Monday 16 January 2012

Nectarine bounty - salsa and pizza

Wow that was some marathon of catch up posts last week.  I finished off quite a few posts that had been almost there for some time.  During that time I didn't make new recipes, as I promised myself.  It meant I revisited some recipes posted on this blog.  Then I was given a couple of paper bags of nectarines on Friday and had to experiment a bit.

Before telling you about the recipes here is a brief rundown of some of the things happening over this time.  Amazing how much can happen in a week or two:
  • We had such fierce winds in Melbourne that our cubby hut blew over.
  • A bowl of peas started flaming in the old microwave with excellent timing that meant we could get a new one in the New Year sales.
  • Sylvia gave dolly a bath.  As you can see from the above photo the water showed just how much she needed a bath but it did take a while for her to dry out.
  • I did a 2 hour introductory DSLR course that was free with my new camera.  I still find manual photography a mystery but I like Rachel's manual Project 365.  I also bought a tripod.  Am still unsure I will ever have time to use it.
  • Sylvia and I have been doing some craft on birthday cards.  Lots of fun.
  • I cleaned out the pantry.  That doesn't happen very often.
  • I had some painful dental work.  Never again.  Please!

The nectarines came from trees that grew from stones in compost in the house of a family who doesn't like nectarines.  I was quite excited and made a Corn, Tomato and Peach Salsa from Vegan YumYum to serve with broccoli and hazelnut burgers.  I don't have a bbq so my method was quite different.  The nectarines that I substituted for the corn were on the bitter side but worked in this salsa.  My preference would be for yellow peaches in the salsa.  Definitely one to make again.

After my photography course I found a place in Melbourne Central near the train station that sold a container of pineapple chunks.  This was a perfect snack for me.  Even better was that it meant I had some leftover for pizza.  I made some fast track pizza dough with sweet potato pizza sauce, capsicum, mushrooms, olives, pineapples and cheese. 

With the leftover pizza dough I made nectarine and custard pizza.  Not bad for an ad hoc dessert.  The bitterness of the nectarines needed more sugar but I still enjoyed it.  Which is strange given that if you suggested a sandwich of nectarines and custard I might feel slightly queezy.  There are still nectarines left but I probably wont experiment with too many new recipes.  I wonder if the trees are quite young and that is why they are on the bitter side.  Yet who can resist a gift of fruit!

I am sending the salsa to Ricki's Wellness Weekends.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Sylvia's dinner - hit and miss
This time two years ago: Tetris, the Foolish Hedgehog and Brunch
This time three years ago: Mojos Weird Pizza – for the adventurous!
This time four years ago: Mole and the global village

Corn, tomato and peach salsa
Adapted from Vegan YumYum
serves 3-4

2 corn cobs
6-8 large cherry tomatoes, halved
3-4 little peaches (I used nectarines), yellow is best, halved
1-2 tbsp olive oil
pinch salt
1 spring onion, finely sliced
2 tsp lime juice, or more (I used lemon juice)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp chilli paste
1/4 tsp cumin powder
seasoning to taste

Toss corn, tomatoes, peaches, oil and salt in roasting tray and roast at 180 C for about 30 minutes.  If the corn is still not charred, place under grill and turn occasionally until slightly charred (which is what I did).  Meanwhile chop tomatoes and peaches.  When corn is grilled, cut kernels off the cob and mix in a medium bowl with tomatoes, peaches and remaining ingredients.  Set aside for at least 30 minutes if possible.  Keeps up to 24 hours.

Nectarine and custard pizza
I used about one fifth of my favourite fast track pizza dough and made a thick custard with 3 tsp custard powder, 1 1/2 tsp sugar, and 1/3 cup milk brought to the boil.  I spread it on the dough when hot and arranged the nectarine slices of about 6 small nectarines.  I baked it at 210 for about 20 minutes.  The custard was a little thick and the pizza could have done with a little more sugar but was still very good.

On the Stereo:
Music to Watch Girls By: Various Artists

28 comments:

  1. I have recently seen a sweet pizza appear in one of the supermarkets which has chocolate, marshmallows and gummies. I think would much prefer a slice of your custard and nectarine one!

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    1. Thanks Hazel - I once had a pizza at mojos that had chocolate nutella, raspberry jubes, and lots of other gooey stuff - it was amazing and so so rich but the one I made last week was much nicer everyday pizza

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  2. Hi, finally someone who dares to say what worked and what did not work. I also refer to my slam dunks and my kitchen disasters. I love how you cover the music you listen to and the external factors you are faced with.

    Did you take a picture of the nectarine and custard pizza?

