Peach Melba Slice

I made this to take to friends house and ended up giving the rest to some different friends as I didn't want the temptation of it at home! I really liked this cake, I changed the original recipe a little by using tinned peaches instead of fresh and using more than the original recipe stated. I also used more raspberries. I think if I was going to make it again I would use less sugar as I think, maybe 50g less.

Peach Melba Slice (adapted from Good Food Magazine July 2009)
(Serves 12)

250g butter
300g golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large egg
200g self-raising flour
50g ground almonds
2 tins peach slices
150g raspberries

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Butter and line a 20 x 30cm roasting tin.

Gently melt the butter in a large saucepan, then leave to cool for 5 mins, add the sugar, vanilla and eggs, then beat until smooth with a wooden spoon. Stir in the flour, almonds and ¼ tsp salt.

Tip the mix into the tin, then lay the peach slices evenly on top. Scatter the raspberries over the top. Bake in the oven for 1 hr-1 hr 10 mins, covering with foil after 40 mins. Cool in the tin for 20 mins, then lift out onto a cooling rack, then cut into squares.

Peach Whisky Barbecue Chicken

I saw this recipe on an episode of Pioneer Woman and I had to make it. It was scrummy, obviously peaches are now out of season here so I used tine but I bet fresh would have been even better. As you can see from the picture my sauce is a little watery, totally my fault as I misread how much water to add and added too much. I made two portions of this and with the second I just removed the chicken and peaches and rapidly boiled the sauce for a few mins to thicken it up. I served it with cauliflower mash and green beans.

Peach Whiskey Barbecue Chicken (from Pioneer Woman)
(Serves 6-8)

12 whole chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on
2 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
375ml whiskey
340g barbecue sauce
325g peach jam
125ml water
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 peaches, pitted and sliced into 8 slices each 3 spring onions, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 150C.

Heat the oil in a heavy pot over a medium-high heat. Place the chicken thighs, four at a time, in the pot, skin side down. Brown both sides, then remove to a plate and repeat until all chicken is browned.
Pour off half the grease, then return the pan to the stove. Add the onions to the pan and stir, cooking for 2 mins.

Pour the whiskey into the pot, being very careful if you're using an open flame. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan, allowing whiskey to reduce for a min or two.

Pour in the barbecue sauce, peach jam, water, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until combined, then return chicken to the pot, skin side up. Then throw in the peaches. Cover and put the pot in the oven. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, then remove from the oven.

 Serve the pieces of chicken over a big pile of mashed potato. Sprinkle sliced green onions over the top.

Peach Compote

I love compotes and often make apple compote. This year my local supermarket was selling peaches 5 for £1 so I thought I'd have a go at making a compote of them and I have to say that it was delicious. I am really looking to mixing some with yoghurt for breakfast.

Peach Compote (from Living the Healthy Choice)

2kg peaches
juice 1 lemon
2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
2 tsp of spices like cardamom / cinnamon / vanilla

To remove the peel: bring a pan of large pan of water to the boil and add the ripe, whole peaches. Turn down the heat to medium and let them simmer for about 5 mins or until they turn slightly soft. Remove the peaches from the pot and rinse with cold water. Carefully open up the peaches, removing the stones and peel.

Place the pitted and peeled peaches in a big pot and bring it to boil, then turn it down to medium heat. Let the peaches simmer for about 45 mins, stirring occasionally. In case that your peaches are not very juicy, add some water.

Now add the lemon juice and either honey or maple syrup, as well as spices. How many tablespoons depends on how sweet you want the compote to be. The best way to work this out is to start slowly and taste.

Keep it on the stove for a little while longer. The compote is done when the water is absorbed and the fruits are tender.

Chicken Couscous Salad

I am trying to use up a punnet of peaches in different ways, this salad was really tasty and I didn't really notice the sweetness of the peaches. I used Israeli couscous but the original was made with normal couscous. I loved all the different elements in this salad, it worked really well together.

Chicken Couscous Salad (from WeightWatchers Sensationally Seasonal)

(Serves 2)

(8 WW ProPoints per serving)

100g Israeli couscous

grated zest and juice 1/2 lemon

2 tbsp chopped coriander

1 peach, stoned and chopped

10 cherry tomatoes, halved

4 spring onions, chopped

1 roasted red pepper, chopped

1 chicken breast, sliced into bite size pieces

salt and pepper

Being a pan of water to the boil, add the couscous and cook according to packet instructions. Drain and run under the cold tap, drain well.

Stir in the lemon juice and zest, coriander, peach, tomatoes, spring onions and pepper and season. Stir in the chicken and transfer to a lunchbox or serve.

Peach, Blue Cheese and Parma Ham Pizza

This is a really interesting pizza. I'm slowly getting used to adding fruit to savoury dishes and finding that more often than not it works! This was really tasty and the blue cheese goes really well with the peaches.














Peach, Blue Cheese and Parma Ham Pizza
(Serves 2)

1 packet pizza mix
2 -3tbsp alfredo sauce
1 peach, sliced
3 parma ham slices

50g blue cheese, broken into pieces

50g grated mozzarella

Make the pizza dough according to packet instructions.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Roll out and spread over the alfredo sauce. Put the peach slices, and half the parma ham on top of the sauce. Crumble over the blue cheese and then top with the mozzarella.

Bake in the oven for 18-20 mins until crispy. Once cooked put the rest of the parma ham on the pizza and serve.

Peach Crumble Cake

I think it's time for some cake! This is the cake I made for my birthday party. I used a Greek recipe which I then used Google to translate, with rather hilarious results! However, the ingredients list was fine and I know how to make a cake so I went for it.  What came out what a delicious moist and tasty cake. I did cheat a bit and used tinned rather than fresh peaches, but it was still delicious. It is best eaten on the day you make it as the crumble starts to soften.
















