Ginger Peach Muffins

I've been waiting to make the Ginger Peach Muffins from Good to the Grain since I first got the book back in March.  When delicious, ripe, juicy peaches started showing up at the markets, I broke out the recipe.

There was some hesitation from my primary taste tester, who doesn't like ginger (but will eat anything I make with it despite that preference).  The recipe includes both fresh ginger, used to saute the peaches, and crystallized ginger, which melts on the inside of the muffin.  The final product, perfectly moist when warm, tasted more like gingerbread than actual ginger - the whole was greater than the sum of the parts.

The peaches were delicious, of course - sliced, sauteed in honey, butter, and ginger, and stuck on top of the batter in the muffin cups.  After the first batch, though, we decided it would be an improvement to also dice some peaches up and mix them into the batter.  This was definitely an improvement upon an otherwise perfect recipe.  I thought it made a difference.

Another note - all of Kim's muffin recipes make weird numbers of muffins, usually 8-10 instead of the standard 12.  After the first batch, I decided I could easily stretch the batter to make 12 muffins, which is good for a number of reasons: 1, it makes more muffins; 2, each muffin is less calories; and 3, they are not ginormous and spilling all over the pan (like the first batch).  I found this to improve the quality of the final product as well and I will do it again next time.

Like every other recipe in Good to the Grain, I will be making this again.  YUM.

 

Fig & Olive

On our trip to NYC a few weeks ago we had lunch at Fig & Olive in the meatpacking district.  I wrote about Centrico already, but Fig & Olive was really my favorite part of the day.  When my sister sent me several menus to choose from when we were planning our trip, this was first on the list.  I opened it and immediately knew I was going to choose this place.  I did look at the other menus, but I was right, and it was a perfect choice.

We started off with some bread and three different olive oils from different parts of the world.  We don't have distinguished enough palates to really comment on any of them.  The bread was pretty good, but after trying all three types we were really sick of olive oil and none of them tasted that good.  I wish I was enough of a foodie to enjoy it, but oh well!

Luckily, the following courses made me forget all about the bread.  As I did with Centrico, I'll copy the menu descriptions with a few photos.  Unfortunately, Deanna's phone has the remaining photos and we have no way to retrieve them, so you'll just have to picture them from the descriptions!

Appetizers:

Mediterranean Cold Soup - Cucumber and Pink Peppercorn  (Deanna)

Steak Tartar - Ground filet mignon & NY steak, shallot, caper, parsley, mayonnaise served with olive oil toast  (Andrea)

Chicken Samosa - Free range chicken, cilantro, Greek yogurt, bell pepper, scallion, cumin, harissa oil  (me)

Main Course:

Shrimp & Scallop Paella - Grilled shrimp & scallops marinated with pimenton served on saffron rice, eggplant tapenade, bell pepper, tomato, garlic  (me & Andrea)

Provence Vegetables Chicken Salad - Free range rotisserie chicken marinated with Herbs de Provence, lemon & garlic grilled zucchini, eggplant, tomato, asparagus, red onions, avocado, arugula, parmesan, pine nuts, 18 year balsamic vinegar- Picholine Olive Oil  (Deanna)

Dessert:

Dessert "Crostini" - Local-farmed strawberries, mascarpone, 18 year aged balsamic on shortbread with micro-basil

The dessert was, without a doubt, the highlight of my day - probably my week, actually.  It was amazing.  And Andrea has superior portion control abilities and was able to eat two and leave the third - so naturally I snagged it.  Delicious.

Crisp French Toast

Here's another little nugget of inspiration: a baked cornflake-crusted french toast.  I like french toast, but with that, pancakes, waffles, whatever - I never eat syrup.  Ever!!!  Until this french toast.  Just the tiniest dip in the syrup elevated each bite to greatness.  And the crispy crust... I never would have thought of it, but what a stroke of genius.  Delicious.