Biting into a fresh ripe peach is one of the most exquisite food experiences. The smooth juicy texture of the fruit is both lusciously soft and satisfyingly toothsome; a balance that seems contradictory but is somehow captured inside this beautiful delicate package.
A fresh ripe peach offers just enough toothy resistance to make each bite noticeable. As though it’s a signal to pay attention to the moment, to this perfectly ripe sweet juicy fruit that is here now and will soon be gone again for 11 months.
It’s not elegant, but my favorite way to eat a fresh peach is peeled, halved, and out of hand while standing at the kitchen sink letting the juice run down my arm. It’s a full-concentration kind of food. Let me be while I eat my peach.
I love eating fresh ripe peaches so much that I find it hard to cook with them. I like peach dishes, I just don’t ever want to give up my stash of fresh peaches to make a recipe. I did pony up three peaches for this week’s Tuesday’s with Dorie recipe to make the Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart. I’ll admit to it being a good use of peaches.
The fresh peaches are simply sliced and fanned out over a pre-baked shell that is then flooded with custard and topped with a crumb topping. I was skeptical of the crumb topping, fearful it would ruin a good thing, but it truly enhanced the tart. What made the topping successful is that it was sparse so it didn’t create a solid crust of sugar, and it had almonds in it. They added the perfect crunch and flavor to complement the peaches.
This tart is wonderful. The soft peaches and custard filling are sweet and creamy which is especially good when matched with a crisp shortbread-like crust. Though I am stingy with fresh peaches, I would actually consider doubling them in this tart. They were so good I wanted more of them in each bite. Rachel of Sweet Tarte gets full credit for motivating me to cook with my prized fresh peaches.
I have recently discovered using lavender leaves rather than just lavender flowers in dishes and decided to add some to the crust. Tasting the leaves and flowers side by side, the leaves have a nice lavender flavor, but don’t have the bitter finish that the flowers do. I added a tablespoon of chopped leaves to the dry ingredients. Once the crust was cooked, the flavor was very subtle, almost too subtle. I think the flowers have a little more punch and I will try using a mix of both next time. The combination of peaches and lavender is lovely and subtle is always the better way to go with a lavender experiment because it’s all too easy to end up with something that tastes like potpourri or bath soap.
Rachel got me on a bit of a roll and I decided to make a small batch of jam as well. Sticking with the peach lavender theme I used the lavender leaves again. They give the jam a nice herby note but in such a subtle way it’s difficult to pinpoint that it’s lavender.
This recipe only makes about 1 ½ cups so I just put it in the refrigerator to enjoy right away rather than bothering to can it for future consumption. There is something to be said for making a quick and simple spur-of-the-moment batch of jam. Don’t think I don’t enjoy canning. I have a pantry shelf loaded with jam I’ve made this summer. As a result, all my canning jars have been filled and I didn’t have a single spare to use for this jam, so it became a make-and-eat batch.
Peach Lavender Jam
1 pound of fresh peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced
¼ ounce fresh lavender stems with leaves, tied into a bundle
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
7 ounces (1 cup) granulated sugar
Place a small plate in the refrigerator to have chilled for testing the set of the jam.
Place the peaches, lavender, lemon zest and juice in a 3 qt. heavy-bottom sauce pan. Over medium-low heat, let the peaches cook for about 15 minutes to become very soft and release their juice. Stir frequently to prevent burning and lower the heat if necessary. As the peaches soften, mash them with the back of a spoon. Muddle the lavender bundle with the spoon as well to release the flavor of the herb.
Once the peaches have broken down and cooked for 15 minutes, reduce the heat and stir in the sugar. After the sugar is completely dissolved, increase the heat to medium-high and bring the jam to a boil for 5 minutes.
Place a small dollop of jam on the chilled plate and put it in the refrigerator for a minute or two. To check for setting, push one edge of the jam toward the center of the dollop, if the surface wrinkles, the jam is set and can be removed from the heat, if not, continue to cook and re-test every few minutes. Transfer jam to a clean jar and store in the refrigerator. Enjoy within 1 – 2 weeks.
Recipe link
Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. 140 recipes completed 81 to go!
Facebook
Twitter