Let’s do a peach deep dive
A recipe for Grilled Peach and Crispy Couscous Salad and much, much more!
In these waning days of August, which seem to be slipping away from me, it’s hard not to be distracted by all the booming summer produce. It’s very welcome, but I have been keeping things simple in terms of cooking since I am up against my book deadline. I will be taking next week off from the newsletter as I vacation with my family in Fire Island, and I plan to spend a lot of that time writing. It’s a terrible time of year for a deadline, but I am very excited to share these recipes with you when the book finally comes out in fall of ‘26. I don't know the exact date yet, because the sooner I turn it in, the sooner it will be out. I am hoping for a mid-October release. More pressure!
Suffice to say I’ve been too busy working on the book to be cooking anything elaborate. Luckily, the beauty of peak summer produce is that it shines in simple preparations. Today’s newsletter is all about one of the best examples of said produce: peaches.
Let's talk about peaches. One thing I really love about peaches is that their season is so long. They start to appear in supermarkets in May, usually from California and Georgia, and then the transition to local peaches starts, and they seem to go well into September. I haven’t really had a bad one this year.
Another thing to love about peaches? They flex easily between sweet and savory applications thanks to their tanginess. I find that yellow peaches are more likely to have that peachy edge than white peaches, which are more uniformly sweet—and a little boring compared to their yellow counterparts. Thoughts?
Has anyone tried The Peach Truck? I keep hearing about it but I haven’t tried it because there is so much abundance around me. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
Tips for buying, storing, and cooking with peaches
When shopping for peaches: My number one tip is to buy them hard so you can get them home without incident. This time of year, they tend to be ready in just one day, which isn't long to wait. I buy them regularly, like bananas, so I always have ripe ones ready to go. On the rare occasion that a peach is meh, which is usually due more to a cottony texture than subpar flavor, I will cut it up and freeze it for a future smoothie.
To freeze peaches for later: Cut them into wedges (usually 8 pieces per peach), spread them out on a baking sheet lined with plastic wrap, and freeze until hard. Then pop them off the plastic wrap and store in zip-top bags. I like to throw them in smoothies, but you can use them for pies, galettes, and ice cream or sorbet. Peel them first if you don’t like them with skins. I leave them on.
To peel peaches: Do them just as you would tomatoes; cut a small X on the non-stem end of each peach and drop them briefly, 1 or 2 at a time, into a saucepan of boiling water. If the peaches are in season and ripe, this will take just about 10 to 20 seconds. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and into a bowl of ice water. Slip off the skins, which is fun to do!
What to cook with peak summer peaches
Caramelized Peach Melba
Peach Melba is a classic for a reason. With just three main elements (peaches, raspberry sauce, and vanilla ice cream), it’s a reminder that simple is often best. I like to caramelize the peaches, but other than that my version is pretty close to the original.
Peach and Almond Galette
Whether you call them galettes, crostatas, or free-form tarts, these are the easiest and most beautiful way to showcase summer fruit. Less fussy than a pie, they have an open structure that allows the fruit, colorful and juicy, to really shine. I like to make mine in a cast-iron skillet so the juices stay contained—and those that do break through the dough will caramelize but not burn, making the edges something to fight over.
Blueberry Peach Muffins
These muffins from Alaina Chou, a former assistant of mine, were developed as an homage to the ones she grew up eating at the beloved Hamptons farm stand Round Swamp Farm. Like the originals, they are fluffy and not cakey, laden with almost more fruit than batter, just barely sweet, and crowned with crackly cinnamon sugared tops.
