she cooks…he cleans

What can I say? We inadvertently took a six month sabbatical from blogging, but we never took a break from cooking, eating well, and listening to great music.  Thanks to you all that have continued to follow us anyway – – we hope to get back into the swing of this.

There will be some changes. During our absence, we have re-evaluated and changed our diet slightly.  When we started the blog, we were going for a modified-paleo type diet, which included dairy (and wine), but no grains or white potatoes.  After a few years of that, we felt deprived of all the wonderful rice and potato dishes that we love.  We’ve now incorporated rice and potatoes back into our diet, but try to keep it to a minimum.  We continue to do our best to eat gluten-free, and the recipes posted here will be gluten-free.  We’re still all about organic, non-GMO foods and meats from pastured-raised animals.  Limiting sugar intake is still a priority as well.  We rarely have dessert, aside from a square of dark chocolate.  When we do indulge, it better be worth it… which brings me to this AMAZING Peach Upside-Down Cake.

If you like pound cake and peaches, I’m telling you…THIS is even better!  The caramelized peaches, the buttery cake, the edges densely crusted with butter and syrup from the cooking peaches.  Best of all, it not “gee, this is good for a gluten-free cake” – it is “this is simply great, period”.  So, get out to your farmer’s market and pick up some nice ripe peaches!

It’s pretty simple, really.  I baked this in a 10-inch cast iron pot.  You could also use a 12-inch skillet, which would use more peaches and end up with a thinner cake.  As you can tell, I didn’t even peel the peaches and it didn’t matter at all.  They are all happily nestled in butter and coconut palm sugar.

Next you pour the cake batter over the sliced peaches, smooth it out, and bake it.  After cooling for 20-30 minutes, you invert it on a serving plate, and voilà!  Serve it by itself, or warm with vanilla ice cream.

I made my own all purpose-gluten free flour blend, based on guidelines from America’s Test Kitchen The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook (Highly recommended, by the way.) I’ll share my recipe for the flour on another post.  You can also use a commercial blend.  The Test Kitchen rated King Arthur Flour Multipurpose Flour highly, as well as Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour.

Ingredients:

• 3 T unsalted butter (pastured)
• 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar or light brown sugar
• 2-3 large peaches, sliced thick (no need to peel)

• 3/4 cup blanched almond flour
• 3/4 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour blend
• 1 1/2 t baking powder (aluminum-free)
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t xanthan gum (needed for structure of cake)

• 6 T unsalted butter (pastured), at room temperature
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 T neutral-tasting oil (I used grapeseed oil)
• 3/4 cup granulated organic cane sugar
• 1 1/2 t almond extract
• 3 eggs, room temperature

1.  Melt 3 T butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet or pot.  (Cake pan can also be used, or slightly larger skillet.)  Stir in coconut palm sugar until the sugar has melted and started to bubble.  Coconut palm sugar will tend to separate from the butter, but don’t worry.  Remove from heat, and stir it around until the sugar is evenly distributed in the skillet.
2. Place the sliced peaches in the pan.  Concentric circles look nice – go for something visually appealing.  Set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 350F.
4. In a medium mixing bowl, blend the flours, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum together using a whisk.  Set aside.
5. Using an electric mixer, beat the 6 tablespoons butter and 2 T oil with the cream cheese until blended.  Add the sugar and beat together until fluffy, several minutes. Beat in the almond extract, then the eggs, one at a time.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the batter in 2 stages, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl.  Keep that mixer going and BEAT WELL until the batter is nice and fluffy.  This will make the cake’s texture lighter. (Don’t worry about overbeating a gluten-free batter.)
7. Spoon the batter in the skillet over the peaches, smoothing it out from edge to edge.  Some of the sugar-butter may seep up the sides – THIS IS GOOD!  Try not to let it get on top of the batter though.
8. Bake at 350F for 45-55 minutes, or until the edges of the cake have pulled away from the sides, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool 20-30 minutes.  You don’t want to flip it when it is too hot (ouch, sugar burns), but don’t let it get too cool (won’t release from pan).
10. Carefully invert onto a serving plate. Suggestion: place plate on top of skillet.  Use oven mitts, and quickly flip both over.
11. Enjoy your dessert!

Hey! We’re back! Bet you’ve been missing the tunes, well I’ve been listening to a bunch of good stuff, such as Dave and Phil Alvin’s Common Ground: Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Play and Sing the Songs of Big Bill Broonzy. Like a lot of rock and roll brothers, Phil and Dave haven’t always got along, but when they do, look out! Leaders of the great roots band The Blasters, they have reunited on music they have loved since they were just starting out, the blues of Big Bill Broonzy. This is primo blues, with the brothers sharing the vocal duties on such classics as “I Feel So Good” and the oft-covered “Key To The Highway”. Hope these two stay in touch a while longer, because the results are a peach! (See what I did there? HA!)

John Fullbright’s first album, From the Ground Up, was a rockin’ debut that garnered many “best of” when it was released in 2012. His new record, Songs, has already been proclaimed Album of the Year in many circles, and I’m not going to say no. Less up-tempo than his debut, he focuses on pure emotion and sticks mainly to acoustic guitar and piano this time out. The results are stunning. From the opener “Happy” to “She Knows” this is a record on the level of Nick Drake or early Elton John. Highly recommended.