Fresh sliced peaches with corn crepes,homemade creme fraiche, and corn butter

Alice Waters recipes for Peach Melba or Peach Shortcake are also simple variations on the sliced peach .  As she says, “Most of our (Chez Panisse) peach desserts are simple preparations designed to enhance the natural characteristics of the fruit.”  I cannot argue with this perspective.  My other favorite peach recipes were created by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson for their book, Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More.  The recipes for Caramel Peach Grunt, Gingered Peach and Blackberry Pandowdy, or Summer Fruit Trifle should be distributed to all those families waiting for the peach orchard to open.  They know a good peach is worth waiting for, and they, too might enjoy an old fashioned recipe when they get their fill of peaches eaten right off the tree.

Perhaps you have have made a beautiful salad with lettuce, beets, and goat cheese, tossed it, and watched  with dismay as the entire contents turned pink! One quickly learns to add the beets at the very end of the mixing, and to just sprinkle the cheese on top.  The ruby red color we associate with beets is betacyanin, a pigment of the anthocyanin family which is very soluable in water!  The very slightest amount of bruising will cause beets to “bleed”.   There is a cure for your red hands and cutting board.  Use fresh lemon juice to clean either.

Actually the Russians  take full advantage of  bleeding  beets to create their deep ruby red  borscht.  The best borscht is offered at a premium price several days after it is made so that the color and flavors deepen.  Try this simple borscht recipe named for Tom Robbin’s Jitterbug Perfume, a book that truly romances the beet.

Devil's food cake made with beets

Speaking of romatic beets, a devil’s food cake benefits from both the color and earthy flavor of beets.  This vegan cake recipe depends on beets, carrots, and apples for texture and flavor.

Cooking beets may seem daunting, but there are several easy ways.  My favorite is to pressure cook them for 15-20 minutes.  Another way is to oven roast them at 450 degrees until they are fork tender.  Using either of these methods, be sure to leave the taproot on and also about an inch of the stems so the nutrients stay inside the root.  When the beets are cool, the skins should slip off easily.  Now you are ready to make a delicious beet salad, pickled beets, or just add a pat of butter and enjoy!

Make a simple beet salad with a dressing of: 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, and black pepper.  Dress 5 cups greens and 1/4 cup minced shallot.  Gently fold in 2 medium size, cooked beets that have been sliced into 1 inch pieces.  Sprinkle the salad with Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue Cheese.

Red Jewel Salad

If you don’t have beets in your garden, stop at Ashland Food Co-op for High Hoe Produce or Barking Moon Farm beets.  Think of beets as a two for one choice.  You have the greens to saute with garlic and the roots to make a salad or soup.

It’s been 30 years since my days revolved around the goat milking parlor, but I still miss the fun of making my own fermented dairy products.  Occasionally I still make soft cheese for East Indian cookery because it’s so easy and so delicious.

Freshly made Curd

Finished Panir Cheese

Actually it is suprisingly simple to make lots of fermented or cultured dairy products like buttermilk, yogurt, and creme fraiche.  The starter and time do all the work, no stirring or sticking to the pot.

Start with preferably raw milk or cream, or milk or cream that hasn’t been ultra pasteurized.  Straus glass bottle dairy products are a good brand to use. Buttermilk is high in lactic acid and low in casein so it  can be a good starter to make creme fraiche or even just more buttermilk.

To make creme fraiche,  add two tablespoons of buttermilk to a pint of cream.  Use a quart canning jar with a ring and seal.  Pour the cream and buttermilk mixture into the jar.  Screw on the ring and seal.  Let the mixture sit out on the counter for about 24 hours.   Once you’ve made your own creme fraiche, you will always want to have this simple cheese on hand for cooking or even just making flavored cheese dips or desserts.   Imagine how delicious your homemade creme fraiche would be in fresh berry or peach crepes!

There are also a couple of good commercial starters available for making yogurt or kefir.  They are a foolproof way to try your hand at making these two cultured dairy foods.  And, once you get a good batch going, you can use the yogurt you made to start another batch.

Then I store the kernels in a gallon jar until we need cornbread. My favorite recipe is the Joy of Cooking, southern style cornbread baked in a cast iron skillet. Just before I make the bread, I get out my coffee mill that I bought just for grinding corn, and I grind a cup and a half of corn to make a beautiful flour.

This takes about 3 minutes. The aroma alone makes this process worthwhile! Freshly ground corn smells sweet and corny, just like the first bite from summer corn on the cob. Next, I just follow the recipe and bake this delicious blue food which we eat warm with lots of honey butter.
If blue is not your food color, try drying ordinary sweet corn. It makes great cornbread too! There are “harder” varieties of heirloom grain corns available, but I like the blue or yellow corn as they grind easily, and seem to have more sweetness to them.
As the years go by, I give more and more space to my winter corn supply. I can plant the same kernels that I save for grinding so I am no longer buying corn seed. For the two of us to have as much cornbread as we want during the year, I plant about a cup and a half of kernels on Cinco de Mayo.   By the middle of August, I have corn to harvest.

Heirloom varieties of corn have fewer ears on them than hybridized sweet corns so don’t be surprised if some stalks only make one or two ears. Enjoy watching them grow and enjoy the blue harvest! Below is a recipe for Southern Style Corn Bread, adapted from the Joy of Cooking.

SOUTHERN STYLE CORN BREAD:

Makes one eight inch bread or 12 muffins.

Southern corn bread is traditionally made with white cornmeal, buttermilk, eggs, leavening, and salt—and little, if any, flour or sugar. Some cooks stir in a tablespoon of bacon fat. The bread is moist and crusty. Rush this bread from oven to table.
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Grease a heavy 9-inch ovenproof skillet, preferably cast iron, or an 8-inch square glass baking dish with:
1 tablespoon bacon fat, lard, oil, or vegetable shortening
Whisk together thoroughly in a large bowl:
1 3⁄4 cups cornmeal, preferably stone-ground white
(1 tablespoon sugar)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Whisk until foamy in another bowl:
2 large eggs
Whisk in:
2 cups buttermilk
Add to the dry ingredients and whisk just until blended. Place the skillet or pan in the oven and heat until the fat smokes. Pour in the batter all at once.
Bake until the top is browned and the center feels firm when pressed, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve immediately from the pan, cut into wedges or squares, with:
Butter
Leftovers, though dry, are nice enough if wrapped in foil and rewarmed in a low oven.