Let’sgo to the peach
Revel in summer by adding peaches to as many recipes as you can – savoury and sweet. Here’s one of each.
Weekend kitchen
Thai basil, chilli, crushed peanuts and freshmint add spark to this savoury, refreshing salad.
Thai-style peach, mango and melon savoury salad
1 thai chilli, minced (seeded if desired) 1 clove garlic, minced
1⁄ cup fresh lime juice (from 2 limes)
4
2 tbsps fish sauce
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp light brown sugar 1medium shallot, thinly sliced (about 1⁄ cup)
4
450g peeled seedless watermelon, cut into 1⁄2cm- thick matchsticks (about 3 cups)
Flesh of 1 ripemango, cut into
1⁄2cm- thick matchsticks (about 1 cup) 2medium peaches, pitted and cut into 1⁄2cm- thick matchsticks or thinwedges (about 2 cups)
1medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into 1⁄2cm- thick matchsticks (about 1 1⁄ cups)
4
1⁄ cup fresh Thai basil leaves
2
1⁄ cup fresh mint leaves
2
1⁄ cup chopped, dry-roasted unsalted
2 peanuts, for garnish
Whisk together the chilli pepper, garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, oil, brown sugar and shallot in a large mixing bowl until combined. Reserve 1⁄ cup of the
2 vinaigrette separately.
Add thewatermelon, mango, peaches, cucumber, thai basil andmint to the bowl with most of the dressing; gently toss to coat.
Scatter the peanuts over the surface of the salad and serve right away, along with the reserved dressing.
Adapted from The Peach Truck Cookbook: 100 Delicious Recipes for All Things Peach, by Jessica NRose and Stephen K Rose (2019).
Peach & orange blossom polenta upside-down cake
Use golden queen peaches for this recipe, if you can. Out of season you could use tinned peaches instead – be sure to drain them well.
Prep time: 25 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour
4 peaches, cut into thin wedges 185g butter, softened
150g ( 2⁄ cup) golden caster sugar
3
5 eggs
Zest of 2 oranges
3⁄ cup thick greek-style yoghurt
4
2 tbsp orange blossom water 100g almonds, ground
130g fine polenta
40g flour
11⁄ tsp baking powder
2
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice 2 tbsp golden caster sugar Thick greek-style yoghurt or creme
fraiche to serve
Preheat the oven to 160C and line a square or rectangle cake tin with baking paper (I used a tin that measures 21cm x 19cm, but slightly bigger is also fine). Arrange the peach slices on the bottom of the tin in three rows, pushing them snugly together.
Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy then add the eggs one at a time, beatingwell after each addition.
Add the orange zest, yoghurt and 1 tablespoon of the orange blossom water and pulse to combine. Add the ground almonds, polenta, flour and baking powder and again pulse until just combined.
Pour the batter over the peach slices and bake for an hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
While the cake is cooking, put the orange juice in a saucepanwith the sugar, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for about 12 minutes or until it begins to go syrupy, then stir in the remaining tablespoon of orange blossomwater.
Once the cake is cooked, remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before removing from the tin and transferring to a plate.
Using awooden skewer, make holes all over the cake then pour over the syrup and let it absorb into the cake. Serve with thick greek-style yoghurt or creme fraiche.