Peach Crumble Cake (from Gourmelita)

For the crumble:
125g plain flour
100g brown sugar
70g butter, cold, cubed
1 tsp cinnamon

For the cake:
150 g butter
150g caster sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
125g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 vanilla
2-3 large peaches or 1 400g tin peach slices

Put the flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon in a large bowl.Rub in the butter with your fingers until you have a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.

Cream the butter and sugar together until it is light fluffy. The add the eggs in two lots, beating between each addition. Add the vanilla.

Sieve in the flour, salt and baking powder and using a metal spoon, fold it into the wet mixture.

With a spatula, spread the mixture into the prepared tin.

Cut the peaches into thin slices, and place in a circle over the cake mixture, so that the slices are touching.

Sprinkle the crumble over the peaches. Put the tin onto a baking tray and bake for 50 mins.

Remove from the oven and leave for about 10 mins. Invert the cake on a large plate and then again onto a platter.  Serve.

Duck, Peach and Mango Salad

I don't usually like fruit in salad but as I had all the ingredients to hand I thought I'd give it a go and I have to say I was impressed. This was a lovely warm salad and the fruit really worked with the duck. Lovely and summery.

Duck, Peach and Mango Salad (from Gressingham)
(Serves 2)

2 duck breasts
1 mango, peeled and sliced into chunks
1 avocado, peeled and sliced into chunks
2 peaches, cut into quarters
1 tbsp olive oil
200g mixed leaf
1 lime

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Score the skin of the duck breasts 6-8 times and season both sides with salt and pepper.

Place the breasts skin side down in a cold pan with no oil on a low to medium heat. Cook for approx 6-10 minutes, occasionally pouring off any excess fat. When the skin is crisp and golden, turn breasts over, quickly seal and then place skin side down back in the pan and put into the oven (if your pan is not oven proof, place on a baking tray).

Cook for 6-15 minutes depending on how you prefer your duck cooked.

Remove the duck from the oven, turn breasts over so skin is facing up and allow to rest for 10 minutes in a warm area.
While the duck is resting you can prepare the salad by searing the halved peaches in a hot pan for a minute. Then tumble the lettuce leaves and olive oil in a bowl, and divide between 2 plates .

Evenly distribute the mango, avocado and peach onto the leaves. Thinly slice the duck breast and arrange on top. Finish with a squeeze of fresh lime and serve.

Peach and Ginger No Churn Ice Cream

It has definitely been the weather for ice cream and I had a hankering for making homemade ice cream but I don't have the space for an ice cream maker nor do I want to be stirring something every hour for hours so I was really happy when I found lots of recipes for no churn ice cream. This peach and ginger ice cream is so good, my only advice is to make sure that your peaches are really ripe as otherwise when they freeze they become ridiculously hard, so hard that I had trouble getting chunks out of the ice cream as the spoon wouldn't go though!

Peach and Ginger No Churn Ice Cream (from Waitrose Magazine July 2013)
(Makes 2 litres)

6 ripe yellow-fleshed peaches
600ml pot double cream
397g condensed milk
12 pieces crystallised ginger, roughly chopped

Place the peaches in a heatproof bowl and pour over boiling water. Leave for 10 minutes then peel off the skins and remove the stones. Roughly chop and set aside.

Whisk the cream with the condensed milk until it has thickened slightly and falls in ribbons from the whisk.

Add the peach chunks and chopped ginger to the whisked cream, stirring gently with a spatula. Pour into a 2-litre plastic container and place in the freezer for 3-4 hours or overnight until frozen. Take out of the freezer approx 15-20 mins before serving.

Birthday Highjinks - Peach and Blueberry Cobbler

This is the last of my birthday recipes and the second of the two cobblers I made, this one is a more American version and was so so good. Whereas the English version was a little too sweet and the scones a little firm for a pudding topping the cake batter mixture was perfect. It would also be easier to make smaller versions of this, which I will definitely be doing! I've also filled up all week on leftover puddings, it's been fantastic!
Although the outlay for the party was a fair bit, actually I've had so many leftovers and things that it's practically fed me for the week. I bought a very good quality piece of pork and even so my Mum and I worked out that the pork was just over £1 per portion, which is pretty good value really. None of anything else was particularly expensive and a lot of it simply used up things I already had and at the end of the day I had a fantastic night with good friends and good food and that's what really matters.

Peach and Blueberry Cobbler (from Hairy Biker's Mississippi Adventure)
(Serves 6-8)

2 x 410g tins sliced peaches, in juice
75g granulated or golden caster sugar, plus 4 tbsp       
2 tbsp cornflour
75g butter, softened
1 large egg
150ml semi-skimmed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
125g blueberries

Preheat the oven to 190C. Drain the peaches, reserving the juice from just one of the cans - you’ll get about 110ml.

Put the peaches and the juice in a medium saucepan and add 2 tbsp of the sugar. Cook the peaches and sugar for three minutes, or until they reach a gentle simmer.

Mix the cornflour with 4 tbsp cold water and stir into the pan. Cook over a low heat for 2-3 minutes or until the peach juice has thickened and looks almost clear, stirring constantly. Tip into a 1.5 litre shallow ovenproof dish.

To make the topping, put the 75g of sugar in a large bowl and add the soft butter, egg, milk, vanilla extract, flour and baking powder.

Beat like hell with a wooden spoon or electric whisk. The batter should be thick and smooth and drop easily from the spoon. Don’t worry if there are a few small lumps of butter in the mix. Stir in the blueberries.

Put big spoonfuls of the batter on top of the fruit. There will be a few gaps but the cobbler mixture will soften to fill them.

Sprinkle with the remaining 2 tbsp sugar and bake for 35 minutes until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is well risen and golden brown. Serve with cream or ice cream.