Peach Glaze & Drying Fresh Peaches

Drying Peaches for Peach-stuffed Pork Tenderloin


Today's Joy: Actively Producing.
Off again today, Reader. What a gorgeous June day! Blue sky, tons of sunshine and a good breeze is blowing, keeping it from being too hot while sending the scent of newly-opened lilies through the house. Aunt too, is home and has spent the afternoon scrubbing her lovely sun room top to bottom. While she is busy being industrious outdoors, I've been laundering linens and cleaning a bit. But mostly, I've been cooking.

Got the July issue of Martha Stewart Living yesterday and inside are the most delish looking peach recipes! Just looking at the Peach-stuffed Pork Tenderloin made my tummy grumble. Just so happens, we have some pork loin hanging out in the freezer, just waiting for a fabulous occasion. While the family is already booked this evening, I figured if I do all the meal prep today, I can simply pop it in the oven tomorrow. So, I invited the clan over on Thursday night for a gourmet dinner. In addition to the succulent pork, we'll be having fresh asparagus, oregano roasted potatoes and for dessert, grilled mango with vanilla ice cream. YUM!

For the pork, I need dried peaches. Of course, you can buy them at the store. But if you're feeling adventurous, you can also dry your own. MSL instructs us to slice pitted peaches into 1/8 inch thick slices and arrange them in a single layer on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Bake at 150 degrees for 3 hours. Or, you can shave an hour off that by baking them at 200 degrees for 2 hours. That's what I did with mine and they came out perfect (see above). These also make tasty and healthy homemade snacks. Mix 'em up with granola and you're all set! Stay tuned tomorrow for specifics on making the sauce & stuffing the pork.

Peach Glaze Simmering

In addition to stuffing the pork, we need to glaze it while it's roasting. MSL suggests a labor-intensive peach jam recipe (see July, 2010 issue) but I have a simple glaze recipe in mind instead.

Peach Glaze:
3/4 cup sugar

1 peach, pitted & rough chopped

1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp coarse salt

pinch of ground ginger

pinch of black pepper

splash of lemon juice

Simmer all ingredients uncovered in a small sauce pan on low until peaches are soft and mixture is reduced to a syrup.

Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Refrigerate overnight.
Roast pork loin per recipe instructions.

Apply glaze during last 5 minutes of roasting.

Once pork loin is removed from oven and has rested 10 minutes, apply glaze again.

Love these cooking binges, Reader! It's so much fun to surprise everybody with delicious, homemade seasonal dishes. Can't wait to show you what I have in mind for other summer favorites later in the season...BBQ Grilled Sweet Corn, Cranberry Pistachio Chicken Salad and other deliciousness involving fresh blueberries and cherries...