Week 10: Just Peachy - Fresh Peach and Marcona Almond Gelato

Peaches are in season right now so I had to find a recipe in this book to utilize this wonderful fruit. The one chosen, Fresh Peach and Marcona Almond Gelato. In case you're wondering Marcona almonds are from Spain and they are sweeter, rounder, and have a more delicate texture than other almonds. I was pressed for time at the grocery store, so I settled for regular sliced almonds instead of searching. Some of these recipes get very specific and I'm not sure that it always makes a difference as to the end result. I will be the first to admit that better ingredients create a better outcome. But in this case The almonds add some flavor but mostly provide a crunchy texture. But let's get to the star of the recipe - the peaches. Thanks go to my Mom who gladly provided the peaches for this recipe. Since they originally came from my aunt, I thank her too. It pays to take advantage of fruits while their in season. They are sweeter, cheaper and of course more plentiful. I think I may take additional advantage of peaches this year and make peach cobbler - oh yum! I tend to like apples and stone fruits cooked more than raw. Since Rob is slightly allergic to them raw, I usually cook them anyway. This recipe uses uncooked peaches and because mine were so ripe they pretty much had the texture of cooked ones. Even though my fruit was ripe this ice cream isn't very sweet. I think I like it that way. I like when you can taste the flavor something has more than the sugar. What's nice about cooking and baking yourself is being able to change a recipe to suit your tastes. This just reminded me of something I heard on the Ben and Jerry's documentary. The reason why there is so much stuff in their ice cream is because Ben has weak taste buds and he kept saying he couldn't taste the flavoring. I think it would be awesome to have hyper taste buds. Being a taste tester would be a perfect profession. I always get a bit off topic at the end of these posts. Anyway this gelato is beautiful. Smooth soft peaches, creamy cool ice cream and crunchy almonds. What more could you want?!

Time to go.
Peach dreams :)

Week 2: Apricot (well Peach) Raspberry Sorbet a.k.a. New House Sorbet

So entering week two I knew I needed an easier recipe to make. This was a busy weekend and it was nice to have enough time to make it without feeling rushed. Tracy just happened to pick out an easy one. I decided to name it New House Sorbet for her because she just bought a new house and the color of this sorbet matched the highlights in her newly colored hair.

Not thinking it would take long, I went to the grocery store today to buy the ingredients. Very few needed, I mainly went in for the frozen raspberries and the apricot juice (I decided to use nectar). Raspberries, no problem, however finding apricot anything was more difficult. I settled on peach nectar as it was the closest I could find. The result - a tangy but sweet enough sorbet that tasted light and refreshing. It is perfect for summer. Rob compared it to Nerds candy, which it is suprisingly reminiscent of. I like the slightly crnchy texture that the raspberry seeds give it. It is much smoother and significantly less icy than sorbets I've made before. I am interested in seeing how the texture changes once it has had time to harden overnight.

I doubled the recipe this time so there should be plenty to go around. This should be a wonderful Monday afternoon treat.