Peach Crostini with Prosciutto and Ricotta

Is there anything better than a sweet, juicy peach right smack in the middle of summer?  A gorgeous, fat peach that you can almost taste just from the velvety smell of it?  

We are in the midst of a bit of a peach controversy in our house due to this recent article in The New York Times.  The Southern husband was brought up deep in the heart of Georgia which is, as he has pointed out about a thousand times lately, The Peach State.

The teenager, however, is now a full-fledged member of the Clemson University community, located in the great state of South Carolina.  And according to the Times, South Carolina has shipped double the amount of peaches as Georgia this year.  And being the enthusiastic, faithful Clemson Tiger that she now is, she is throwing her hat into South Carolina's ring, peach-wise.

This character is also originally from South Carolina, where she was rescued as a wee puppy.

However, she will pretty much eat anything, anywhere, from anyplace, so she's not taking sides.  She'd also love it if someone would PLEASE throw that dang Frisbee for her already.

Personally,  I'd just like to note for the record that the state in third place, with 32,000 tons of peaches is, yes, New Jersey.  However, regardless of where you get your peaches, make sure you get some just so you can try this nifty little appetizer.  Toast up some thin slices of french bread and top them with a spoonful of ricotta cheese and some fresh ground pepper.  Now lay a few shreds of prosciutto on the cheese, drizzle with a little honey, and top with a peach slice or two.

It's enough to make the peach factions lay down their arms and come together for a quick snack!

Peach Crostini with Prosciutto and Ricotta, adapted slightly from Bon Appetit

• 12 slices french bread


• 1 ripe peach


• 12 tablespoons fresh ricotta


• Freshly ground black pepper


• 4 thin slices prosciutto


• Honey

1. Preheat ovem to 350.  Brush bread slices with olive oil and bake until just crisp, about 10 minutes.


2. Halve, pit, and thinly slice peach.


3. Spoon about 1 tablespoon ricotta onto each toast and sprinkle with ground pepper. 


4. Tear prosciutto into feathery pieces and drape a few slices over ricotta on each.


5. Drizzle each with honey and top with 2 peach slices.

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Peaches and Cream Pie

Peaches, peaches, peaches.  I love them...the way they taste, the way they smell, the fact that they are perfect, perfect symbol of summer.  

However.  They are NOT the easiest fruit in the world to work with when you are baking with them.  You have to boil them for a few minutes in order to peel them, and then you have to deal with getting the dang peach pit out of the center.  All the peaches I have ever met hang on to that pit for dear life, and so I usually end up spending a lot of quality time with my paring knife and peach juice running down my arm.  So if I am going to go through all that (and who knows, maybe it is just me and the rest of the world only runs into well-behaved peaches), then whatever I am making better be worth it.

Ladies and gentlemen, please meet Peaches and Cream Pie, otherwise known as Worth It.

One of my other issues is usually with peach pies...actually with most fruit pies...and that is that while they are usually scrumptious, they are also, well, super-messy.  All that lovely juice quadruples in volume in the oven, and when you cut into your gorgeous pie it kind of collapses on you into a delicious but soupy puddle of fruit and crust.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but just once I wanted to make a well-behaved pie.  And here it is...and here's the secret.

You still have to wrangle with the peaches - the peeling, the pitting, etc - but once you have your peaches peeled and pitted and cut in half, you lay them on a foil-lined cookie sheet and sprinkle them with some sugar, and then you bake them until they have caramelized and released some of that juice I was talking about.  (And as an extra added bonus, you can also pre-bake your pie shell in the very same oven.  Better and better!).

Then you slice up the caramelized peaches, drop them in your conveniently pre-baked pie-shell, and cover the whole thing with a custard mixture of eggs and cream and bake it until it is golden and wonderful and perfect.  You can tell when people start wandering into the kitchen and lurking around near the oven.  You then have to break the news that not only does it have to cool for about three hours, but you were actually planning to serve it AFTER dinner and not before.

