Cake or Death?: peaches

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

TWD: Summer Peach Upside-Downer

The house I grew up in had a wonderful backyard full of fruit trees, including two peach trees that produced pounds and pounds of peaches during the summer months. I took this for granted, in the way that children do, and didn't appreciate the blessing of having so much fresh, delicious, free fruit growing at my fingertips. If I thought about it at all, it would be to complain about having to pick up the rotting fruit from the ground--which truly is a horrible chore--or the long, sticky days of canning peach slices and making peach jam.

Now I am older. Wiser. A buyer of my own produce, and a pincher of my own pennies. And a green-eyed monster when I hear others casually talk about their fruit trees, or berry bushes, or tomato plants. Now that I buy all of my produce at the farmers market, I wish I could have my childhood over again--I would spent whole afternoons just devouring the peaches, or the plums, or the strawberries that were so available and so unappreciated. The market yields good fruit, yes--bless sunny southern California--but I can only buy so many $12 bags of fuzzy peaches before the food budget is shot. Sometimes at the end of a particularly expensive farmers market trip, I feel like Scarlett O'Hara. I stand by my car, clutch my bulging bags of overpriced tomatoes, and shake my fists towards the sky: "As God is my witness, I will one day grow my own fruits and vegetables!"

Alas, dramatic pronouncements have so far failed to get me any closer to having a yard of my own, so for this week's cake I again relied on farmer's market peaches, the same ones I used to make grilled peaches and poundcake. The original recipe was for cranberry upside-down cake, which looked--and sounded--delicious. But with temperatures still in the 80s, it feels much more like summer still than fall, and I wanted to spend a little more time with summer fruits before the fall pumpkin and apple-palooza.

The verdict: aaaaaalright. It was missing something--maybe the crunch of nuts, or a more robust flavor from cranberries. The peaches were nice, but once baked, they had the unmistakable texture of those summer-packed canned peaches of my childhood, and the mild, slightly spiced cake underneath just didn't bring enough flavor for me. I love the idea of the cranberry-upside down cake, so once it really starts to feel like fall around here, I'm going to try it again.

Summer Lovin' with Grilled Peaches

So, I didn't quite get around to making this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Crunchy & Custardy Peach Tart. It sounded lovely, and I even had the world's most beautiful farmer's market peaches on hand, luscious and just yielding to the touch and impossibly juicy.

But I had other plans in mind for these peaches. I wanted to take their sweet perfumed juice and introduce them to the tender buttery crumb of golden poundcake:

And then, in a perfect marriage of summer flavors and summer cooking, cook them both on the grill, until the peaches bore caramelized grill marks and gave no resistance to the fork, and the poundcake had a crunchy buttery crust that hid the still-soft interior.

Of course, they were not grilled naked. The poundcake was brushed with melted butter, and the peaches were dunked in a honey-butter sauce, with just a hint of cinnamon, before being put on the grill. While they were cooking, the sauce was returned to the heat to thicken for a few minutes, until it was the texture of a warm caramel sauce.

The peaches and poundcake were paired with a honey-vanilla ice cream and drizzled with the creamy honey-butter sauce. A glorious end to a casual dinner of grilled chicken and corn on the cob, and a perfect way to welcome in a balmy summer night.

Grilled Poundcake and Peaches
Serves 6

1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, divided use
1/2 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 freestone peaches, halved and pitted
6 slices pound cake, sliced 3/4-inch thick
Ice cream of your choice

Melt the 1/2 stick of butter in the microwave and set aside for now.

In small saucepan over medium heat, combine the remaining 1 stick of butter, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Heat until butter is melted, then dip peach halves in the mixture.

Grill the peaches for 5 minutes, then flip them, cover, and grill for 5 more minutes. Carefully remove them from the grill, slice each peach half in quarters and cover to keep warm.

While the peaches are on the grill, continue to heat the honey butter mixture until thick and caramelized, about ten minutes. It will get thicker once it cools down, so err on the side of caution. If you find it's too thick, add some cream or milk and heat it to loosen it back up.

Once the peaches are off the grill, brush both sides of each pound cake slice with the melted butter. Grill them for about 2 minutes per side, until the slices are crisp and golden.

Top the grilled poundcake with grilled peaches, cold ice cream, warm honey-butter sauce, and swoon.