fig caramel upside down cake

I adapted this recipe from one in Rustic Fruit Desserts, a book I highly recommend. It's a small book which generally is unappealing to me in a cookbook-- I don't have the greatest vision I don't need teeny tiny type slowing me down-- but it makes up for it's size with hunger inducing recipes and great pictures. The original recipe called for cherries (which I don't really care for cooked honestly) and I added some buttermilk to the cake, but otherwise pretty much left it be. If you come into some fresh figs- I highly recommend it.

peaches

Peaches are finally in season and I have a boatload from the co-op. I'm bordering on peach addiction I can't seem to get enough of them. They are also one of the few fruits that I like cooked (along with apples) I prefer most of them raw, especially in the summer. To start I made peach cobbler which is probably one of my top ten favorite desserts. Ok I actually made two of them. And I ate almost all of them myself. Peaches are healthy right? I use the dough from this recipe although for the filling I just use peeled sliced peaches, maybe 2 tbs of sugar, 1 tbs of flour and a little vanilla extract. Then I made another summer favorite, peach and bacon pizza. I nearly always have some bread dough kicking around in the fridge so I made my crust with some wheat sandwich bread which was actually pretty tasty. I spread the crust with marscapone that had been mixed with salt and pepper and some asiago-- I usually use blue cheese but I didn't have any. Then add sliced peaches, sweet onions and chopped bacon and cook. I use nice thick bacon so I cook it most of the way first- if you used prosciutto or something thinner you could throw it on raw. Now, before you tell me that putting peaches on pizza are weird... let me remind you that tomato is a fruit as well. And besides it's delicious. My next favorite summery peach treat is hot dogs with peach chutney. I am a big fan of the savory/sweet combo and this is just the best. I serve on top of warm brie as well and it is divine. The hot dogs are made of bison and from the co-op as well- they may well be the best ones I've had.

Peach Chutney

• 1 tbs butter
• 3-4 cloves minced garlic (use coarse sea salt to help break it up)
• 1 smallish onion diced
• 1-2 hot pepper diced (I use a strange hybrid pepper that I accidentally made in my garden, apparently this happens if you grow two peppers close together)
• 4-5 peaches, less if they are giant
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Dunk the peaches in boiling water for a few minutes so that their skins peel off easily. Pit and dice the peeled peaches. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add onion and peppers and sweat for 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute or so. Add peaches and cook another 2 minutes. add sugar and stir in then add whiskey and vinegar. There will be a fair amount of liquid at this point continue cooking on medium heat until the liquid has reduced and it is thick like a chutney around 30-40 minutes. As the liquid reduces you will have to stir more often to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. The peaches will break down quite a bit, but you should still have some chunks. Will keep for weeks in the refrigerator or I often properly can it as well.

from the earth

this is the first year that I have grown both potatoes and radishes-- both in pots. They both did better than expected. I love the way they look when they first come out of the ground.

happy 4th of july

berries from the garden