really, you'll want 2 appetizer servings per person!)
2 ripe peaches
1/2 cup dry cottage cheese*
2 ounces goat cheese
1 teaspoon basil
8 wonton wrappers
Peanut oil
1/4 cup balsalmic vinegar
Chili oil
*Apparently you can find dry cottage cheese, or farmer's cheese, next to the regular cottage cheese at some grocery stores, but not at mine. Instead, you can buy large curd cottage cheese and drain it over a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth.
Slice the peaches, remove the pit, and mash them up to the consistency of a lumpy puree. If they're really juicy you will need to drain some of the liquid off (come to think of it, you can probably reserve it and add it to the balsalmic vinegar as you reduce it - gonna have to make this stuff a 4th time...). Add goat cheese, cottage cheese, basil, maybe a bit of sugar if you're planning on a dessert instead of an appetizer, salt and pepper to taste.
Drop about a teaspoon of the mixture in the middle of a wonton wrapper. Use your finger or a pastry brush to apply water to the borders and place another wrapper on top, press on the edges to seal. Bring all 4 corners together in the middle with a little more water and press them all together. Repeat 3 more times.
Heat 2-3 inches of peanut oil in a deep pot. Drop the wontons into the pot, fry until golden brown. While they're frying, heat 1/4 cup of balsalmic vinegar, stirring frequently, until it boils and starts to thicken. Remove from heat, pour into a heat-resistant container. Remove the wontons from the oil and transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Let cool for a few minutes, then place on your serving plate. Drizzle with chili oil and balsalmic reduction.
Careful - it's hot!
Just took the peach cornmeal cake out of the oven and it looks bee-yoo-ti-ful!
Millions of peaches... peaches for me...
Ohh...love the idea of peach marshmallows! Glad to have found your blog! :)
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