Grilled Peaches & Farmers' Cheese on Sourdough Toast

I love peaches. I am so enjoying all the stone fruit this season. With our big international move we skipped a Summer in Australia and I had been hanging out for some delicious stone fruit. Finally we're in the midst of the season and it is just amazing! We picked up a beautiful variety of peaches at the Campbell Farmers' Market over the weekend. I absolutely adore the farmers' markets in Summer, with their array of colours and textures and amazingness.

Afterwards, we went to a fabulous, hilarious and yet comforting Russian Deli and Cafe for matzo ball soup to soothe my husband's throat as he has a nasty flu. I will write about the deli soon (it's amazing!) but while we were there, buying all manner of food that evoked great memories for my husband of his beloved Bubba, I found farmers' cheese. This is a pretty traditional Russian food and one that I loved as a kid living in the US. When we moved back to Australia I never found any that tasted quite like the one from Schnuck's in St Louis. Well, I finally found some tucked away in the deli - I got so excited when I saw it, I can't even tell you. 

Now, it seems that the farmers' cheese I ate in St Louis was a seasonal, Pesach (Passover) item that was a blend with creamed cheese. No matter, this plain farmers' cheese is delicious and more like the creamed cottage cheese that you get easily at home in Australia but doesn't seem to exist in the US. To basically I have hit two culinary desires with one stone in finding this cheese!

I had great memories of eating is with raspberry and cherry preserves on Matzo during Pesach but I felt that for today, with its cottage cheese-y texture, it belonged on delicious sourdough from the Markets with a delicious grilled peach. Now, if you're wondering why I have a recipe for cheese and peaches on toast - be assured that marinating them in honey and white balsamic leads to deliciousness that cannot fully be articulated through words and images alone. The result was a super tasty flavour sensation that fulfilled my food nostalgia needs and kept me full from 11am to 6pm!

Grilled Peaches & Farmers' Cheese on Sourdough Toast

This recipe makes 6 slices and will serve 3-6 depending how hungry you are. It's so tasty I'd lean towards serving 3! 

Ingredients: 

• 6 Slices Sourdough 
• 3 Large Pieces (Ideally, these need to be only slightly soft to the touch) 
• 2 Tablespoons Grassfed Butter, Melted
• 2 Tablespoons Raw Honey 
• 1 Tablespoons White Balsamic Vinegar 
• 1/8 Teaspoon Sea Salt 
• Farmers Cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat grill pan to med-high. 
2. Whisk together 1/2 honey, 1/2 melted butter, white balsamic and sea salt. 
3. Slice peaches into 1/4 inch thick slices. I cut the round 'ends' off and eat them or keep them aside with lemon juice on them for snacking later. 
4. Coat the peach slices in the wet marinade and set aside. 
5. Lightly coat each side of bread with the remaining butter. 
6. Place bread on the grill and grill 1-2 minutes each side. Set aside.
7. Grill peaches 3-4 minutes each side. 
8. While peaches grill, spread farmers' cheese on the toast. 
9. Top with grilles peaches and drizzle with remaining raw honey. 
10. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes if desire and serve - this also tastes fantastic with some shredded basil on it, as well. 
11. Enjoy! 

Mushroom, Microgreen & Goat Cheese Omelet

Last week ended up being kind of a crazy week. My mother's best friend's father died after a long battle with a variety of health issues at the age of 83. My mother's friend's family are not just friends to me...we are part of the family to them. After hearing that Edsel had died on Sunday I felt out at 4am Monday morning to be there for the funeral and to spend time with family as they sat Shiva (a Jewish mourning tradition). It was bittersweet week - full of many tears and triple the number of laughs. Edsel's life was celebrated and his legacy was clear for all to see. 

Food is a huge part of Jewish culture and mourning is no different. It felt like the entire week was spent eating, eating and then eating some more. His favourite holiday was July 4th so on Thursday we ate hot dogs and put out his favourite July 4 decor and remembered the many 4ths that have come before. When people felt bad about eating their fourth cookie, I just told them that food is healing. 

I came home with the flu and have spent the last day or two in bed watching the West Wing and eating popsicles. I craved simple food and this omelet is just the ticket. A couple of eggs, mushrooms and a handful of organic microgreens is all you need to have a delicious, healing meal. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 Teaspoon Butter 
• 3/4 Cup Button Mushrooms, Finely Sliced
• 1 Clove Garlic, Crushed
• 2 Eggs, Whisked 
• 1/2 Cup Microgreens 
• 1/4 Cup Goat Cheese Crumbles
• Salt & Pepper

Instructions: 

1. Heat half the butter in a non-stick omelet pan. 
2. Add mushrooms, garlic and season with salt and pepper. Let sit until mushrooms release their fluids. Saute until mushrooms are lightly browned and liquid has disappeared, around three minutes. Removed from pan and set aside. 
3. Heat remaining butter in pan. Season eggs with salt and pepper and whisk for 30 seconds. Pour into pan and cook until edges set slightly. Push uncooked eggs from centre to the edge, until layered evenly. Cover and cook for 1-2 minutes until cooked to your preference. Remove from heat with non-stick spatula. 
4. Fill half omelet with mushrooms, microgreens and goat cheese, then fold omelet over. 
5. Serve immediately. Enjoy!  

Inspired by Martha Stewart. Hannah Chester is a food and beverage photographer servicing the SF Bay Area and surrounds. 

Gluten Free Banana Pancakes

My husband loves bananas. When I fail at housewifery and don't make him breakfast, they're a perfect on-the-run breakfast to get him going for the morning. The only thing is that he likes them at a perfect stage of ripeness - anything over 'perfectly yellow and creamy' and they're inedible. Then they sit there until I have brown mushiness. Lately, I have been excellent on the housewife front (at least with making breakfast, don't talk to me about the ironing, okay?) so I have mushy bananas at a count of six right this minute. Luckily. there's plenty of tasty things to do with that brown mushiness and one of my favourites is banana pancakes. There's something so decadent about them and yet they're really a pretty great start to the day. 

This recipe is gluten-free thanks to the use of Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour. They're also pretty high in protein thanks to some extra egg whites thrown in to ensure that these are filling as well as tasty. These are a thinner pancake - I am yet to perfect the fluffy, gluten-free pancake, but I'll get there eventually! 

Ingredients

• 1 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour
• 1/2 cup whole milk 
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup pure egg white liquid
• 1 extremely ripe banana, mashed 
• 1 tablespoon melted butter 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

1. Sift flour and baking powder. 
2. Add wet ingredients and whisk thoroughly.
3. Heat pan on low-mid heat.
4. Pour batter  in 1/4 cup increments onto hot, lightly greased nonstick or cast iron pan 
5. Cover pancake and cook until lightly browned underneath and when there are bubbles throughout the uncooked top of the pancake. 
6. Flip and brown the other side - this usually takes less than a minute. 
7. Serve with butter, quality Grade B Maple Syrup (this has lots of yummy vitamins and minerals and tastes ah-mazing) and powdered sugar, if you wish. 
8. Enjoy!