Summer Morning Coffee Cake

Everyone should have this easy, delicious anytime cake in their kitchen repertoire. You can use any stone fruit with this. Right now, we love it with dainty white Opal peaches.

1 stick (4 oz / 8 tablespoons) butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 tsp ground cardamom, optional but it adds a nice herbal-lemony flavor
1/2 lb peaches, pluots, or nectarines, pitted and sliced into eighths
1 tablespoon sugar mixed with a pinch of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, or cardamom

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream butter with sugar and salt until fluffy and well combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating well. Beat in vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder, and cardamom (if using) together. Stir flour gently into butter mixture. Scrape batter into an 8” x 2” round pan, lightly greased if you plan on unmolding the cake, ungreased if you’re happy eating it right out of the pan. Embed the fruit slices, cut side down, into the surface of the batter. Sprinkle lightly with spiced sugar. Bake for 45- 50 minutes, until the top of the cake is a deep golden brown and the fruit has almost vanished beneath the surface. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Bruschetta with Peach Salsa and Melted Brie

Here's a great appetizer idea using our peaches! Tweet or send us your pictures!

Place the cheese in the freezer for about 20 min for easier cutting. To make this appetizer in advance, you can prepare and refrigerate the salsa up to a day in advance. Toast bread and assemble just before serving.

2 cups chopped peeled peaches (about 4)
3/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper (about 1)
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Dash of ground red pepper
1 8 ounce French bread baguette, cut into 24 slices
4 ounces chilled Brie cheese, cut into 24 pieces

1. Preheat broiler
2. Combine first 7 ingredients; set aside
3. Arrange bread slices in an even layer on a baking sheet. Top each bread slice with 1 piece of cheese; broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts and bread is toasted. Remove pan from oven. Top each bread slice with about 1 1/2 tablespoons salsa; serve immediately.

Yield 12 servings (serving size: 2 bread slices)

Plum Good

Right on time with the summer solstice, our slurpy-tangy Santa Rosa plums tell you that summer has truly arrived on the farm. The Santa Rosa, as you might have guessed from the name, is one of the true stars bred by famed California horticulturist Luther Burbank at his plant-breeding research center in Santa Rosa.

Red-skinned with a purple bloom and amber flesh flushed with red, the Santa Rosa is plump plum perfection: sweet with a bit of tartness in the skin, with good texture and lots of juice. These are one of our favorite and most reliable plums of summer - we hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Coming up soon will be our first nectarine of the season, the silky-sweet white beauty Jade. With smooth, fuzzless skin that's splashed magenta over white, Jade is a luscious and fragrant white nectarine that's dripping with sweetness. Slurp!

Mixed fruit dessert with Frog Hollow Farm fruit!

Just received a great dessert idea from Frog Hollow Farm friend, Diana Fredrich. Here's another great way to use our Frog Hollow Farm fruit!

email from Diana:

I made a dessert on Sunday for a dinner party - and it was a great
hit. I wanted to share with you.

First - I made a vanilla pound cake.

But - I simply sliced up all the beautiful Frog Hollow fruit (and added some Livermore strawberries) into a glass serving bowl.

THEN - I poured about 1 cup of a very good chilled
French Pear Liqueur over the fruit and tossed it,
then chilled it.

I served the fruit over pieces of the pound cake then
topped with fresh whipped cream.

It tasted amazing -
AND - it looked spectacular !!

The next day - we also had the fruit / liqueur over
gourmet vanilla ice cream (delicious).

This sounds amazing and such a great use of local fruit! We'd love to see your pictures of this great use of our fruit and hear about other great ways to enjoy Frog Hollow Farm fruit! Email your photos and ideas to peaches@froghollow.com!

BABY GREENS SALAD WITH GOAT CHEESE & CHERRIES

Looking for other ways to enjoy our amazing Bing cherries? Here's a great recipe from Frog Hollow Farm's Stephanie J. Rosenbaum.

Baby Greens Salad with Goat Cheese & Cherries

You can also add a tablespoon of chopped fresh herbs to the dressing--try tarragon, basil, chervil, lovage, or parsley.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar or fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

1 4-oz log of soft goat cheese (chevre), divided in 4 rounds

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

5 cups mixed baby greens or salad mix

1 cup halved, pitted cherries

1/2 cup chopped almonds, toasted

In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, shallot, wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Spread bread crumbs on a plate. Roll each round of goat cheese in crumbs until completely coated.

Place on a baking sheet. Bake until cheese is soft but not melted and crumbs are slightly crisp, about 8 minutes.

Toss salad greens and cherries with dressing, turning to coat evenly. Divide onto four plates. Top each plate with toasted almonds and a goat cheese round.

Recipe for Apricot Chicken

With the recent warm weather, we've had a chance to enjoy our fantastic organic apricots - both the Orange Red and Robada varieties! If you like apricots as much as we do then you'll love this recipe, courtesy of Frog Hollow Farm's very own Becky Courchesne.

Apricot Chicken

Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium yellow onions-chopped finely

2 cloves garlic

½ teaspoon ginger

½ teaspoon dried chilies

¼ teaspoon garam masala

1 whole chicken, cut up 3 to 3 1/2 lbs

1 medium tomatoes –skinned and seeded, or 3 whole canned tomatoes

2 teaspoons salt

2c chicken stock or combination chicken stock and water

¼ teaspoon saffron

2 tablespoons hot milk

1 jar apricot conserve or 6-7 fresh apricots halved and pitted.

Rinse the chicken pieces in cold water then pat dry with a paper towel. Pound the garlic, ginger and dried chilies with 1 teaspoon of the salt into a paste. Sprinkle the saffron over the warm milk and set aside.

In a sauce pan with a tight fitting lid or Dutch oven saute the onions in the olive oil until translucent. Then add the ginger/chili/garlic paste and saute for 2-3 minutes more.

Add the chicken, garam masala, tomatoes and the remaining salt. Add the chicken stock and or water and simmer covered until the chicken is tender and the liquid has reduced to about ½ its original volume (about 45 minutes). Add the milk/saffron and the apricots or apricot conserve. Simmer slowly for 15-20 minutes.

Serve warm over basmati rice with chopped pistachios or almonds.

Yum!

ZenChef's Apricot - Almond Tarts

Chef / blogger / and Frog Hollow Farm customer, Zen Chef, has posted a great Recipe featuring Frog Hollow Farm's Apricots. You'll love his post - check it out at http://www.zencancook.com/2009/06/apricot-almond-tarts/

ZenChef is a private chef in New York City. His blog, Zen Can Cook, is brilliant and his recipes sound and look amazing! You can follow him on twitter @ZenChef.

Thanks ZenChef!