Tastes of Summer

On Saturday I finally made it to the annual Peach Festival in Old Town Lafayette, CO. That night I couldn't resist combining some of the glorious peaches with my home-grown tomatoes and Munson Farms sweet corn to create a fantastic summer salad. Just had to share the results:

Summer Salad With Corn, Tomatoes and Peaches

Makes 2 large servings

3 ears fresh, sweet corn
3 large beefsteak tomatoes cut into 1 inch chunks (or equivalent amount of halved cherry tomatoes)
2 ripe but firm peaches, thinly sliced
1/8 cup finely diced red onion
2 T chopped fresh basil
1 T olive oil
1/2 T red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional)
Drizzle of balsamic vinegar reduction* (optional)

Cook corn in boiling water for 3 minutes. Allow to cool and then slice kernels off the cob into a medium bowl. Add tomatoes, peaches, basil and onion to the bowl with the corn.

In a small bowl, whisk olive oil, vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Add vinaigrette to corn mixture, toss to combine and serve. If desired, drizzle with balsamic reduction and sprinkle with crumbled

                                          Enjoy!

* To make balsamic vinegar reduction: combine 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar with ~1/2 tsp honey in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium heat until thickened and coats the back of a spoon.

Now Is The Time When This Woman’s Thoughts Turn To….

Peach Pie!

Last weekend I stopped by the local farm stand to pick up a few ears of fresh sweet corn to go along with the BLT’s I was planning to make for dinner to celebrate my first ripe beefsteak tomatoes of the season.  While there, I sampled the newly arrived peaches from Colorado’s western slope.  The hot days and cool nights on the western slope combine to make the sweetest peaches I’ve ever had.  Needless to say, a few peaches managed to make the trip home with me as well. 

Those few peaches didn’t last long in my house.  So, I did what any reasonable person would do.  I went back for more …. 10lbs more!!!

While I concede that I may have gotten a bit carried away (moderation has never been my strong suit), I am certainly not going to let them go to waste.  My first order of business – peach pie of course!

My current “goto” recipe for peach pie is: “Peach Pie with Cardamom and Vanilla” originally published in Bon Appetit in 2007:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Summer-Peach-Pie-with-Vanilla-and-Cardamom-238821

The cardamom is a bit of an unusual flavor, but it works beautifully with the peaches and vanilla (although I do cut it down to 1/2tsp as most reviewers on Epicurious also recommend). 

This is an incredibly juicy pie (especially with the beautifully ripe peaches I used), so I made a lattice top crust in order to allow more liquid to escape during the cooking process.

Yum!

Next up, spiced peach muffins. J