Brother Ilchester's Summer Highball

Brother Ilchester's Summer Highball, cc by-nc-sa image from John Cmar on Flickr

The past few weeks have seen a robust crop of peaches and nectarines from our CSA shares. In pondering the latest fruits, and what to do with a forlorn bottle of triple sec, I came up with the following refreshing concoction:

• 1 peach or nectarine
• 1 part triple sec
• 1 part gin (I used Citadelle)
• 3 parts tonic water

Pit and slice the fruit. Place slices on a paper towel, and freeze for approximately 60 minutes. Mix triple sec, gin, and tonic water over the frozen fruit instead of ice.

This turned out quite well, and perfect for the ridiculously hot and humid weather of late. Having the cool fruit to munch on toward the end of the drink was wonderful.

Creamy Fruit Salad

Finding myself with a wondrous surplus of fruit in our recent CSA shares, I heavily adapted this recipe for creamy fruit salad as a fruit-based side dish. As usual, my goal is use as much of the share food as possible, without adding in other produce unless truly necessary. I used:

4 peaches, diced and pits removed

4 nectarines, diced and pits removed

8 Methley plums, diced and pits removed

2 cups blueberries

1/4 cup trail mix

1 (1 1/2 ounce) box sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix

1/3 cup sweetened lime juice

2/3 cup water

Combine the peaches, nectarines, plums, blueberries and trail mix in a large mixing bowl. In small mixing bowl, combine pudding mix, water and lime juice with a wire whisk until smooth. Add pudding mixture to fruit. Mix gently until thoroughly coated. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

This was incredibly easy and quick to make, and the result was quite tasty. The lime juice added a strong flavor base.