Grilled Peaches in Primitivo

As followers of this blog may recall, Clare and I recently hosted a wine dinner based upon Mario Batali's cookbook, Italian Grill.  We served an appetizer of Portobellos with Arugula and Parmigiano and a main course of Chicken Thighs with Snap Peas and Agliata.  When it came to the dessert, we had a problem.  While Italian Grill has a lot of great recipes, it did not have any dessert recipes.  We needed a dessert recipe that involved the use of a grill so that we could keep true to our theme of Mario Batali's Italian Grill.

I follow Mario Batali on Twitter, so I sent a tweet to him asking if he knew of any good dessert recipes that involve the use of a grill.  I explained that we were trying to prepare a three course dinner based on his cookbook, and we needed a dessert recipe that included grilling as part of the recipe.  Unfortunately, Mario did not respond to my tweet.

So, Clare and I were left to our own devices.  I wanted to stay true to the theme of our wine dinner.  So, I poured through our other Mario Batali cookbooks and found a recipe that I could easily modify into a grill recipe.   The recipe is Peaches in Primitivo, from Mario's Molto Italiano cookbook.  Mario explains that serving fruit with red wine is a tradition in Puglia.  The tradition is very simple ... just chill the wine and pour it over the fruit.  Mario's recipe turns the wine into a sweet syrup that can be drizzled over the fruit.

 

To bring this recipe into the theme of an Italian grill, I decided to halve the peaches, remove the pits, and grill the peaches for just about one to two minutes on each side until the grill marks began to show.  When it came to presentation, I sliced the peaches, drizzled the Primitivo syrup over them, and served it with some vanilla ice cream.   

GRILLED PEACHES IN PRIMITIVO

Recipe adapted from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano, p. 486

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 cups of sugar

2 cups of Primitivo di Gioia (from Puglia) or 

     other dry red wine

1 clove

4 peaches

1 tablespoon of grapeseed or canola oil

Directions:

1.  Make the Primitivo Syrup.  In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, red wine, and clove, bring to a simmer and simmer until reduced by half, about 30 minutes.  Let cool and remove the clove.  (The syrup can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 1 week.)  

2.  Grill the peaches.  Heat a grill on medium heat.  Slice the peaches in half and remove the pits.  Brush the cut sides of the peaches with the grapeseed oil.  Grill the peaches on the cut sides for 1 to 2 minutes, or until grill marks begin to show.  Flip the peaches and grill for a minute longer.  Remove. 

3.  Plate the dish.  Slice the peaches and divide them among four footed bowls.  Pour 1/4 cup of the Primitivo syrup over the peaches and serve.

PAIRING THIS RECIPE

Given this dish was served at a wine dinner, it comes with a pairing.  That pairing is suggested by the recipe's name ... Primitivo wine.  The wine served at our wine dinner was a Caleo Primitivo (2011), which was produced with grapes from the southern region of Puglia.  The wine went very well with this recipe. 

ENJOY!

Peach Cobbler

I am not the only one who cooks in our family.  My beautiful wife, Clare, is also a great cook and a great baker.  Every once in a while, I ask my Angel to provide a guest blog post so that I can share some of the amazing and delicious things that she makes for family, friends and, of course, me.  She has already provided guest blog posts about Tuscan Vegetable Soup, Cuban Bread, Loyalist Bread and Salmon Burgers.  So, without further ado,

A Guest Blog Post by Clare ...

Peaches are a great summertime fruit and are very versatile.  I bought some peaches during a recent trip with Keith to Eastern Market.  I have previously used peaches to make ice cream, which Keith devours at every chance he can get.  But, I decided to do something different.  After doing a little searching on the Internet, I came across a recipe for a peach cobbler.  Keith devoured that as well.  Fortunately for me and this guest post, Keith took pictures of the cobbler before he began eating it.   

