Peach and Tomato Gazpacho

We’re in full-swing summer here. If the heat didn’t remind me everyday, the farmer’s market sure does. Peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers..you could make a whole meal out of these alone. So that’s just what I did.

I riffed off my sister’s gazpacho staple- the one she makes every summer with her unending supply of tomato and freezes for easy dinners later in the year. She literally makes gallons of it. While I love appreciating tomatoes in other ways, I did find this gazpacho was perfect for a particularly unbearably hot, humid, and languid weekend. I modified my sister’s recipe slightly, adapting it to what I bought at the market and what tasted balanced. I had purchased too many peaches I could physically eat, so I had sliced the leftovers and frozen them, planning to use them in smoothies. Then I found out they make the perfect addition to this gazpacho, adding a welcome sweetness to acidic tomatoes. Plus, they kept the mixture cooler as it whirled away in the blender. Of course, feel free to use fresh peaches. I recommend cooling the mixture in the fridge for an hour or so for the most refreshing soup.

The cilantro pesto is optional, but delicious. It lends a fresh, spicy flair, but you could forgo it entirely for a sprinkling of chopped herbs or a swirl of basil pesto--whatever you have on hand!

Peach and Tomato Gazpacho

4 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 cup sliced peaches, fresh or frozen (about 1 ½ peaches)
1 cucumber, seeded and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 slices whole grain bread, torn into pieces
½ lime, juiced
Salt and pepper to taste
Cilantro and Pepita Pesto, optional (or fresh cilantro, chopped, or basil pesto)

In blender of food processor, process tomatoes, peaches, cucumber, and garlic until pureed. Add bread and lime juice and blend again. Slowly stream in oil as motor is running. Add a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Taste to adjust seasoning. Drizzle with pesto, if using, or sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs. Serve immediately, or chill in refrigerator prior to serving. Serves 4 as a light meal.

Grilled Peach Bruschetta with Cilantro Pepita Pesto

The other day, my good foodie friend, Grace, came over for dinner. Every few weeks, we get together to talk about what’s rocking our foodie worlds and discuss other bits of life. Our dinner date menus come to fruition when each of us assesses our fridge situation and sees what we have lying around. We text each other our ingredients and come up with a dish. It’s like Chopped, but a whole lot less intense.

This past dinner, she brought over zucchini, corn, and onions, and with my cilantro, jalapeño, goat cheese, and homemade pizza crust, we made some killer grilled pizzas. As far as the pizza goes, I'll leave her to fill you in. She’s an amazing photographer (who just so happened to shoot our wedding), so she took photos of our pizza-making in action. The base of the pizza, however, was this cilantro pepita pesto, a refreshing twist on traditional basil pesto. I used cilantro instead of basil, toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) instead of walnuts, lime instead of lemon, and jalapeño for a little fiery kick. Because we were just throwing things together, I didn’t measure anything, but of course regretted it because it was definitely a keeper. I told Grace (and myself) to make it again, this time measuring for posterity’s sake.

Although that grilled pizza is most definitely in the summertime round-up, I wanted to highlight the versatility of this herbaceous, bright, and wee-bit spicy pesto by drizzling it on something different. Considering it played so well off the sweet corn on the pizza, I paired it with just-ripe local peaches that I drizzled with a little olive oil and popped on the grill. Peaches that are too juicy won’t hold up in the heat, so make sure you’re using firmer peaches. I grilled some bread for the base as the peaches were going, slathered on some crème fraîche (although goat cheese would be fantastic here), and drizzled on the pesto to make a delicious summer bruschetta that rivals the tomato and mozzarella standby. This recipe is super duper easy, and the fact that you don’t even have to turn on your oven (or stove) makes it a summer winner in my book.

Grilled Peach Bruschetta with Cilantro Pepita Pesto

Cilantro Pepita Pesto:
½ jalapeño, seeds removed for less spicy variation
Generous 2 cups loosely packed fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons pepitas (pumpkin seeds), lightly toasted
2 garlic cloves
1 lime, juiced and zest of ½ lime
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil (for a richer pesto, you can add a little pumpkin seed oil instead of olive oil)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Add everything to a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Makes about ½ cup.

Grilled Peach Bruschetta:
1 large peach, firm but just ripe, sliced into 16 slices or 2 smaller peaches, sliced into 8 slices each
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 large slices whole-grain bread
½ cup crème fraîche
Sea salt, to finish

Grill peaches and bread. Heat grill to medium. Allow to preheat for 10 minutes. Toss peach slices with olive oil. Place peach slices and bread on grill. Grill peaches 1 minute on each side or until just soft. You want to get grill marks on the peaches, indicating caramelization and allowing the sweetness to come out, but you don’t want the peaches to become mushy. Remove from heat when done. Grill bread, about 2-3 minutes per side.

Assemble bruschetta. Spread each slice grilled bread with 2 tablespoons crème fraîche. Add peach slices to cover and drizzle with a tablespoon or two of pesto. Sprinkle with sea salt to finish and serve. Enjoy! Makes 4 slices or 2 servings.

*You can use smaller baguette rounds, reducing the amount of topping on each, for party crostini.

