ODE to..orange, yellows & reds

For the last few weeks I have been dying to get my hands on some perfectly ripened peaches, you know, the ones that you can smell as soon as you walk into the produce section...unfortunately for me all of the fruit in Phoenix seem to be lacking..until today that is! As I was browsing the weekly sale ad's I noticed that Safeway had peaches on sale for 39cents a pound!!! At 39cents who cares if they are perfectly ripened, I could always make a compote or something.
As I strolled down the aisle towards the produce section, a sweet ripe stone fruit scent hit me and I knew I would at least get a good peach or two. I started thinking of what flavors I wanted to get out of this wonderful piece of fruit. I definitely wanted to keep it fresh and and bright.

As I was walking around in circles looking for onions I stumbled upon perfectly vine ripened orange, gold and red tomatoes! My heart did a loopty loop! I've been on the look out for tomatoes that would help me replicate the heirloom tomato bruschetta from Julie and Julia, and there they were in all of their vined glory!!! Then my brain went into overdrive!!! I knew for sure I had no clue what went into the heirloom bruschetta, I also knew that my own bruschetta recipe, which uses balsamic vinegar, would over power the dish. I had the bright idea to use 3 different vinegars to compliment the three different tomatoes. I can honestly say it is one of the best choices I've made in my love affair with bruschetta.
Please enjoy my recipes below, they are not exact, none of my recipes are, you should consider them more of a guideline rather then something set in stone :)









Carmelized Peach w/ mango sorbet and lavender essence sauce
serves 2
1 ripe peach
1 tablespoon light cream cheese
1 tablespoon ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons Rachel's "calm" yogurt (plum, honey, lavender flavor)(available at Safeway)
1 teaspoon orange zest
juice from 1/4 orange
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
few dashes cinnamon
few dashes nutmeg
agave nectar
dark rum, for deglazing pan
2 scoops mango sorbet
fruit for garnish




Step 1
I added about 2-3 tablespoons of agave nectar to a pan, as it warmed up I halved the peach
removed the pit, I then added some cinnamon and nutmeg to the nectar and placed the peaches face down after about 1 min I turned the peaches over and turned the to flame to low to work on the sauce

(once I was done with the sauce I turned the heat up and added about a shot of rum and cooked it down for about a minute)





Step

Mix the yogurt, ricotta and cream cheese until smooth and creamy

add the orange and lime zest, vanilla,dash cinnamon and nutmeg, mix well

add orange juice, taste, add agave to adjust to your sweetness taste






Step 3

Place the peach on dish, fill pit well with juices from pan, add scoop of sorbet and top with sauce and fanned strawberry or garnish of your choice







Also note that the sorbet acts as a cool surprise since it is practically the same color as the peach!






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