Peaches!
The day started at 6 am when our alarm went off. An hour later we were in the car and by 7:30 we were at Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek. There we met up with Tara and Linda, as well as Linda’s dad, stepmom and nephew. Today was the first day that the u-pick peaches were available and we were among the first people to arrive. We went in and took the hayride over to the peach orchard, where we started to pick our peaches. I have to say that until today I had never been a big fan of peaches. I think it’s because I’d never had really good ones. Some of the peaches we encountered were so ripe that when we pulled them off the branches they tore open. It was when I tried one of these that I realized just how delicious they were. We picked lots of peaches—some ripe for eating and cooking with now, as well as some that would ripen in a few days. Tim and I had a total of about 15 lb, and the others had similar amounts. It’s a good thing we got there as early as we did because not only did we avoid a crowd, we also avoided high temperatures. By the time we left around 9 am, it was already feeling rather warm out there.
Tim and I headed home, where we left the peaches we were planning to consume in the next few days, found some peach recipes, and picked up the ingredients we would need to cook with at Tara’s house. We then drove up to her place to meet her and Linda for our own little version of Iron Chef Scottsdale with the day’s secret ingredient of peaches. Once we got there, the four of us went out to lunch to a wonderful little café called Simple Chef Café, which is well worth going back to. Everything we had there was excellent, the service was great, and the owner came out and talked to us after we were done and told us about some menu items we had questions about. After a trip to Linda’s to pick up her food processor (and pet her cats), we stopped by Basha’s to get a few missing ingredients. Finally we made it back to Tara’s and set to work.
The first task was to wash, peel, and cut the peaches that were soft enough to cook with. Some of those were too soft and went into the mush bowl, and some were firmer and got cut into slices that we placed in another bowl. That was a task that would have been terribly boring had we all been doing this alone in our respective homes, but it became very fun in a group. Though it seemed like an impossibly big project, somehow we made it through all the peaches we needed to cut up and didn’t make as much of a mess as I had expected. It was time to start preparing our food.
Linda had a recipe for peach salsa and so that was the first thing that got made. The recipe involved a combination of ingredients that, to me at least, sounded like they shouldn’t go well together—peaches, orange marmalade, green onions, and grated ginger. There might have been other minor ingredients, but those four were the main ones. The taste was certainly unusual, but very, very good. Next we prepared a peach cobbler. While I haven’t particularly loved peach cobbler in the past, I thought that since these peaches were so much better than any peaches I’d ever had before, and certainly better than the canned stuff, that perhaps this cobbler would take me by surprise. And it did. The cobbler was baked just right, so that the batter was cooked through but the peaches still had a very fresh taste to them even while the whole cobbler had a lovely golden color over it. The third recipe we made was for peach egg rolls with a raspberry sauce. That was the finishing touch—our reward for a long day of working with peaches. The recipe sounded good, but the result was far better than I could have expected. After we had cleaned up a bit and split up the remaining cut and mushy peaches for freezing, we sat down to enjoy our treat. Tim served up an egg roll for each of us over a scoop of vanilla ice cream and then poured some of the raspberry sauce over it and topped it with some powdered sugar. It looked so fancy. And it definitely tasted like something you’d be served at a fancy restaurant. What a delicious end to a fabulous day! And we all still have salsa, cobbler, a few egg rolls, and plenty of fresh peaches to enjoy at home over the next few days. Who knew that peaches could be this good? I certainly didn’t until today.
Tim and I headed home, where we left the peaches we were planning to consume in the next few days, found some peach recipes, and picked up the ingredients we would need to cook with at Tara’s house. We then drove up to her place to meet her and Linda for our own little version of Iron Chef Scottsdale with the day’s secret ingredient of peaches. Once we got there, the four of us went out to lunch to a wonderful little café called Simple Chef Café, which is well worth going back to. Everything we had there was excellent, the service was great, and the owner came out and talked to us after we were done and told us about some menu items we had questions about. After a trip to Linda’s to pick up her food processor (and pet her cats), we stopped by Basha’s to get a few missing ingredients. Finally we made it back to Tara’s and set to work.
The first task was to wash, peel, and cut the peaches that were soft enough to cook with. Some of those were too soft and went into the mush bowl, and some were firmer and got cut into slices that we placed in another bowl. That was a task that would have been terribly boring had we all been doing this alone in our respective homes, but it became very fun in a group. Though it seemed like an impossibly big project, somehow we made it through all the peaches we needed to cut up and didn’t make as much of a mess as I had expected. It was time to start preparing our food.
Linda had a recipe for peach salsa and so that was the first thing that got made. The recipe involved a combination of ingredients that, to me at least, sounded like they shouldn’t go well together—peaches, orange marmalade, green onions, and grated ginger. There might have been other minor ingredients, but those four were the main ones. The taste was certainly unusual, but very, very good. Next we prepared a peach cobbler. While I haven’t particularly loved peach cobbler in the past, I thought that since these peaches were so much better than any peaches I’d ever had before, and certainly better than the canned stuff, that perhaps this cobbler would take me by surprise. And it did. The cobbler was baked just right, so that the batter was cooked through but the peaches still had a very fresh taste to them even while the whole cobbler had a lovely golden color over it. The third recipe we made was for peach egg rolls with a raspberry sauce. That was the finishing touch—our reward for a long day of working with peaches. The recipe sounded good, but the result was far better than I could have expected. After we had cleaned up a bit and split up the remaining cut and mushy peaches for freezing, we sat down to enjoy our treat. Tim served up an egg roll for each of us over a scoop of vanilla ice cream and then poured some of the raspberry sauce over it and topped it with some powdered sugar. It looked so fancy. And it definitely tasted like something you’d be served at a fancy restaurant. What a delicious end to a fabulous day! And we all still have salsa, cobbler, a few egg rolls, and plenty of fresh peaches to enjoy at home over the next few days. Who knew that peaches could be this good? I certainly didn’t until today.
posted by Ana at 22:52
1 Comments:
Hi Ana Banana,
Bet you don't know who this is....lol. You had fun picking peaches and Cathy and I had fun in Niagra Falls. We've been married 3 years on May-3. Wow, the time sure flys by huh ?? We're doing good up here, working hard and finally getting our feet on the ground. Well hon, just wanted to say hi to you and Tim and hope to see you soon. Take care of each other. Love ya lots....Your friends in Canada...
Mike & Cathy
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