I am filled with envy about the fennel. I've never seen anybody growing it around here. No reason not to, farmers just don't. *sulks* Fava beans are uncommon too. I think it's because most of the farmers here are of northern european ancestry and just don't grow the more mediterranean stuff unless it's seriously mainstream.
I'm amazed you are getting peaches already. It will be close to a month I think before they show up here. It's blueberries all the way right now!
I love fennel.
and I saw some early peaches too.
read a great peach recipe yesterday... in some food mag on the plane. Will dig it up later.
hug
peach pie
my great grandmother's family name was peaches. we always went overboard during peach season.
how often does one get to serve peaches to the Peaches?
MinstrelBoy,
I LOVE peach pie. I only have 7 peaches now but I guess I can buy a few more to make up for it... :D
Ferdzy,
Believe it or not, a booming local crop in Upstate NY is...tomatillas. Tomatillas and Mexican varietal peppers. 
RE Peaches--actually if you grok an old cookbook from the 40's or so, NY used to have standard peach varieties that ripen as early as mid-June. Many of the families on my block have small peach trees in their yard and the fruit on many of them is over-ripe already.
These, fyi, are cling peaches of some sort--pit does NOT pop nicely out like a Lego toy. Delicious. Had one for breakfast today; may have another with the last of my cherries tonight in a peach-cherry smoothie. :D MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. I like that idea.
Blueberries are close to done in my part of Norcal, plenty of strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, though. Breakfast is a bowl of mixed berries with homemade granola. NotBF brought over a bag of white peaches from a relative's tree; made cobbler last night but forgot to take the pan to work.
Mostly missed the fennel meeting because I'm not a big fan of licorice flavors. That dish sounds wonderful.
Peach Blackberry Cobbler
Filling:
6-8 ripe peaches, peeled and cut into 1/8ths
2 pints blackberries, rinse and cleaned
1 tbsp fresh lemon zest
1-2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
Fresh grated nutmeg
2-3 tbsp tapioca flakes
1/3 cup sugar
Place the peaches and berries in a large, non-reactive bowl. Add the dry ingredients. Add the liquid ingredients. VERY gently toss all ingredients, using your hands, until the berries and peaches are evenly coated. Set aside for 30 minutes.
Once the peaches and berries have macerated, place them in an 11" glass baking dish. The dish should be about 2" deep to hold the berries.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Once the oven reaches 350 degrees, place the filled baking dish in the bottom of the oven for 10 minutes. The peach-berry filling should just be starting to bubble.
Cobbler:
1 1/3 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
6 tbsp butter, cold, cut into 1/4" chunks
1/4 cup cream
1/4 cup milk
Mix all dry ingredients together. Cut in butter with a pastry knife until the butter and flour mixture has an oatmeal like texture. Add the milk and cream. Mix until the batter just holds together. Do not over mix.
Assembly:
Remove the pre-baked filling from the oven. Make sure to shut the oven door. Place 1-2" pieces of the cobbler batter on top of the filling, leaving only small breaks. Place the dish on the lower rack of the oven. Set timer for 10 minutes. At 10 minutes, move the baking dish and cobbler to the top rack, and sprinkle 1 tbsp of sugar on top of the cobbler. After 10 minutes, turn off the oven, and allow the cobbler to remain in for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool to room temperature.
Serve with vanilla ice cream.
To reheat cobbler, place serving in oven-proof bowl and heat in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.
Scory, I am MAKING THIS.
Holy crap that sounds amazing. I'm gonna get me some blackberries this weekend and do this. THANK YOU.
Fresh fava beans are SUCH a treat! When I lived in Oakland, I grew some and had some of the best meals I've ever cooked. They are a pain in the asshole to prepare (you essentially have to pull them out of 2 shells), but so worth it. My favorite move with favas is to substitute them for the garbanzos in my hummus recipe. You can dial back the tahini a little bit, and maybe increase the garlic a smidge, but ho-dang! It's as delicious as it is versatile.
when dealing with cling peaches for pies and such the easiest way to do it is to take a very sharp paring knife and score three circles all the way around. then, with the knife down one of the cuts, with the edge right on the stone give a little wrist twist and pop! out comes your slice.
repeat all the way around.
For those who have access to blueberries still, especially if they're wild or at least don't taste too cultivated, which many @ the farmers mkt do not, here's my grandmother's blueberry cake recipe. It is insanely good and in no way low calorie. Enjoy!
Blueberry cake
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c shortening (can be all or half butter)
2 eggs
1 c milk
3 c flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp nutmeg (fresh grated is best)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 pint frozen or fresh WILD blueberries (Wyman's brand is excellent and not pricey, avl in supermarket; cultivated berries have zero flavor next to wild)
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon (make sure to scrub the lemon with a brush under water first, then dry it, then zest)
Juice of 1 lemon, mixed with 1/3 c sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grate lemon rind. Juice the lemon, mix with sugar, in small bowl.
In a bowl, flour the berries with 1-3 tsps of flour; shake to coat and remove excess flour (prevents the berries from sinking in the cake)
Cream sugar and shortening/butter until fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla, milk, lemon zest. Combine dry ingredients (flour, salt, BP, nutmeg) in a separate bowl, then gradually incorporate into wet ingredients. Fold floured blueberries into batter.
Spray bottom and sides of 9x13 baking pan with veg oil spray. Then line bottom of pan with waxed or parchment paper cut to fit. Spray paper with veg oil spray. (You can grease pan and paper with butter if you prefer). Batter into pan, level.
Bake at 350 for 40 mins, then check for doneness. Increase temp to 375 degrees for 5-10 mins. Test cake with toothpick to make sure no batter sticks to it.
While cake is hot, prick the top of the cake with a fork all over. Drizzle the lemon jiuce/sugar mixture over the cake. Allow to cool. Store in the refrig covered or freeze.
Meant to add -- I got fava beans at farmers mkt last week. Can't wait to try them, a new treat.
Picked bluberries @ a farm west of Boston over weekend. Roosters were roaming thru the bushes clucking away, hunting for bugs. Every once in awhile their little heads would pop up above the berry bushes. Too funny. A fun day and a gorgeous farm.
speaking of peach-blackberry cobbler.
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