Peach and Sour Cream Waffles

I have a habit of reading cookbooks while I eat- especially if I'm eating alone. I always find that I learn something new- no matter how many times I have read the book. Part of this is because I am tuning into certain ingredients depending on the seasons. I have flipped through Deb Perelman's The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook numerous times. Her recipes in the book and on her blog are always honest, and I can trust that they have been well-tested. Her little notes about why she did this and why she did that are so helpful for people like me who like mixing recipes, creating my own concoctions in the kitchen.

The other day, while eating lunch, I stumbled upon her Peach and Sour Cream Pancakes recipe in her cookbook. Armed with fresh peaches from the farmers' market, I had an incredible desire to test out this magical sounding combination. Peaches and cream and peaches and yogurt have been done before, but I knew Deb was on to something with combining the rich, but lightly tangy sour cream with peaches. You could think of sour cream as behaving like buttermilk, which you often see in pancake and waffle batter, but the extra body it gives the batter a silky smoothness and pillowy texture that is unreal.

Instead of making pancakes like Deb did, however, I made waffles. My waffle iron has been staring at me for a while and only getting sadder and sadder with each day of neglect. Plus, I was in the mood for a crispy outside, and little wedges I could eat as a snack. I modified ingredients to reflect my change from pancake to waffle and substituted all-purpose flour for oat flour and spelt flour, but I kept many of the basic pancake/ waffle ingredients the same. I also diced up some peaches to add to the batter so you could get a little bit of summer in every bite. Topped with a drizzle of REAL maple syrup and some sliced peaches, these made for one delicious August breakfast.

Peach and Sour Cream Waffles

1/2 cup oat flour*
1/2 cup spelt flour*
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 cup whole milk sour cream
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons melted butter, plus more for waffle iron
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ripe peach, halved with pit removed

Preheat your waffle iron.

In one bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flours through baking soda). In another bowl, whisk egg, sour cream, maple syrup, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and vanilla extract. Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry and stir just until combined.

Dice half of the peach and stir into the batter. Slice the remaining half in thin slices.

Make sure waffle iron is well-greased and hot. I used a little butter to do this, making sure it sizzled when I rubbed it over the griddle. Add about 1/3- 1/2 cup of batter to the center of the waffle iron, add a few peach slices to the top if you wish, and carefully close. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until done. Remove waffle to cooling rack. Repeat with remaining batter, greasing waffle iron as needed.

Serve waffles warm with maple syrup and fresh peach slices. Alternatively, you can cut into wedges and eat as delicious snacks. Makes about 4 whole waffles.

*You can use unbleached all-purpose, whole wheat, or a mix of unbleached all-purpose and whole wheat flour instead of oat flour and spelt flour.

Peach + Blackberry Summer Panino

I cannot believe I have not shared a recipe with either blackberries or peaches yet! I am also behind on the tomato, cucumber, pepper, and eggplant front too. Oh, and corn. Oh me, oh my. These are just some of my favorite things about summer, and I have been a little selfish keeping these things to myself. You see, I always get a bit torn between eating the juicy, summer fruits like these tart blackberries and sweet peaches in their uncooked virgin state and then actually cooking with them. I sometimes feel like they should be appreciated as nature intended them to be- simply washed and maybe sliced, as in the case of the peaches.

But then I go and make something like this amazing sandwich, combining these fruits with an aged sharp cheddar and a tangy, salty goats' milk feta. Add a little basil for an unbelievable aroma and fresh taste, and a drizzle of honey to bring it all together. One bite, and I wonder why I have not been cooking with these little summer jewels all along.

This recipe is for one, but it is really just a template and the proportions I used. Feel free to make a whole bunch of them to share with your friends and family. If you are not a vegetarian, this would be delicious with a little ham- even better if you can find some from some friendly, local farmers. But it really is quite tasty as written.

What are your favorite ways to cook with peaches and blackberries?

Peach + Blackberry Summer Panino

2 slices of your favorite bread (I used a seedy multi-grain)
1/2 small peach, thinly sliced
4-5 blackberries, sliced in half
1/3 cup grated aged sharp cheddar cheese (I used Cabot Extra Sharp)
1/4 cup crumbled goats' milk or cow's milk feta
2-3 basil leaves, roughly torn
3/4 teaspoon local honey
extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Preheat a panini press.

Assemble the sandwich. Drizzle one side of both pieces of bread with olive oil. Flip one slice over so that olive oil side is down. Layer on the cheddar cheese, then peaches, halved blackberries, basil, and feta. Drizzle with the honey. Place the other slice of bread, olive oil side up on top.

Move the sandwich to the panini press, and carefully close the top down, being sure not to smush all of the ingredients out of the side. Grilled for 4-5 minutes or until cheddar has melted and bread is golden brown. Enjoy! Makes 1 sandwich.
 
**If you do not have a panini press, heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. When pan is hot and sandwich is ready, add sandwich to skillet and place a plate on top of the sandwich to weigh it down, grill for 3-4 minutes. Flip carefully, returning the plate to weigh sandwich down and cook until bread is toasted on both sides. Cook for 3-4 minutes.