Dairy-free dilemma -- Peach Ginger Sorbet

Breastfeeding my son has meant a lot of things to me. It has meant a special bond that couldn't be duplicated with bottles, it has meant giving him the best start I possibly can, it has even helped me through a grieving period as I lost my long-time furry companion Banshee, just two days after he was born.

Unfortunately, it has also meant giving up dairy. Whenver I ate dairy foods, his little tummy would bloat up and he would be irritable and fussy. So it was with a heavy heart that I made the choice to abstain from my second most-favourite food group (the first most-favourite being chocolate... yes it IS a food group in my world).

So here I was in the dead of summer with no yogurt, no cheese and no ice cream. I needed a solution that would make me feel a little less deprived and one day Hubby came home with some raspberry sorbet. It was tasty, and fruity, and I thought, 'hey, I could get used to this.'

Since it's peach season and I can't go to the store without coming back with a basket of our home-grown goodness that is an Ontario peach, I decided on a peach sorbet.

I paired it with ginger and for a little extra richness demerara sugar. While a good idea in theory, the demerara was a little much, so I cut it to a third in the recipe and used white sugar instead. Ginger is a natural match for peach, so I simmered some slices of fresh ginger in the syrup before adding it to the peaches. This is a refreshing dessert for summer's day and a great way for this hard core ice cream lover to feel a little less deprived.

Here's how you do it:

Peach-ginger sorbet

400 grams of peeled and pitted peaches

1/3 cup demerara sugar

2/3 cup white sugar

1 cup water

1 knob of ginger (about 1 inch), peeled and cut into slices

juice of half lemon

Put both sugars and water into a pot on the stove, and heat until sugar starts to melt. Add ginger slices and continue to cook until sugar is completely melted. Let cool. Process the peaches in a food processor until smooth. Strain syrup into peach mixture, add lemon juice and process in ice-cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

Put into freezer and freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.

Ontario's best, in one cake!

Blueberries are pure nostalgia for me. Having grown up in a small town on the outskirts of a small Northern Ontario city, I spent many a summer in the blueberry patch, and nothing tastes like summer like blueberry pancakes, or one of my ultimate favourites blueberry upside-down cake.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll notice I have an obesssion with affinity for upside-down cakes, from apple to pineapple to rhubarb and blueberry, I think they’re a great way to showcase a fruit (although I’m not sure that rhubarb can be considered a fruit). They let the flavour of the fruit shine through and offer up a moist crumby companion to soak up the juices.

This recipe was adapted from the wonderful Earth to Table recipe book. I tried it at first with just blueberries, but then was struck with inspiration when our local peaches starting hitting the markets. Bettina Schormann the pastry chef half behind this tasty tome serves up the cake with some crème fraiche. I whisked a little maple syrup into some yogurt for a lighter accompaniment.

I also added in a little lemon zest into the recipe which is decadently buttery. Blueberries and lemon go exceptionally well together, so I figured why not. The little bit of tartness helps cut through the richness of the cake, so well.

This cake can be made in a 10 inch cast-iron skillet, or any other 10 inch cake pan that is at 2 ½ inches deep.  If you make it in the skillet, you cut down on dishes, as you can melt the butter and sugar together directly in the skillet before adding the fruit.

The beauty of using the peaches and blueberries is you can use as little or as much of each fruit as you like. If you only have 3 or 4 peaches, you can add more blueberries, they just fill in the spots where there are no peaches.

After trying it this way, I would likely do more peaches and less blueberries next time for a more visually striking cake, since the berries bleed quite a bit, and stain the peaches. To skin your peaches, make a shallow X with a knife at the opposite end of the stem, blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes or until skin loosens slightly. Immediately submerge in ice cold water, and the skins will slide right off.

Also, the key to this kind of cake is to have your ingredients at room temperature. Butter and eggs should be room temp before attempting this cake, or it will not rise properly. The butter and sugar must cream together well and create a light airy mixture before adding in eggs.  

A big thanks to my little brother who picked me a couple of baskets of wild blueberries  to make this possible!

Blueberry Peach Upside-Down Cake

Topping:

¼ cup of unsalted butter

½ cup packed brown sugar (I use dark demerara sugar)

4 peaches, skinned and cut into eighths

2 cups fresh wild blueberries (frozen works too)

Cake

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

¾ cup yellow cornmeal.

Zest of one lemon and about 1 tbsp of juice

2 tsp of vanilla extract

1 cup butter  (told ya it was buttery!)

¾ cup granulated sugar

4 eggs

½ tsp salt

¾ cup yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 F.

For topping

Melt butter and brown sugar together until sugar melts  (do not overcook, or butter will burn, I tell you this from experience!).

Arrange sliced peaches in a decorative fashion, and fill in spaces with blueberries. Set aside.

Cake:

Whip butter with the paddle of an electric mixer until light and airy, add in sugar and continue to beat until fully incorporated. Add in eggs one at a time, beating between each addition.  Add salt, lemon zest and juice, and vanilla and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cornmeal and baking powder, making sure to eliminate any clumps. (Sift if necessary)

Next, add dry ingredients into egg, butter and sugar mixture. Fold in well, Stir in yogurt.

Scoop cake evenly over fruit topping, and spread out to cover pan completely.

Bake for 50 minutes or until topping achieves a deep golden brown look and a toothpick inserted in centre of cake comes out clean.

Run a knife around the edge of pan and invert onto a plate while still warm to ensure fruit loosens from pan.

OK, and since you made it this far, I'll give you another reason to keep coming back... pictures of my beautiful little boy! He's a handful, but when he makes faces like this, well, it's all worth it!