Caramelized Pluots with Goat Cheese, Pecans, and Honey

I am officially loving summertime, the freedom of summer vacation, and the variety of our CSA boxes! I was inspired by the image on a Pinterest pin I saw with apricots and goat cheese by Domestic Fits, and I decided to play with it a bit and adapt it to the ingredients we had on hand. And thus, Caramelized Pluots with Goat Cheese, Pecans and Honey was born! This dessert is easy, looks fancy, and tastes quite sophisticated and delicious.

When we got back from Santa Cruz this weekend, we found all of our fruit bursting with ripeness. I've made my way through the nectarines by chopping them up with greek yogurt and granola in the mornings, but we still had these two little pluots, begging to be enjoyed.

So, while the oven heated up, I cut each in half and took out the pit. Not easy! They were so ripe that they threatened to squish everywhere and ruin my plans. Strong will and gentle fingers were required.

Next I put them in a baking dish and sprinkled them with a little bit of brown sugar.  

They were so juicy the sugar started to melt in as I took the pictures. Yum. Then into the oven to broil on the top rack for 9 minutes.

I almost ate them right then, because they were so bright and even more juicy. But I held firm to my vision.

Then I rolled a dollop of goat cheese into a ball and placed it into the hollow. I sprinkled chopped pecans, pushing some into the goat cheese so they wouldn't all roll off. And finally, I drizzled just a touch of honey over the whole thing.

My husband's only complaint? "Next time, you have to make 20."

Caramelized Pluots with Goat Cheese, Pecans, and Honey

Ingredients

2 ripe Pluots

1/2 tsp Brown Sugar

4 tsp Goat Cheese

2 tsp Toasted Pecans, Chopped

1 tsp Honey

Directions

Turn the oven on the high broil and move a rack to the top shelf. Wash the pluots and carefully remove the pits. Place in a baking dish, flesh side up. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake for 9 - 12 minutes, until the brown sugar caramelizes.

Place a teaspoon of goat cheese in each hollow. Sprinkle with pecans, pressing a few into the cheese. Lightly drizzle with honey. Enjoy!

Serves 2, but leaves you wanting more, so you should probably just eat it all yourself.

Cantaloupe Popsicles!

So we love our CSA, but as much as I know it will be delicious because it's fresh from the farm and whatnot, I just have a hard time motivating myself to eat cantaloupe. We were about to leave for a weekend trip, and this guy had been staring me in the face for 2 weeks. Clearly, time for Cantaloupe Popsicles.

These are ridiculously easy - cantaloupe, lemon juice and a little sweetener (I used Simple Syrup). If your cantaloupe is sweet and fresh, you can probably skip the sweetener, but I like to play it safe when it comes to sugar.

For the uninitiated, Simple Syrup, as its name implies, takes very little time or skill. Combine equal parts sugar and water (say, 1/2 cup of each) in a pot and heat until the sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool.

Next, get your cantaloupe ready to be blended. Scoop out the seeds.

And then chop it up so your blender can handle it. Or use a food processor, if you have one and don't mind cleaning all those small parts.

Add the cantaloupe, 1 tsp lemon juice and simple syrup to taste and blend away! All the popsicle and ice cream books say that it should taste slightly too sweet before you freeze it. Something about the freezing process makes it less sweet.

Fill up your molds! Leave a little space at the top.

Freeze and enjoy. Pro tip: Run the molds under hot water for a minute for easy removal. Or, do what my husband does and just hold it in your warm hands until you can pull it off.

Cantaloupe Popsicles

Ingredients

1 small cantaloupe, seeded and cut into chunks. About 4 cups.

1 tsp lemon juice

1/3 cup simple syrup, more or less to taste

Directions

In a blender or food processor, blend the cantaloupe, lemon juice and simple syrup until smooth. The liquid should taste slightly too sweet. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze (4-6 hours). Run under hot water to remove.

And a recommendation...

If you're in the Bay Area and interested in joining a CSA, I highly recommend Farm Fresh to You. CSA's give you fresh, local produce, and they guarantee local farmers a market for their goods: it's a win-win. Farm Fresh to You is a group of several local farms and they have several different types of boxes (we get the Small Mixed) and you can get them as often as you want (we do every other week) and you can exclude anything you want and they replace it with more of something else (because let's be serious, we will never consume a head of lettuce or a bunch of celery). If you use the code 6164 and the name Laura Hawkins, you get $10 off your first delivery!