I Love Summer

Or, maybe I'm just a humidity-craving, sweating, in denial, nutball. Always a possibility, of course.

So, I went to the farmers market this morning, of course. This is, after all, my Saturday routine. And, while immersed in my Saturday routine, I spied peaches.

Peaches. Luscious, fat, juicy, sweet, seductive, beautiful as a sunrise, peaches.

I was a goner. Toast.

So, below, find two recipes for what you can do with peaches if you really want to do anything with them besides just eating out of hand.

Peach Pie:

6-8 good sized peaches, blanched and cut up. [If you don't know what blanching is, it is plunging your peaches into boiling water for about 15 seconds and then, plunging them into ice-cubed water before peeling.]

Okay, blend your cut up peaches with: 3/4 c. brown sugar, a splash of nutmeg, a splash of white sugar, a splash of kosher salt, 2 TBSP butter cut up, about 1/4 c. flour and a splash of brandy.

Splash, splash, just do it.

Dump your peaches into your crust, moisten the edges of your crust with warm water, drop another crust atop, seal. With a knife, make some vents in the top, sprinkle white sugar over the top, and bake at 350° for one hour.

Here's the other idea (and possibly my favorite):

Peach Preserves:

This is so sweet and luscious and makes a great gift.

12 medium-sized peaches or 18 large peaches

5 c. sugar

1/2 c. lemon juice

1 teas. salt

Okay, so in a big dutch oven, bring your water to boil and drop a few peaches in at a time, allow them to cook for 15 seconds, transfer to a deep bowl, filled with cold water and ice cubes [Blanch, remember?]. Do this until all the peaches have been in the boiling water and now all are in the cold water. Drain.

Now, wash and dry your dutch oven, and drop in the sugar, lemon juice and salt. Peel peaches, cut into bite-size chunks. Drop peaches into sugar mixture. Over high heat, bring peaches to boiling, stirring, turn heat to low and allow to cook for an hour and 30 minutes, or until the fruit is translucent and it seems syrupy, slightly thickened. With metal spoon, skim off foam and discard that. Meanwhile, prepare your jars and lids for processing the preserves. Bring water to a boil in the canner.

When peach mixture seems thick, ladle into drained hot jars to within 1/4 inch of top of jar. Seal jars. Process in simmering bath for 10 minutes; remove. Allow to cool.

Depending on your generosity, this recipe should yield about eight 1/2 pint jars.