Peaches and Berries with Orange Whipped Cream

One of the things I miss the most from living in Atlanta is the abundance of delicious peaches.  I knew peach season was coming upon us when I saw a friend’s picture with a dessert full of peaches from down south.  After several weeks of waiting for the peaches to reach us in Baltimore, I was finally able to find a few good ones at Whole Foods this past week.  They are not yet as juicy and sweet as they are at the height of the season but they worked well in this dessert.

Unlike their southern fruit friends, berries are in full swing at the Farmers Market in Baltimore.  This past Sunday, we grabbed some raspberries and blueberries to incorporate into our simple, yet delicious dessert.

Ingredients (4 servings)

• 6 peaches


• Handful of raspberries and blueberries for each serving


• ¾ cup heavy whipping cream


• 1 tbsp Grand Marnier


• 1 tbsp sugar


• 1 tsp orange zest


• Honey for drizzling

PREPARATION

Whipping cream: With a hand mixer, mix the heavy whipping cream, Grand Marnier and sugar in a medium bowl until soft peaks form.  Fold in the orange zest.

Put peach slices on the bottom of plate, cover with whipped cream, add raspberries and blueberries on top.  Finish with drizzling honey on top.



There really are no rules for what fruits to use in this dessert.  It can be adapted to any fruits of your choosing.  I really like the spiked whipped cream since it added a little boost in flavor.  To make it without the alcohol, I would suggest adding a tbsp of orange juice instead of Grand Marnier.

I plan on repeating this recipe with mangoes, papaya and pineapple for a tropical twist.

One of a Kind Rustic Dining Room Table

Finding a townhouse with a dining room in Federal Hill is nearly impossible.  We were lucky enough to purchase a home with a separate dining room and knew we had to make the best of our space.  We chose the dining room as our first room to decorate in our house.  We are decorating one room a year to fully devote ourselves to each room.

Cooking is the most important and enjoyable part of our day.  After a long day of work, we love coming home and cooking together.  We pay careful attention to the food we put on our plates.  We invest the time and money to buy locally and advocate it to those that have the means to do the same.  In addition to purchasing produce locally, we make sure that our meat comes from grass-fed cows and free-range chickens.  In the theme we employ for our farm to table meals, we thought it best to create a rustic dining room to bring the outdoors in.

As we waited and picked out the wood for our dining room table and bench, we started on our bar by going to a local architectural salvage store, Housewerks, in Baltimore.  The first item we purchased was the large Zyklon Discoids box.  After doing some research, we learned that these cyanide bottles were used by the US Public Health Service Corp to fumigate bed bugs on naval ships.



Some of the other boxes include a box from Bethlehem Steel and BPS paints.  To bring out the color and quality of the woods for the boxes, we waxed the wood and applied leather protector to the strap of the BPS paints box.  Since we mostly drink wine and beer, we decided to decorate the bar with all things wine.  While our cork jug is lacking in corks, we hope to fill it more and more with the dinner parties we will host now that we have a dining room table!

Our table was made in Cleveland by Paul White.  On one of our trips to Cleveland to visit family, we ended up walking into his workshop and saw a gorgeous table he had made.  Once we purchased our house, the first thing we did was contact Paul to have him make us a table.  The process involved picking out the wood slabs, deciding what parts of the wood we wanted and determining the best size for the table.  After several months of waiting, we finally received our table this past weekend!  Now we must decide on our first meal to make to enjoy our new space.