This recipe is a complete rip-off of homage to SusanV’s Vegan Peach Upside Down Cake that, like pretty much all other FatFree Vegan recipes, is just knockout. It’s a simple but beautiful idea; the glossy caramel showcases the peaches, the real star of this dessert, and the cake plays backup to the beautiful fruit.

It seems to be peach season in New York - white peaches came in my CSA share and I’ve been buying up all the ripe yellow ones from my farmer’s market in Brooklyn. They are just too good to share and quite frankly it’s going to be apple season for a looooong time. In other words, get your local peaches now; you can always get apples later.

This is my first foray into Gluten Free Baking. I read Karina’s gluten-free baking guidelines at Gluten-Free Goddess (I’m also a big fan of her blog in general) and felt empowered enough to give it a try. Instead of buying 10 different kinds of flour I simply purchased a mix of gluten-free flour (I used Arrowhead Mills brand baking mix, but there are other ones out there too.) I added oats for texture and used agave nectar, which has a great fruity taste and a low GI index, instead of sugar. If you don’t have gluten concerns, try replacing all or some of the flour with whole wheat flour and even adding some ground flax seeds for a more rustic tart with bonus omega-3s. Down-sided up with sliced peaches shimmering in caramel, I see this cake being a hit no matter what.

Serves: 6
Time: 1.5 hours: 45 minutes to prep, 30 to bake, 15 to cool

Gluten-Free Peach Upside-down Cake

1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp lemon juice
3 cups peeled and sliced peaches (about 5-7 peaches. I used a mix of white and yellow peaches)

Dry Ingredients
1 cup gluten-free flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp salt

Liquid ingredients
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest (or 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract)

For Caramelizing
spray or vegetable oil
1/4 cup natural granulated sugar
2 Tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350.

Soak oats in the soy milk with lemon juice while you slice and skin the peaches. See an excellent tutorial, also inspired also by SusanV’s cake, on slicing and skinning peaches at VeganYumYum.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix together the wet ingredients and set the two bowls aside.

Spray or wipe a 10″ cast iron skillet with oil. Heat the sugar and water over medium-low heat until it turns brown and reduces, but can still fully coat the bottom of the skillet - about 5 minutes.

Lay the peaches in a single layer in the caramel. You can make a pretty design by getting them to face all one way on the outside loop and the other way on the inside loop. I alternated white and yellow peaches and that ups the aesthetic ante too.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together briefly, until just combined. Pour the batter slowly over the peaches and put the skillet in the oven. Cook for 25 - 35 minutes or until the toothpick test comes out clean.

Cool the cake for 15 minutes or more and cut carefully along the edges of the cake between the pan to help loosen the cake. Place a plate over the skillet and clamping the long handle part of the skillet to the plate with one hand, and the short handle part of the skillet to the plate with the other hand, invert the skillet over the plate. Carefully remove the skillet from the cake.

The night before my volunteer farming duties officially started at Pennypack, I was given a tour of the grounds. Toward the end of the tour I was shown a very large, very tall area of weeds dubbed something like “the squash beds.” I didn’t think too much about it, other than for an otherwise unremarkable weed patch the weeds seemed remarkably healthy.

I guess the squash were robust too because, as I later learned, the snakey squash vines plain busted out of their their narrow beds, fruit bursting off any old place. The area couldn’t be weedwacked in fear of clipping a renegade squash vine, so the weeds were allowed to grow as wild as the squash.

The task of harvesting the squash itself was a guerrilla-like operation. The harvesters (that’s me!) waded through uneven ground stomping back heavy weeds to procure our bounty, rather like Che Guevara and pals went searching through South America for socio-economic inequities. Or something like that. It was poetic, trust me. Imagine stumbling upon a startlingly red kuri squash or a blue hubbard as big as a small child. Pretty dramatic.

What I acquired from all this, other than a refreshed love for this humble fruit and a scratched pair of forearms, was the knowledge that my co-harvesters cherish squash soup above all foods. So come Friday, my last day at the farm, the squash wrangled and my duties done, I decided that my final lunch at the farm would be something I was sure everyone would love.