Of course, you could make an exception, just this once.

Peaches and Cream Pie, from Cooks Country

• One 9 inch unbaked pie shell
• 2 pounds ripe peaches, peeled, halved and pitted
• 2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Cover pie shell with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 40 minutes, then freeze for 20 minutes.  Adjust oven racks to upper middle and lower middle positions and preheat to 375.  Line chilled pie shell with foil and top with pie weights.

2. Place peach halves cut side up on foil-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar.  Bake on the upper middle rack until softened and juice starts to release, about 30 minutes, flipping halfway through baking.  Now add pie crust to oven on the lower middle rack and bake for 15 minutes.  Carefully remove foil and weights and bake crust and peaches for 5 minutes more.  Remove and cool both crust and peaches for 15 minutes.

3. Reduce oven to 325.  Cut peaches length-wise in quarters and arrange in a single layer over crust.  Combine remaining sugar, flour and salt in bowl.  Whisk in cream, egg yolks and vanilla until smooth and pour the mixture over the peaches.  Bake until filling is light golden and set, about 45-55 minutes.  Cool for three hours before serving.

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Spiced Peaches with Ham and Basil

There are a few things that say to me, it is completely, totally, no doubt about it summer.  The day we flip the switch on the ceiling fans and don't turn it off again until October.  The day it is actually hot enough for me to put on my bathing suit In Public.  The day my basil gets so rampant that I start figuring out if I can work it into a breakfast recipe along with lunch and dinner.  And the day that the REAL peaches hit the farmer's market.  Not the rock hard ones that have been flown in during the winter, but the sweet-smelling, velvety, juicy peaches that are just begging to be bitten into.  Yep, peach juice on your chin - you know what I'm talking about!

This great little recipe takes both peaches and basil and turns them into a sweet and spicy appetizer (or lunch!) that just sings of summer.  You need nice firm peaches for this one...slice them into wedges, and then mix them up in a little slurry of sugar, sherry vinegar and cumin.  This is going to cut the sweetness with just a tiny little bite.  Then wrap each peach with a strip of serrano ham and skewer it on a toothpick with a basil leaf.

I served up mine on my beloved Verterra plates.  If you haven't run into these plates yet, they are made from fallen palm leaves and are both beautiful AND natural.  Just like those summer peaches!

Happy summer, everyone.

Spiced Peaches with Ham and Basil, from Epicurious

• 3 peaches, each cut into 8 wedges
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Sherry vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 pound thinly sliced serrrano ham
• 24 small basil leaves

1. Toss together peaches, sugar, vinegar, and cumin and let stand 10 minutes.
2. Cut ham slices in half lengthwise, then wrap each piece around a wedge of peach. Top with a basil leaf and secure with a wooden or metal pick.

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Ridiculously Easy Peach Crumble

This incredibly, addictively delicious dessert was SO easy in so many ways, it almost doesn't seem fair. The recipe itself almost doesn't require a bowl, a mixer or even a spoon. The lovely picture above was definitely the easiest one I've ever posted (more on that later). And here's how scrumptious it is: the Southern husband, who is usually not a big dessert person and pretty much the only one I know who can eat ONE fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie at time took a bite of this as it was cooling on the counter. And another. And another. By the time it actually came time to serve the thing as an official dessert, I would say about a third of it had been nibbled away.

Yep, it's that good. No exaggeration. Now get ready for how easy it is.

You take one of those big 28 ounce jars of sliced peaches in light syrup. Dump the whole thing in a 13x9 inch pan, syrup and all. Now take a box of yellow cake mix. Pour the mix evenly over the peaches. Yes, the dry mix, you don't make it into cake batter first...dry mix only. Trust me.

Now take a stick of butter. (I said this was easy, I didn't say it was slenderizing.). Slice it up into about 16 pats and arranged them evenly on the top of the cake mix. Next, pour a cup of brown sugar on top, and a half cup of walnuts on top of that.

