For me, one of the most magical times of year is sometime in July, later in cooler weather, earlier when it has been hot.
That time concludes this week, when the last of Dry Creek Peach & Produce’s Arctic Gem white peaches will be picked.
When the Gems kick in, harvest takes off. What until then is the slowly building delight about the first zucchini, ripe tomato, sweet pepper and early strawberries suddenly transforms into the bounty that will be with us until our summer and fall crops are exhausted. It’s hard to keep up. That’s where we are now.
Arctic Gems at Dry Creek Peach were recently harvested and are for sale now, along with their other produce, at their Healdsburg farm stand, one of the sweetest little farm stands around.
The very best thing to do with an Arctic Gem is to eat it. Its texture is velvety, and it’s as juicy as a dead-ripe Santa Rosa plum. Its peachy sweetness is punctuated by delightful acidity. As you eat it, it’s impossible to think anything else ever tasted so good. The two things that come closest for me are perfectly ripe Sunshine yellow watermelons and ripe mangosteens.
Other farms grow Arctic Gems, but there is something about the terroir of Dry Creek Peach that produces superior fruit, the best I have ever encountered.
Dry Creek Peach and Produce sells their produce at the Healdsburg Farmers Market on Saturdays until its season ends, around Labor Day.
The farm stand is open whenever they have enough fruit and produce to sell, which is typically on Wednesdays and on a weekend day or two. Be sure to check the farm’s website, at drycreekpeach.com, or call 707-433-8121 before heading out to the farm stand at 2179 Yoakim Bridge Road, Healdsburg. You also can sign up for owner Gayle Sullivan’s email newsletter; she sends out weekday and weekend news about what’s fresh at the farm. Her recipes are delightful, too.
This salad is substantial enough to be at the center of the table at either lunch or dinner. Serve a soup beforehand and you’ll have a summer feast.
1 pound sourdough or other sturdy hearth bread of choice, preferably a few days old
¼ cup apple cider vinegar, plus more to taste
Black pepper from a mill
4 (totaling 1 pound) mildly spicy sausages, such as Franco Dunn’s Calabrese
3 ripe peaches, peeled and cut in ¼-inch-thick lengthwise slices
1 small red onion, quartered and cut in paper-thin slices
1 pint (2 cups) very small cherry tomatoes, preferably yellow or orange, quartered
4 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley or cilantro, chopped
1 butter lettuce, outer leaves and core discarded, inner leaves rinsed and dried
Tear the bread into bite-size pieces and set aside.
Put the apple juice, vinegar and olive oil in a small bowl. Season with several pinches of salt and several very generous turns of black pepper. Taste and if it seems a bit flat, add a few more pinches of salt. Pour the dressing over the bread, toss and set aside.
Prick the sausages all over with the tip of a sharp knife. Put them in a saute pan, add 1 cup of water, cover the pan and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, turning the sausage once or twice. Uncover and cook until the water evaporates entirely. Continue to cook, rolling the sausages frequently, until the sausages are fairly firm when pressed. Transfer the sausages to a clean work surface and return the pan to the heat without cleaning it.
With the pan still over medium heat, add the butter and, when it is melted, add the peaches. Saute for 2 minutes, turn and saute for 2 minutes more or until the peaches just begin to take on a bit of color. Remove from the heat and add to the bread.
Cut the sausages into ¼-inch diagonal slices, then cut the slices in half crosswise. Add them to the bread, along with the onion, garlic, tomatoes and parsley. Toss gently, cover and let rest for about 15 minutes.
To serve, toss the butter lettuce with a little salt and spread it over a serving platter. Turn the bread salad onto the leaves, sprinkle with a little salt and a few turns of black pepper and serve warm.
As I laid in bed on my birthday earlier this month, recovering from a very nasty virus, I remembered a birthday several years ago, when my friend John made a voluptuous dinner for me. We began with porcini mushroom risotto, actually made by John’s 16-year-old daughter. Next came John’s version of veal picatta, with plenty of lemon and capers and young green beans alongside. Wine was a delicious Armida pinot noir, the vintage long forgotten. Near the end of dinner, John disappeared while his wife, son, daughter and I chatted. After a mysteriously long absence, he appeared with a platter of delicious grilled white peaches topped with balsamic vinegar and raspberries. My version has expanded to include a creamy burrata.
1 cup fresh berries (blueberries, raspberries or blackberries)
Preheat an oven broiler. If the burrata is in the refrigerator, take it out.
Cut the peaches in half (through their poles, not their equator), remove the pits and set them, cut side up, on a sheet pan or in a baking dish. Set under the broiler and cook until they are lightly browned and tender when pierced with a bamboo skewer.
Cut the burrata into 4 pieces and set on individual plates. Cut the broiled peaches in half lengthwise and add 4 pieces to each plate.
Drizzle about a quarter teaspoon of balsamic vinegar over each piece of peach. Grind black pepper over everything and enjoy right away.
I leave this chutney unprocessed because I want the flavor of the peaches to stay bright. When you process it, it takes on a slightly caramelized flavor. I make this every July, when the Arctic Gem white peaches at Dry Creek Peach & Produce are ripe. You can make it with any ripe peach or any ripe nectarine.
10 pounds ripe white peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced
¾ cup white wine or Champagne vinegar
2 ounces fresh ginger, peeled and grated
3 to 4 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
1 small garlic bulb, cloves separated and peeled
1 teaspoon coriander seed, lightly crushed
1 teaspoon black peppercorns, lightly crushed
½ teaspoon white peppercorns, lightly crushed
Set the serrano peppers on a work surface and cut each one from its tip to its top, without cutting through the top. Turn the serrano peppers one-quarter and make a similar cut.
Put the sliced peaches into a large, heavy pot. Add the serrano peppers, vinegar, sugar, salt, ginger and cardamom and stir. Cover with a tea towel and let sit for 3 hours.
Put the garlic through a food processor fitted with the grating blade and stir the grated garlic into the peach mixture. Put the coriander and peppercorns in a spice bag or tie them into a square of cheesecloth, add to the peach mixture, cover and let sit another 2 to 3 hours.
Set the pot over medium-low heat and slowly bring to a simmer. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, until the peaches are completely tender but not fully broken down.
Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
Use a ladle to transfer the liquid from the chutney into a small, heavy saucepan. Remove the spice bag, add it to the liquid, bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer until very thick and syrupy, about 30 minutes.
Discard the spice bag, return the reduced liquid to the cooked peaches and stir.
Use tongs to remove and discard the serrano peppers.
Ladle the chutney into clean glass jars, store in the refrigerator and use within 8 weeks.
Alternately, you can ladle the chutney into 1-pint glass jars and process them in a water bath for 20 minutes, though keep in mind that the peaches will take on a caramelized flavor if you do. Processed chutney in properly sealed jars will keep in a cool pantry for a year.
Michele Anna Jordan is the author of 24 books to date, including “The Good Cook’s Book of Oil & Vinegar.” Email her at michele@micheleannajordan.com.
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