Serves: 5 as a side dish
Time: 1.5 hours for baking the squash, 20 minutes to prepare

Squash & Coconut Soup

1 large butternut squash
1/2 jalapeno, minced (can be deseeded)
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 inch fresh ginger, minced
small handful basil, chopped (preferably Thai basil)
small handful mint, chopped
small handful cilantro, chopped
1/2 - 1 can coconut milk, well mixed
salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the butternut squash in half legnthwise and place it cut side down on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake for an hour to an hour and a half, or until tender. Let cool.

Once the squash is cool enough to handle, cut the flesh away from the skin. Discard the skin.

Toss the jalapeno, garlic, ginger, basil, mint, and cilantro in a blender. Pour in a bit of the coconut milk and blend well. Add the squash and enough coconut milk to blend into a liquid, about 3/4 of a can for a medium butternut squash. You may need to blend in batches if your squash is big and your blender is small.

Heat the soup on the stove until at a low simmer. Add more coconut milk or water if the soup needs to be thinned down.

Serve in individual bowls and garnish with a sprig of mint, basil, cilantro, or a thin slice of jalapeno.

‘You might have gotten in over your head this time, Vanessa’ noted my closest (in proximity – I roll my chair into her a few of times a day) coworker.

I had just explained how I have a few Sweet Dumpling squash gracing my windowsill and I am determined to turn them into something just as beautiful, but substantially more edible, than they are in their raw state. The problem is that an uncooked squash is not only very unappetizing but also very difficult to work with – hard to cut, slice, dice, etc. But a fully baked squash has too much of a Dali-esque melting-clock quality that’s visually unappealing and structurally unsound. Hence my coworker’s trepidation.

My solution is to cook the squash until tender but not totally soft. The final cooking is done on the stovetop, giving the squash pieces a chance to get golden at the edges and to mingle with the other ingredients. So simple, so easy to impress your coworkers with.

I used small Sweet Dumpling squash, about the size of a softball, but I see no reason why you couldn’t use any round squash – a buttercup, kabocha, or a pumpkin (see photos of some common squash varieties here) – to make a very large and lovely centerpiece for your dining table. Just be sure to add enough other veggies and rice to the filling so that you can pile it up to overflow the top, which, besides looking really great, gives that feeling of abundance of harvest that’s just so appropriate right now.

Time: 1 1⁄4 hours
Serves: 2 very hungry people, or 3 people as a really awesome side dish

Sweet Dumpling Squash Stuffed with Pablanos and Wild Rice

3 small Sweet Dumpling squash
6 pablano peppers (a mix of green and red is nice)
1 1/4 cup uncooked wild rice/brown rice mix
veggie broth
1 small onion, minced
olive oil or butter
salt and pepper

Bake whole squash until tender-firm to touch, but not totally soft, about 40 - 45 minutes. Set aside to let cool.

Cook the wild rice/brown rice mix with veggie broth instead of water.

Blacken the pablanos either under the broiler or by holding over a direct flame on the stovetop. Get them evenly charred all over and close them up in a plastic bag to steam and cool for about 20 minutes. The skins should easily peel off. Remove the stem and seeds and cut the pablanos into strips.

Once the squash has cooled, slice off the top in one piece and scoop out any seeds and strings. Cut around the sides and top of the squash to remove the flesh, taking care not to scrape too close to the sides of the squash so it remains intact. Dice the flesh.

Add some oil or butter to a skillet and sauté the onion. Add the squash pieces and sauté until tender all the way through, 5 - 10 minutes. Add the pablanos and rice and cook for a few minutes together until the flavors mix a bit together. Adjust salt and pepper.

Add the rice mixture back into the hollowed-out squash, heaping the stuffing out of the opening. Place the “lid” back on the squash at a jaunty angle over the rice if you’re into that sort of thing.

Get out to your local farmer’s market.
Bring your favorite vendor a cup of coffee. Thank him for his hard work (his really hard work) and dedication to harvesting from the earth in a way that makes our soil better, our rivers cleaner, and our bodies a little more glowy.

Buy as many late summer tomatoes as you can possibly eat. Take them home a serve them simply - a slice of mozzarella, a touch of vinaigrette, or just sliced with sprinkle of salt and pepper.

I just got back from a volunteer “vacation” at Pennypack Farm in Horsham, Pennsylvania. It was a perfect taste of summer, sun-drenched veggies and just enough sweaty, back-breaking work to make me want to keep my day job. Thank you to everyone - Susan, Gail, Andy, Molly, Katie, Mark and Harm. You inspire me.