WRAL reporter Brian Shrader and our own Lisa Prince feature seasonal recipes in their weekly Local Dish Cooking segment. This month Brian and Lisa are cooking up a few creative and tasty dishes featuring the bounty of fresh produce available in gardens and at farmers markets in the summer months.
The first recipe is from Lisa’s good friend Clare Turner. This dessert is super easy to make and has only a handful of ingredients.
Mary Clare Sanders’ Easy Peach Pie
Ingredients:
- 7 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
- 5 slices white bread, remove the crust and cut into strips
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 beaten egg
- 1 stick of melted butter
Instructions:
Layer peaches on the bottom of an 8 x 8 baking dish. Place strips of bread on top of the peaches in the dish. Mix sugar, flour, egg and butter then pour filling over the peaches and bread. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
The next recipe includes peaches, too. But it’s a savory dish with a kick. Lisa suggests that if you don’t like spicy, leave the jalapeno out of the recipe and it will still taste good. This is also a good sauce served over grilled pork.
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1 cup fresh peaches, sliced
- 1⁄2 cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and sliced in rounds
Instructions:
In a medium saute pan, add the brown sugar and peaches. Saute until peaches begin to soften. Add vinegar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the stock, honey and jalapeno and simmer. Serve over grilled chicken.
The next recipe is a cool and creative summer salad.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups seedless watermelon, cut into cubes
- 2 medium heirloom tomatoes, cored and diced
- 1 large cucumber peeled, seeded and diced
- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, diced
- salt and pepper
- 2 limes zest and juiced
- 1⁄4 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 1⁄3 cup olive oil
Instructions:
Prepare your salad ingredients keeping everything close to the same size. In a small bowl, combine the lime zest, juice and basil. Slowly add in the olive oil while stirring. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over the salad and toss. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
The last recipe this month is another viewer recipe. Fred Pruden of Willow Springs provided a delicious twist for a summer dessert. This recipe takes the classic tarte Tatin, a rustic French upside-down tart most often made using apples, and subs in August’s best North Carolina tomatoes.
Ingredients:
- 6 large heirloom tomatoes
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1⁄2 cup sugar
- 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 12-inch just un-roll pie crust
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut shallow X in bottom of each tomato. Bring large pot of water to boil and add the tomatoes, cooking just until the skins at the X begin to peel back, about 30 seconds. Transfer tomatoes to bowl of ice water. Once cooled, peel the tomatoes, remove the cores, halve lengthwise, and remove the seeds. Or you can peel each tomato by hand without boiling.
In a 12-inch-ovenproof, nonstick skillet on low heat, melt the butter. Swirl the pan to evenly distribute the butter and then sprinkle in sugar, also being sure to coat the pan evenly. Add tomato halves, cut side down, filling the skillet but not overlapping.
Turn up heat to medium. Cook until sugar and butter are reduced to thick and bubbling syrup, about 25 minutes. Gently shake the pan to release the tomatoes and remove from heat. Drizzle vanilla over tomatoes and sprinkle with salt.
Unroll pie crust and gently place on top of the tomato mixture. Tuck edges of crust into the lip of the pan so the crust reaches the bottom. Cut 3 1”-long slits in the dough, about ½” apart from each other. Bake until pastry is a deep golden-brown, about 24 minutes.
Cool tart in skillet 10 minutes. Cut around sides of skillet to loosen pastry. Place large platter over skillet and flip, being careful of the caramelized sugar (it’s hot!). Serve at room temperature.