Recipe Links 9-15-08; Rum & Poached Peach

Boy, between Texas flooding, Wall Street collapsing, the heated election and Tina Fey bringing me to tears (of laughter), it is hard to think about food in the evenings, but nevertheless, we sally on! Lisl has been dragged to Switzerland for work this week, which either means that I’m going to be doing crazy experimentation in the kitchen or subsistence eating… you never know. I find it harder to motivate to cook properly when I’m the only one eating the results (our munchkin is a good eater but she likes food bland bland bland!).

First, here’s the latest list of recipes I’ve discovered recently (roughly in the order found) and would like to try at some point:

Recipe Links

• stonesoup: pork sung choi bau
• jugalbandi: Vegan Quiche with Swiss Chard and Corn
• Cook Almost Anything At Least Once: Jap Pumpkin Soup with Curried Onions (note: I don’t know if I can find a Jap pumpkin, but I bet it’s good with other kinds)
• A Good Appetite: Beef, Beer and Blue Cheese Pot Pie (note: I had spotted this in the Williams Sonoma catalog as well, but really like Kat’s alterations)
• Palachinka: Grilled Moussaka Pies
• 80 Breakfasts: Cabbage Chickpea and Chorizo Soup (note: I’m a total sucker for chorizo)
  
• fragrante delicia: “My grandmother’s bean tarts”

Part 2:
Rum and Poached Peach
The other night we had some friends over to dinner. I grilled some New York strips (interestingly, the butcher told me they were “grass raised and corn finished”, which he said is an increasing trend) and made a Mediterranean gratin with layers of eggplant, roasted red peppers, olives, plum tomatoes cooked with onion and garlic, cheese, rosemary and breadcrumbs.

Lisl made a play on Peach Melba, which, rather than topping with rasberry sauce, we topped with some really good dark rum from St. Lucia called Chairman’s Reserve. Delish!

Pre-Rum (and the attack of my spoon)

To make: Bring a pot of 1 1/4 quarts water, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and some lemon zest to boil, then lower heat to a light simmer. Poach your peaches (in batches if you have many) for about 5 minutes, allow to cool, then place in the fridge the chill. When cold and you are ready to serve, slip off the skins (they should come off easily), halve and pit. Place on a scoop of vanilla ice cream and lightly pour some high quality dark rum on top.