Peaches

Peaches are so enticing that sometimes I think that I really love them with my eyes more than anything. They're just pretty, the way they blush on one side and their supple skin; they feel more alive than you expect fruit to.

However, they are also a crapshoot. Bad peaches -- overly soft, watery, tasteless -- are so disappointing and you never find out until you have a mouthful of mush. I'm a bit ridiculous about my fruit trepidation, but I can't help it. They advertise so well, promise so much, and then dissolve into horribleness with a tiny, fruity snicker.

But not today! The peaches are in season, and they're pretty good this year. I decided to make a cobbler, because cobblers encompass many of the things I like about the pie-based food group: they are easy, adaptable, take about fifteen minutes to throw together and are decidedly unfussy: it's impossible to make a super-fancy cobbler. Well, it's probably not, but it misses the point: cobblers are for the people.


This is the type of dessert that can be thrown together at the last minute (if you have peaches at the last minute.) It's best served the day it's made, warm, when the cinnamon-scented crust is at its most provocative. Also, it sort of disintegrates in the fridge overnight. It's still good, but it looks a bit gloopy.

I don't add cornstarch to my pies. A lot of people do, to thicken the juices. If you want, by all means toss the fruit with a tablespoon or two of cornstarch, but I just don't like the consistency of it.

Peach Cobbler

About 4 cups of sliced peaches.(I don't peel the peaches, but you certainly can. I don't just because it's kind of a pain.)
1/2 cup of sugar, or less, depending on the sweetness of the peaches.
1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground ginger. (It was my man Alton Brown who pointed out that you can buy whole dried ginger and just grate it with a fine grater. It makes a huge difference. The blast of ginger power that shoots up your nose the first time you do it will have you convinced you can leap tall buildings in a single bound.)

1 stick of unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
a few shakes of cinnamon
1 egg
capful of vanilla

Preheat oven to 375F.

Put the fruit, sugar and ginger in a bowl and stir to mix.




Put the flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon in your food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter, and let it go until it's very well mixed. It's sort of like dough-light. It's past the "coarse crumb" stage, at any rate.

Plop this into a bowl, add the egg and vanilla, and beat until it's a nice sticky batter.

Turn out your fruit into a pie plate or baking dish. With a spoon, plop gobbets of batter on top of the fruit, and try to keep the blobs discrete.



Oven in, and bake for about 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Serve while still warm, preferably with ice cream or loose, slightly sweetened whipped cream.