Bake it for 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Let it cool just long enough to not burn your tongue when you take that first spoonful, and then enjoy it plain or with vanilla ice cream...that is, if you can keep the hungry masses at bay long enough to have a reasonable amount left in the pan to actually HAVE it for dessert. I know, you are thinking where is the liquid, and why won't I just have hot dry cake mix at the end of the baking time, but I guess there is something about the butter and the peach syrup that somehow magically blends with the cake mix to produce peach heaven. I'm not going to think too hard about it so I don't jinx it.

Now about that picture. Two things happened to produce that delicious shot up there. First of all, I actually split this dessert into two 8x8 pans, since I knew my friend and Zen Master photography teacher was coming to visit on the day I made it, and so I sent the other half home with him. I fully intended to photograph a piece of MY portion of the cake after dinner, but see above regarding the cake nibbling that went on before dessert...I didn't have any left.

Then inspiration hit, and I sent an urgent message to the Zen Master, who had the restraint not to eat all of his portion in one sitting. Voila! The easiest picture I have ever created for this blog - it only took one quick email! It all seems too good to be true...but I'll take it!

So there you have it, the easiest dessert you will ever make, with thanks once again to the amazing Bakerella where I found this recipe - go visit her site if you haven't already. Everything on there is just scrumptious.

RIDICULOUSLY EASY PEACH CRUMBLE, from Bakerella

One 25 ounce jar of peaches in light syrup
1 package yellow cake mix
1 stick butter, cut into 16 pieces
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Layer ingredients in 13/9 inch pan in the order listed above.

3. Bake for 40 minutes

4. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Or eat it with a spoon right out of the baking dish.

Click here for printable recipe

Tilapia Tacos with Peach Salsa

I'll admit, I am not a big fish person. I do love most shellfish (ah, lobster!!), but when it comes to fish fish, I tread very carefully. Even though I know it is oh, so good for you. But over the years I have found some types of fish that I really do like, and one of them is tilapia. It's light and mild, so mild in fact that it needs to be paired with something that can dress it up and give it some pizzazz...and this great little taco dish is just the ticket.

The tilapia itself is cut up into strips, breaded and popped into the oven for a a few minutes just to cook it up and brown the bread crumbs. The real prep for this dish is the fabulous peach salsa that goes with it. Chopped peaches, red onion, lime juice, jalapeno...sweet and spicy and wonderful! You tuck the tilapia strips into a nice warm tortilla, spoon some peach salsa over the top, and you are in fish taco heaven.

Now, naturally I did not decide to make this until it was completely not peach season...not even my beloved Fairway had any fresh peaches. But happily, they did have frozen peach slices which in the long run actually turned out to be better. They defrosted into already peeled slices, and all I had to do was chop them up. Way easier than battling with a fresh peach...I don't know about you, but I still haven't learned the easy secret way of getting a peach pit OUT of the peach without completely mangling it. (I do know the avocado pit trick). I'm sure there absolutely is a peach pit trick and one day I will learn it. One day. You have to have goals in life, right?

Meantime, here's the taco recipe, adapted from Cooking Light.

TILAPIA TACOS WITH PEACH SALSA

Salsa:

• 2 cups chopped peaches
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped (wear gloves!!)
• 1 minced garlic clove

Fish and tacos:

• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (panko crumbs are great)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper
• 1 pound tilapia, cut into 2 inch strips
• 8 corn tortillas

1. Combine all salsa ingredients and let stand at room temp for 3o minutes
2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375. Combine crumbs, salt and pepper in medium bowl. Add fish strips and toss to coat.
3. Bake fish strips on greased cookie sheet for 10 minutes, turning once during cooking.
4. Heat tortillas in microwave for 30 seconds. Divide fish among tortillas, and spoon salsa over the top.

Click here for printable recipe