Colorado peach

So worth the wait. Thank you, Palisade. 

Colorado peach, toast with cinnamon sugar and butter

I'll think of several things to do with peaches, and have done with peaches, and it turns out nothing I think of is good as plain juicy peach at their peak. And Boy, is this peach ever ripe. Another day on the counter and it'd ferment.

Nothing that I do will improve it. No pie crust, no torte, no peach turnover, no puff pastry, no sauce, no ice cream, no paleta nor popsicle, no cobbler, no smoothie, no cake, nor cupcake, no drink, dessert, salad, or anything. Trying to improve on a simple fully ripe peach is futile. So here goes.

We used to mix cinnamon with sugar and sprinkle it on buttered toast when we were children, then we'd dip corners of dusted toast into hot chocolate until enough bread corners fall off and enough additional sugar and cinnamon becomes incorporated that the hot chocolate transforms into a cup of something different, something akin to liquid bread pudding.

Is it an improvement? No.

Peach and cereal

There is more peach than cereal.

An imperfect peach that is perfectly ripe. 

I have no idea what these peaches cost. They are perfect and have been all season. Not at the regular grocery store, no, those things are already hard, already mealy, but somehow Tony's manages to keep fresh ripe peaches and tomatoes in stock all through the season. I think they have agreements with local producers. So I buy them by the dozen and I do not even look at the sales slip.

But they do get bruised up by packing them into a bag and jostling them home.

Within another day, maybe two, these bruised areas will begin to ferment, and when they do that then fermentation will add another layer of extraordinary flavor to the whole peach that already drips all over the place with its wet soppy ripeness. 

I nicked off a portion of overly ripened bruised and fermented peach and tossed it into my sourdough culture whereupon it disappeared entirely. I was reminded of Anthony Bourdain's description in Kitchen Confidential of Adam the bread maker tossing into his sourdough starter overly ripe grapes, rotting mushrooms, basically all types of compost that you would not consider for sourdough levain, but then Adam did produce the most flavorful bread that Anthony Bourdain ever tasted, and that description of Adam's work left a lasting impression on me. 

So, imperfect indeed, leads to perfection. I have a newfound respect for bruised crushed and old fruit.

Peach blueberries cream

Peaches and whipped cream, buttered biscuit

Southern buttermilk biscuit toasted with fresh Colorado peach topped with softly whipped cream. Whipped so that it holds its place and doesn't go pouring all over the place. 

Last of the biscuits made with vanilla, the worst one, the one biscuit pressed together from scraps. With biscuits you've got one shot at it, the scraps can be recycled but the biscuits are always worse because the leaven has already started and pressing again destroys what was started. But that is okay, they were super tender to begin with. 

They already have a lot of butter inside them, that is why they spread out so much during baking, but now even more butter is added and the biscuits can be described truly as supersaturated with butter.

Cheerios, peach

Colorado peach. Heap-big flavor.

Oatmeal with peach

Peach, basil, spaghetti, shrimp, pean salad

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/8 cup rice vinegar

1/8 cup honey

1/4 cup peanut butter

* chile flakes

* garlic

* ginger

* black pepper

* fish sauce

* sesame oil

* black pepper

The idea was to combine peaches and avocado but I forgot the avocado.

The second idea was to use more basil than lettuce along with something else like cilantro. Mint would work too. 

The third idea is cold noodles marinated in Asian dressing.

Steak and peach

The steak is 8oz of top sirloin, sliced, seasoned and fried in butter.

Rather than frying as a steak, resting, seasoning, then slicing which would retain a rare interior.

So a little bit backwards, and overcooked for a steak.

A whole delicious fully ripe sliced peach is rolled around the pan to pick up spiced butter but it is not cooked. Not even for a minute.

Mint would be better than basil but two caterpillars destroyed the mint plants.  

Peach

Where I live, for one week a year, but only one week, you can get excellent peaches.

And that is strange because peaches are grown here.

It's frustrating. Takes some guesswork and a willingness to be wrong. 

Is this the week for excellent peaches? I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope. 

Conclusion: Yes!

Peach

It is approaching the end of August and the peaches are at their peak around here. I love it when the peaches are are just barely over the line ripe. I noticed that when the peaches are a just a little bit beyond the little bit beyond point, so doubly a little bit beyond, then they begin to ferment and that adds a layer of depth that is incomparable and fascinating. And then beyond that they are compost. 

After this peak period then peaches are a write off. Having them hanging around on the counter until they soften only turns them mealy. This is the one time of year that I can enjoy them. So it's peachy peach peach peach peaches until they're gone for another turn of the seasons.