Tomorrow is the start of National Peach Month, but if you look at the New York Times, July has also been a busy time for peach recipes. July 27th brought us Halloumi, Peach and Cucumber Spoon Salad, July 17th Broiled Peaches With Feta and Pistachios was published, July 15th encouraged us to produce Salad Is a Star, Not a Side, in This Summery Spread, while tagging along from June was a recipe for Peach Pound Cake. It sounds like a CSA overrun with peaches – a dream situation.
The world’s largest peach is in Gaffney, South Carolina. It’s the town’s water tower built in the shape of a peach. I took photos of it on one of our road trips – it is quite impressive. Now it is a landmark I look forward to, along with sightings of the South of the Border tower in Hamer, South Carolina and the giant King Kong swinging from the not-so-tall-skyscraper at the Hollywood Wax Museum in Myrtle Beach. I am such a tourist. Who knew that South Carolina has so much to offer in tasteful and educational roadside attractions? But I digress. Peaches.
Mr. Sanders and I wandered through our bountiful farmers’ market last week, buying an assortment of colorful heirloom tomatoes and warm, fuzzy peaches. It looks like it has been an excellent peach season despite the record-breaking heat. (It has also been an excellent year for kudzu, which is artfully draping itself over anything that stands still long enough. The cheerful highway displays of sunflowers are just past their prime, and the crape myrtles are nodding in their ruffled glory.) As luck would have it, peaches, tomatoes and basil tossed together make deelish salads, some of which don’t require much effort on my part beyond slicing, which is good because it has been so relentlessly hot that I have taken to napping in the afternoon.
Our clever friends at Food52 have the perfect recipe for all those peaches and tomatoes; they call it the “supreme salad of summer.” It is lighter and tangier than the Caprese salads we have started to take for granted; no heavy, slick balsamic vinegar, instead, they use a tart apple vinaigrette.
Tomato, Peach, Chèvre, and Herb Salad with Apple Vinaigrette
Not that I will ever completely tire of Caprese salads, but I can always use another cool, easy-to-assemble, no-recipe-needed dinner. I used Heinz apple cider vinegar, not fancy-pants vinegar from Williams Sonoma, as the recipe suggests. We are on a Trader Joe’s kind of budget, after all.
Surprisingly, fiery jalapeños make this a refreshing salad adventure:
Summer Tomato Salad with Peaches, Jalapeños and Feta
Martha suggests a Peach Panzanella, which I heartily endorse. I happen to have some day-old foccacia that will pair beautifully with the sweet peaches.
Peach Panzanella
I am going to toss in a few farmers’ market-bought heirloom tomatoes, too.
Light, cool cheeses help vary summer meals. Get some great crusty bread for grilling. I like to rub a garlic clove over the surface of the grilled bread, after it has cooled a little and then I slather it with butter and lashings of olive oil. Dinner at our house is not for the dainty. Yumsters. This is a meal fit for your Parisan fantasy: warm tomatoes, peaches and bread, with mouthfuls of cool, creamy burrata. Add a nice glass of cheap white wine. A veritable feast.
Tomato Peach Burrata Salad
Here’s an idea:
Peach Salsa:
4 peaches, peeled and pitted
2 large tomatoes, cut into wedges and seeded
½ sweet onion, cut into wedges
½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 cup of chopped peppers – you choose whether to add jalapeño
4 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon lime juice
¼ teaspoon pepper
Combine the peaches, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and garlic in a food processor or blender. Pulse until satisfactorily chopped. Add chilies, vinegar, lime juice and pepper and pulse again until well combined. Transfer to an airtight container and chill until ready to serve. Yields 4 cups. Add warm chips. Top up your tacos. Use over grilled chicken. Bliss!
In honor of National Peach Month Mr. Sanders and I recently shared a plate of lightly grilled peaches and tomatoes, doused with olive oil and dotted with soft clots of bleu cheese. Yumsters. Saturday night we splashed out though, when we grilled peaches and tomatoes, chunked some fresh mozzarella, and drizzled a homemade vinaigrette dressing over plates of crisp (and well-washed) arugula. Then we grilled small beef filets (splurge!) and roasted some tiny potatoes for our main course. And then, yes, we had small (oh, so tiny!) bowls of melty vanilla ice cream, topped with tender, golden slices of peach.
Mr. Sanders sliced half a peach onto his bowl of cold twiggy cereal this morning, leaving the other half for me on the cutting board. I ate it over the sink, because the juices dripped furiously and there wasn’t anyone around who would point out that I should have been ladylike and used a napkin. Are peaches like asparagus, and must they be held in the left hand while being eaten? I do not know – I might have to ask the hosts of The Poshcast
Don’t neglect any opportunity to just seize the day, and a peach, early, and eat it in your own free-spirited summer fashion. Fall is just around the corner.
“The month of August had turned into a griddle
where the days just lay there and sizzled.”
― Sue Monk Kidd