    Check out my blog at:
    http://cooksploratrice-cooksploration.blogspot.com

    I'd like it if we could keep in touch and if you have special ingredients from Australia I should try, if you could let me know.

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    1. Hi Cooksploratrice - I like to record what doesn't work so I remember next time and it does help - there is a picture of the nectarine and custard pizza so am not sure why you can't see it - for info about Australian ingredients go to http://gggiraffe.blogspot.com/p/kitchen-notes.html

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  3. All looks lovely. I love having bits of leftover dough to make dessert pizzas. They are simple yet always feel so indulgant and special. Not tried custard as a sauce before - great idea!

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    1. Thanks Katie - I have started making more dessert pizzas because I often have a little leftover - which has made me creative with whatever is to hand as I don't often plan them

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  4. Sounds wonderful--but then again, so do those pizzas! It's so lovely to be reading about summer fruit in the middle of winter--I can imaine I'm out of the cold. :) Thanks for submitting to WellnessWeekend! (And congrats ont he photography course--I've got to do one next!).

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    1. Thanks Ricki - so glad you have got the comments working! Summer fruit is wonderful though I really need to get to some farmers markets because it is even better there

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  5. Nice gift! I wouldn't have been able to resist either. I quite like the idea of nectarine and custard pizza, in a slightly weird way!

    I hope dolly feels better for her bath!

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    1. thanks C - The pizza was not what I had planned but I wanted to make a sweet food with the nectarines and had some leftover pizza dough so it really just presented itself to me - dolly is doing fine thanks

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  6. Wow - Dolly really did need a bath lol.
    Those nectarines look so fresh and tasty and I love how you've put them to good use too. I'd probably have just scoffed the lot before they got anywhere close to the kitchen ;0)

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    1. Thanks Chele - yes dolly always looks in need of a bath - even straight after I gave her a good wash following the bath (which followed the call of - mum look dolly is swimming in the bath!!!) I have eaten a lot of nectarines without cooking them - we just have had a lot

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  7. Damaged cubby houses, flaming peas and dental work?? - what a week indeed!!!!!

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    1. Thanks Lisa - isn't it meant to be a quiet time of year!

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  8. Love your nectarine and custard pizza, sounds yummy.

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    1. Thanks for visiting Norma - the pizza was lovely if not very sweet

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  9. You have been busy! I like the look of the nectarine and custard pizza - i rather like custard and fruit as a dessert.

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - custard and fruit is a nice combination - maybe next time I could try a rhubarb and custard pizza for a really zany way to eat traditional dessert

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  10. I'm sorry to hear about the dental work! And microwave (although well done on the sales) and cubby house (I hope it's recovered?). The Dolly bath and photo course sound like very worthy adventures though...I'm interested to hear about the tripod purchase too.

    On food matters, this nectarine pizza has completely won me over. Completely! It looks fantastic Johanna - a worthy return to new recipes :)

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    1. Thanks Kari - yes the dental work was most unpleasant, the sales made me feel better about the microwave - at least the timing was good and the cubby hut is upright again and fine though sylvia loves hearing me tell her the story of the big big bang! Not sure about using a tripod still but will let you know how I go. So many new recipes to try - but am still taking it slowly

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  11. Ooh, dessert pizza! Funnily enough I don't care for yellow nectarines but adore white nectarines. And oooh, photography course, and oooooowwwwww, dental work! Totally reminds me I'm overdue at my dentist :S

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    1. Thanks Hannah - I can imagine that dessert pizza would be right up your alley because if you just told people you had pizza for dinner they would never guess it was sweet! I love both colour nectarines but yellow seem better for these dishes because the white flavour is more delicate. Now go off the dentist - a checkup is so much nicer than drills and horrid little instruments being stuck in your mouth

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  12. now this is such a treat! Nectarine, custard on a pizza! :)

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    1. Thanks Anh - dessert pizza is indeed a treat

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  13. I know all about blog backup. Blah. Always love your recipes and I would love to try this right now. Tired so Thai takeout tonight. A hole in the wall, but home cooked and some of the best offered here in London.

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  14. I need to clean out my pantry too. I'm staying home from work today because of the weather (snow and freezing rain) so maybe I should start on it today. Everything looks delicious! I need to try that corn tomato peach salsa.

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  15. I love pudding pizzas. You have given me an idea to act upon ... once I have cleared the backlog... The never ending backlog.

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  16. love that the nectarines grew out of compost!

    tripod? use it at night/very low lighting conditions and you'll be so happy you got it. means you can use larger f stop numbers (f5.6, f8) to get more over all detail. we should have a dslr-lesson-ish catch-up one day.

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