BUSY DAY PEACH COBBLER

For my son William, from the   "Texas Braggin' Rights" cookbook he sent my for my birthday.  William, this was very good, easy and quick.  I actually halved the recipe so I could cook it in the toaster oven, because it is too blasted hot here to do any real baking!

BUSY DAY PEACH COBBLER       

1 Stick butter

¾ cup flour

4 cups sliced peaches

1 ½ cups sugar

½ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup milk    

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Melt butter in a 2 quart baking dish

Combine dry ingredients, reserving1/2 cup sugar for the peaches.  Stir the dry ingredients into the melted butter in the baking dish.  Add milk and stir again.  Bring the peaches, sugar and cinnamon to a boil.  As soon as it boils, take it off the heat and pour over the batter.  Do not stir.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown. 

Jo Ann Glenn-First Place 1991 Parker County Peach Festival, Weatherford, TX

Roasted Eggplant

I'm the first to admit that I'm not a fan of eggplants.  I've tried them prepared several different ways and they always seem either mushy or bitter or just not worth the preparation trouble. But at the farmer's market they had such a beautiful white perfect eggplant that I couldn't resist buying it.  So once I got it I needed a recipe, I happened to check into the website No Take Out and they had the recipe below.  I just had the one eggplant so I quartered the recipe, it was very good, the combination of the marinated tomatoes, feta cheese and the fresh herbs was delicious.  It was almost like a bruschetta using the eggplant as a base instead of bread.  The grilled eggplant went with it very well, my only complaint was that the eggplant skin was rather tough.  I might peel some of the skin next time.  I did substitute feta cheese for the goat cheese and used balsamic vinegar.

Roasted Eggplant & Goat Cheese

4 small eggplants

4 medium, ripe tomatoes

1 bunch basil

1 bunch sage

1 bunch rosemary

4 to 6 ounces (120-180g) fresh goat cheese

Pantry Items

Black pepper, freshly ground

Extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt

Sherry wine vinegar

Sugar

Preheat the oven to 450F

Trim the stem end from the eggplant. Cut the eggplant into 1/2-inch thick, lengthwise slices. Arrange them in a single layer in the pan. Sprinkle them evenly with salt and pepper.  As soon as the oven is hot (even if it’s not up to temperature), put the eggplant in and roast until the slices are golden on one side, about 15 minutes, then flip and roast on the other side until they’re tender through, 10-15 minutes.

While the eggplant is roasting, peel, core and seed the tomatoes. Cut them into small dice and place them in a bowl. Season with 3/4 tsp. salt, 3/4 tsp. sugar, and 3/4 tsp. vinegar, mix well and place in a fine strainer that is resting in a bowl.  Let them drain until you’re ready to serve them.

Rinse and pat dry the herbs. Pluck 3/4 cup firmly packed leaves from the basil, about 8 sage leaves and 2 tbsps. rosemary leaves.

Mince the herbs and put them in a bowl. Cover them with 1/3 cup oil, and season with some salt.

Check the eggplant. If it’s cooked, remove it from the oven and transfer the slices to a serving platter.

Spoon the tomatoes over the eggplant, then crumble the goat cheese over all. Drizzle with the herbs and oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Cranberry Orange Bread

This recipe was originally for pecan orange bread, but cranberries sounded much better to me, and I totally think it works much better this way.  It was a moist flavorful bread, with a distinctively orange flavor and color with the cranberries adding a definite layer of flavor interest.  Warming the cranberries in the juice imparts some moisture and plumpness to them making the berries a better fit for the bread.

Cranberry Orange Bread               

1 stick of butter softened

¾ cups sugar

2 eggs separated

Grated rind of 1 large orange

1 ½ cup flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

½ cup fresh orange juice

1 cup dried cranberries

2 additional tablespoons of flour           

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Add the orange juice to the dried cranberries and microwave until warm, set aside until cool.  Grease one large or two smaller loaf pans.  Cream butter, add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg yolks one at a time then add the orange rind.  Sift flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Drain orange juice from cranberries and add the juice to the batter alternately with the ½ cup orange juice beginning and ending with the flour.   Sift the two tablespoons of flour over the cranberries and gently stir until coated.  Shake off excess flour and add to the batter, mixing in gently.  Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the batter.  Pour the batter in the pan or pans and bake 50 to 60 minutes for a large pan and less for the smaller pans.  Meanwhile make glaze.  When bread is done, remove from oven and pans and put on cooling rack.  Spoon hot glaze over bread as soon as it comes out of the pans.

Glaze

¼ cup fresh orange juice

¼ cup sugar

Combine juice and sugar in a small pan and simmer gently for 5 minutes stirring occasionally until light syrup forms.