One can sense that spring has come. It's in the air. The smoke that is. There are little fires everywhere around town. Kids poking flames, people raking, trimming, clipping. Red cheeks and smiles all around.
Also, rhubarb has appeared on the shelves, flown in  from the Netherlands, a handful costing about 8€. It looked a bit languid and sere though.
Rhubarb in our garden is only about 7cm tall right now but looking well frisky. The newest variety, which I grew from seed last year, being the tallest.
On my windowsill there are two propagators with seedlings, planted about two weeks ago. You know, all the usual things, tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, flowers and a couple experimental plants.

On the right, ice cream in the snow.

Peach ice cream soda.
Not a float since I pureed the peaches with the ice cream and then topped up with lemonade.
For one serving, puree one peach with one scoop of peach ice cream, pour into a glass and top up with about 200ml lemonade.



Caramelised peach ice cream

12 flat peaches
150g sugar
2 egg yolks
4 tbsp Amaretto
vanilla
100g mascarpone


Tip most of the sugar into a saucepan, reserving 2 tablespoons for the egg yolks. Place over medium heat and start chopping the peaches into rough pieces. As soon as the sugar starts to caramelise, turning light brown in colour, add the peaches and gently shake the pan to coat the pieces with caramel. Let bubble for a couple of minutes, shaking occasionally and then puree in a blender.
Whisk egg yolks, Amaretto and seeds from one vanilla pod over a bain marie until fluffy and starting to form ribbons on the surface.
Now, fold the sabayon into the mascarpone and then lightly mix with the peach puree.
Pour into an ice cream maker and let it rip.

Yes, it's flat peaches again! The love affair continues.

Their shape is excellent for baking and roasting because they sit pretty on their flat bums, not wiggling about.
It's a perfect little number and very simple too.

I carved out the stones and loaded the peaches with various goodies like ricotta and chocolate, meringue and custard, frangipane and almonds. You can use whatever takes your fancy.

Meringue topped peaches obviously look the swankiest but as far as flavour goes ricotta was my favourite.

You need to be careful when yanking out the stones, the peach must remain intact! The base and all! Of course it's not a crime to carve a slightly wider hole to fit more chocolate and custard :)

One evening I somehow befriended a butterfly. It wouldn't let go of my hand at any cost. I could vigorously shake my hand but nothing. Eventually I had to go back indoors and I just had to lift it off.

4 flat peaches
120g ricotta
1 egg yolk
sugar
orange zest
orange oil
vanilla
dark chocolate, chopped

4 flat peaches
1 egg white
sugar
lemon juice
thick custard (or tart jam)


Wash the peaches, remove the stones and place them all on a baking tray. Fill four of the cavities with chocolate and the other four with custard.

Whisk egg white till foamy, gradually add sugar and whisk until peaks start to form. Add a bit of lemon juice and whisk to stiff peaks.

Stir together the ricotta, egg yolk, a good pinch of finely grated orange zest, a few drops of orange oil, sugar and vanilla.

Take a scoop or a piping bag and top the chocolate-filled peaches with ricotta and the custard-filled peaches with meringue.

Bake in a preheated 180°C oven for about 12 to 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them!
Best served warm.
Enjoy!

We are in the midst of yet another heatwave, with temperatures climbing as high as 31°C in the shade and inauspicious thunder storms hovering above our heads. It's a lot for our normally frost-bitten toes.

My beloved flat peaches aka Saturn peaches made it to the shops very early this summer.
I've been enjoying them since the middle of June.
Plain. In salads. Baked (which I will show you soon). Poached.

Summer is a great time for salads. Here's a simple one with peaches.


Peach and mozzarella salad

flat peaches
mozzarella
coppa or any other air-dried ham
radishes
a big bunch of salad greens
a good handful of pine nuts
your favourite salad dressing*

Gently roast the pine nuts. Cut or tear all the other ingredients into bite sized pieces, toss everything together, drizzle with the dressing and scatter the pine nuts over the top.

*I used sea-buckthorn, lime and mustard dressing which can be seen in the bottle in the last photo.