LIGHT AND SPECIAL ON A HOT SUMMER’S DAY
Alas, have you ever found yourself short on funds and running out of things, “Necessity is the Mother of Invention” for me these days. For someone who loves to bake and cook, for the first time in eons, I have run out of milk, butter, shortening and oil, soon approaching 1 1/2 months, however we go through times like these to make us become more creative with what we have to work with.
You would think this would end up in despair, however sometimes we need times like these, to cause us to dig deep inside of ourselves and pull out the “Mother of Invention” So that is what I did today.
Thanks to the kind generosity of my friend Foxie Morgan of
Pharsalia Plantation, who surprised me with a wonderful bag of produce at the farmers market on Saturday morning, I can now create some things to brighten my days and hopefully inspire creativity in others as well. Thank You Foxie.
When you have to do without the staples of life such as the ingredients listed above you soon find yourself becoming very creative with what you have left, thank goodness I had eggs, or this would have been impossible.
Eggs Whites to the rescue !!! Simple Meringues can dress up a sliced peach, black berries into something that looks and tastes special and is very pleasing to the eye when plated. No fresh fruit? Custards, pie fillings many things can be spiced up by using these simply whipped up miracles.
Meringues
(preheat oven to 250 degrees)
3 large egg white (at room temp)
1/4 teaspoon Cream of Tarter
5 tablespoons 10x sugar
2 tablespoons 10x sugar + 2 tablespoons Cornstarch (mixed together)
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
With an electric mixer, beat egg whites and cream of tarter together until soft peaks form.
While whipping the egg whites add the 5 tablespoon so 10x sugar, a tablespoon at a time.
Add the Vanilla, and whip until stiff peaks form.
Add the 10x sugar and cornstarch mixture by sifting over the meringue mixture and FOLD IN, DO NOT OVER MIX.
Place dollops of meringue on a parchment lined baking sheet, with back of spoon, make a well in the center of each forming a nest of about 3 inches in diameter, (larger if desired)
Bake in a 250 degree oven for approximately 1 hour, check at 45 minutes the meringues should be lightly browned and still moist in the center, when done.
When out of the oven remove from parchment with a thin bladed spatula to a wire rack for cooling
At 3” you should have about 8 meringue shells.
Ginger Syrup (click on the name to go to the recipe)
Poached Peaches
If you have made the syrup in advance just heat to a bare simmer in a small saucepan on the stove and turn the peaches as they heat in the syrup. Remove from heat until ready to use.
You can make a ginger syrup right at the moment, however I find that it is much quicker and handy to prepare it in advance.
Berries for Garnish
I used black berries, however red raspberries or most any berry makes a good pairing with fresh peaches.
Also Whipped cream is delicious with this as as well, I would put the whipped cream in the nest and arrange the gingered peach slices over the whipped cream and garnish with the berries and drizzle with ginger syrup, also a fresh mint sprig looks nice as well.