fruit

Raspberry-Nectarine Bostock Recipe Review

Cooking

I picked-up a copy of the May/June 2021 issue of Victoria Magazine – Special French Issue the other day. This issue being devoted to all things French, including the recipes, I was sure to be in for a treat. Oh yummy!

I saw the photo for the Raspberry-Nectarine Bostock and my mouth was watering. While this recipe is suggested as a breakfast item (and I would agree), I decided to make it for a dessert last night. It worked quite well in that department as well. The pairings of the apricots (which I substituted for the nectarines), raspberries, and almond was quite delicious.

The Raspberry-Nectarine Bostock is made up of fruit on top of an almond-paste creme spread over raspberry preserves on a slice of brioche. This is baked in the oven, cooled, and sprinkled with powdered sugar. The only substitutes I made to this recipe where (as stated above) using canned apricots instead of nectarines (not in season), frozen raspberries instead of fresh, almonds instead of pistachios, and instead of the vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract. The recipe itself is very easy to make and takes very little time to put together an impressive looking pastry.

The other recipes from the ‘French Breadbasket’ article also look delicious and will soon be put to the test in my kitchen. These recipes include: Chaussons Aux Pommes, Ginger-Cardamom Kouign-Amann, and Escargot Au Chocolat. This issue of Victoria also has recipes for Macarons. Included are: Blackberry-Thyme, Earl Grey, White Chocolate-Mint, Strawberries and Cream, and Raspberry Lemonade. Looks like I will not be coming out of the kitchen for a while.

I highly recommend the recipe for Raspberry-Nectarine Bostock from Victoria Magazine. I am quite sure I will be making this recipe again. As always, Happy Baking!

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I’ve Decided to Grow Papaya

gardening

My husband and I were walking around the garden displays at the county fair when the California Rare Fruit Growers booth caught our eye. We meandered over and looked at the display. Of course, this was due to the fact that I grow pineapples.

The lady manning the booth addressed us and we talked of my pineapples. She then suggested I try growing papaya. Papaya, according to her, are easy to grow and do not take long to grow fruit. She was very pleasant and even encouraged me to join the group at their meetings.

To tell the truth, I have never bought a papaya before. So, the other day while at the store, I found a papaya and purchased it with the intent of using the seeds to grow papaya of my own. I sliced the papaya open and scooped out the seeds. (The papaya, by the way, was delicious.) Then I squeezed the seeds out of their little casings and put them in a strainer to rinse them off and set them on a paper towel to dry.

papaya seeds drying

Now on to the planting. Papaya seeds need to be planted in groups in order to be certain the correct sex is planted as the seeds come in male, female, and bisexual. Five seeds seem to be the suggested amount, so I went with that and planted a few pots.

I will keep you posted on the progress of the papaya seeds. Until then, happy gardening.