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These hot summer days calls for the chin-dripping, juicy ripeness of a perfect peach. City House pastry chef Rebekah Turshen regularly sources her fruit from The Peach Truck, which is now in its fifth year of delivering Georgia-grown stone fruit directly to Nashville. 'I favor freestones to clingstonesbut more for the ease of removing fruit from the pit than flavor,” she says. 'We get a different variety from The Peach Truck each week, and they're all delicious.”
To savor these gems all year, Turshen likes to make canned preservesbut nothing beats enjoying them in the moment, she adds.
'My grandmother made a perfect peach cobbler. My favorite parts were the juicy bits of fruity, melty pastry just underneath the sugar-crisp, toasty crust. I inherited the little square metal pan she always used, and that helps me recreate those memories.”
Sweet Cornmeal + Poppy-seed Biscuits with Macerated Peaches
Courtesy of Rebekah Turshen; Servings: 11
Ingredients
325 g (about 2 2/3 cups) all-purpose flour1 ¼ cups cornmeal¾ cup sugar1 tablespoon, plus 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder1 ½ teaspoon kosher saltZest of 1 lemon1 tablespoon poppy seeds1 cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into pat-sized pieces1 ¼ cups heavy creamMacerated peaches (recipe below)Fresh whipped cream
directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine dry ingredients, lemon zest, and poppy seeds. Add butter pats, and cut in until pieces are about 1/4-inch in size and mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Pour in cream, and fold until dough roughly comes together in a shaggy mass. Dump onto a floured board, and knead a few times until all dry bits are gone. Pat into a rough circle, and roll out to 1/2-inch high and 8 to 10 inches wide. Cut into 12 pie slice-shaped wedges. Sprinkle wedges with sugar, and spray with water.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until golden and firm to the touch. Let cool a few minutes before serving. (Or, store in an airtight container for two or three days; refresh in warm oven.)
To make sweet biscuit crumb: Crumble one biscuit and toast in 300 F oven until dry, about 12 to 15 minutes.
To serve: Cut biscuit wedges horizontally. Top with Macerated Peaches, fresh whipped cream, and sweet biscuit crumb.
Macerated Peaches
Ingredients
Enough ripe peaches to make 4 cups (roughly 6 - 8 medium-size peaches)½ cup sugarZest and juice of 1 lemon
directions
Peel peaches or leave fuzzy, according to preference. Slice or tear fruit into chunks. Add sugar, lemon zest, and juice. Let sit until fruit releases juices.