Usually, at this point, Keith would probably say something about the history of the dish or the ingredients used to make the dish. According to the Food Timeline, food historians have determined that the cobbler dates back to the second half of the 19th century, when settlers where making their way across North America.  These pioneers created the dish using a crust, filling it with whatever fresh or canned fruit they may have, and cooking it in a dutch oven.  The first reference to a "cobbler" appeared as early as 1839 in a book called The Kentucky Housewife, which provided a recipe for a "peach pot-pie" or "cobler."  The term also began to appear in American dictionaries in 1859.

Over the past 160 years, the cobbler has evolved over time, as people settled down and, once again, were able to cook with ovens rather than over a fire.  This recipe comes from the Food Network.

PEACH COBBLER

Adapted from Food Network

Serves many

Ingredients (for the filling):
4 cups of peeled and sliced peaches
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon flour

1 cup flour

Ingredients (for the crust):
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
3 tablespoons of brown sugar
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cut in to small pieces
2/3 cup of buttermilk
1 tablespoon brown sugar for topping
Whipped cream

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Generously butter a 1 1/2-quart shallow baking dish. Place the sliced peaches in the dish and sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and flour. Mix gently and spread evenly again. Bake for 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile combine all dry ingredients for cobbler crust in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or your fingers, to make the texture like coarse crumbs. Add buttermilk and stir to form a soft dough.

4.  Remove fruit from oven and drop rounded spoonfuls of dough on top. Sprinkle with last tablespoon of brown sugar and return to oven. Bake until fruit is bubbly and crust topping is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream. 

A great accompaniment for this dessert is either some whipped cream (which I made from scratch) or some ice cream.  Maybe some peach ice cream.  Well, until next time, as Chef Bolek would say ...

ENJOY!

Oysters with a Peach Champagne Mignonette

Clare and I love fresh oysters. Our favorites are usually Chinoteagues, which come from the Chesapeake Bay. However, we will eat any oysters that we can get our hands on.  A while back, we went to Birch and Barley, a restaurant known -- along with the bar Churchkey on the second floor -- for its craft beers.  However, we saw that there were fresh oysters on the menu.  We ordered the oysters and they were served with a Bloody Mary mignonette.  We went back to Birch and Barley and had the oysters again, only to have them served with a different mignonette. Both mignonettes were very good and it provided different flavors that worked well with the briny flavors of the oysters.

So, I decided to try my own hand at making a mignonette.  This one differs from a traditional mignonette because I did not use any vinegar.  The reason is that I felt the Champagne offered enough of a tart taste that the addition of vinegar would result in an off-taste.  This mignonette is really simple to make.  (Indeed, it takes longer to shuck the oysters than it does to make the recipe).  For this recipe, we used Blue Point oysters, which are available at Whole Foods in Silver Spring, Maryland.

OYSTERS WITH A PEACH CHAMPAGNE MIGNONETTE
A Chef Bolek Original
Serves 2


One dozen oysters, any variety
1/2 peach, peeled and diced finely
1 scallion, diced finely
1/2 to 3/4 cup of Champagne

Make the mignonette first.  Dice the peach finely and make sure to incorporate all of the peach, including the reddish part by the pit, which provides a little color for the mignonette.  Mix in the scallions and the Champagne.  Set aside.

Shuck the oysters.  Rinse each oyster.  Only use an oyster knife, which you can get at a grocery store, Williams & Sonoma or Sur La Table.  Oysters have an opening in the back.  Work the tip of the knife into that opening and begin to turn the knife to each side, working to loosen the top shell.  Once you can get enough of the knife into the oyster, Begin to push down to lift up the shell. Once the top shell is separated, use the knife to make sure the oyster is separated from the top shell.  Use the knife to separate the oyster from the rest of the shell.  There is a muscle underneath the oyster that connects to the bottom part of the shell.  Cut that muscle.  Rinse the oyster if necessary.

Fill a bowl with crushed ice.  Spoon the mignonette onto each oyster.  Serve the oysters over the crushed ice.

 

ENJOY!