Week 4

1 bag of Potatoes

1 bag of Peaches

1 head of Red Leaf Lettuce

1 large bunch of Arugula (yummy!)

1 garlic scape

1 bunch of Green Onion

Kale

It is always a treat to get farm fresh, organic potatoes.  I learned a long time ago from Farmer Mark that store potatoes are almost always from the previous season and suffer from a long wait in a dark place before they reach the store.  That causes the sugars to turn to starch and reduces the flavor of the potato.  Fresh ones have a slightly sweet flavor, and have noticeable moisture.  They are delicious plain, with a little butter and just sprinkled with a little sea salt, or any way that you like to eat them.  Store your fresh potatoes in a dark, cool place.  If you are fortunate enough to dig them up yourself, do not wash them until you are ready to eat them.  This helps keep the potatoes as fresh as possible while they are being stored.  We often eat potatoes in the spring that we pulled that past summer…and they are almost as good as the day we pulled them out of the ground.

But this week is about a different item that starts with a “P”.  Peaches….Peaches are usually a late July to mid August treat.  Pies, cobblers and just a good, juicy fresh peach are just some of the ways that peaches are delicious.  A peach just picked off the tree, where the fruit is still warm from the sun…that is something that will restore your faith in humanity.  Peaches can be picked a little less than fully ripe.  If you keep them in a brown paper bag for a day or two, they ripen nicely.

Peaches come in almost as many varieties as apples.  Check out some of the varieties here:  https://www.harvesttotable.com/peach_varieties_there_are_more/  For our purposes, lets consider yellow, white, freestone and clingstone.  Yellow peaches tend to be more acidic, and in my opinion have a little “peachier” flavor.  White are milder, and I find them sweeter.  Freestone are those where the pit falls away with no fruit attached.  Clingstone or cling peaches are those where the fruit sticks to the pit.   If you’re picking off of a tree, try to take just the fruit without taking any of the branch with it.  Pick your own are available at Great Country Farms (check http://greatcountryfarms.com for details) through the summer.

Either on the tree or in your Farmers Market, look for fruit that is firm, but will give just a little right where the stem meets the peach.  These are perfectly ripe and are the fruit you’ll be able to eat right away.

Pies are fun.  Cobblers are delicious.  Depending on my mood, I’ll go either direction.  On a quiet night in early June, where everyone in my family is away, I’ll go a completely different direction, and make a peach crisp.  Crisps are a little different.  They are a cobbler with a sweet topping that gets crispy from butter and sugar (one of my favorite combinations). 

To peel or not to peel…that is the question.  It is a little bit of work to get the peel off of the peach.  A peeler works, but perhaps the best way is to halve the peaches, and put the peach halves into boiling water for about 90 seconds.  You want to cook the peaches just enough so that the skin slips off (and it does!  Pretty cool!).  Once the skins are off, let the peaches completely cool.

Week 4 Peach Crisp

For the Topping:

½ Cup unbleached all purpose flour

½ Cup Oats

½ cup brown sugar

½ t cinnamon

a pinch or two ofnutmeg

1 stick unsalted butter

For the filling:

6-8 peaches (about 6 cups)

¼ cup apple juice (or water if you don’t have apple juice)

½ cups white sugar

1 t vanilla

1/3 cup corn starch

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

To make the topping, combine flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Mix well so that all ingredients are very well incorporated.  Melt the butter.  I use a 2 cup measuring cup and the microwave.  Be sure to cover the cup (I use the wrapper from the butter) so that if there is an explosion, the cover keeps the butter in the cup.  Use 30 second increments until the melting is complete.   Slowly add the melted butter to the rest of the topping, stirring so that the butter mixes in well.  The mix will darken and come together.

If you decide to go with peeled or unpeeled, slice the peaches into reasonably sized slices.  This really depends on how big the beaches are, but the slices should be thin so that you get 16 or so per peach half. Add the sugar and liquid, and let the peach mix sit for a few minutes.  This will let some of the juice from the peaches come out and lets the sugar mix in.  Add the cornstarch and mix well.  Add the vanilla.  Mix well to incorporate everything.

Put the peach mix into a 9 x 11 pan.  Take the topping and crumple it so that it fully covers the peaches.  Its ok if there are gaps, they get filled in as the crisp cooks.  Cook for 35-45 minutes, until the top is nicely browned and the beaches are bubbling up from below.

Top with a good vanilla ice cream, or enjoy plain!