For the first time in three years, I spent the day in the countryside, with no agenda and no schedule for weeks behind or in front of me. And for the first time in nine years, I am on summer vacation! I realize that this may be my first and last true summer break since high school, so I am (gently) trying to make the most of it.
Alex and I have been focused on setting up our new apartment, but also on sleeping in, taking naps, and eating delicious foodie. So much so that a drive to the country to acquire even more foodie was the perfect way to spend our Friday. We loaded up our (new!) car with homemade guacamole and chips and drove north to a farm somewhere on the Maryland/Pennsylvania border. Even on the highway we were struck by the incredible lushness of our environment, how all of the trees and wildflowers seemed to be concentrated versions of what we were used to in Upstate New York. Everything oozed green.
When we arrived at the farm, we purchased some of their famous salsa and had a picnic in the shade of pine trees before setting out for the blueberry patches. The fields that awaited us were dotted with blue, purple and green.
I come from a long line of women who are great "pickers," as my mom says, so I took the job pretty seriously, sampling each bush for flavor before cleaning it of ripe berries and plunking them into my mixing bowl. Alex took a more relaxed approach. But with nowhere to be and nothing on our plates but blueberries, we were in no hurry.
We ended up with twelve or fifteen pounds of the most delicious, sun-warmed berries. Nothing compared to the forty pounds I would pick each summer with my mom, but we are a much smaller family with a much smaller freezer.
The farm is a working orchard and sold peaches, plums, apricots as well as green beans, corn, tomatoes, summer squash and canteloupes at the stand out front. We bought bags of everything and spent the ride home fantasizing about the many dishes we would prepare to showcase our produce. We both love the combination of peaches and blueberries, so we chose a crisp recipe that is easily GF and seemingly failsafe.
Look at that combination...I mean, fugetaboutit!
Peach-Berry Crisp
I tossed about 5 cups of blueberries and 5 peaches (thinly sliced) into a large glass baking dish with about 1/4 cup of GF flour mix (brown rice, potato starch, and tapioca flours), 1/4 cup of sugar, the juice of one lemon, one tsp. of cinnamon, and a dash of nutmeg. After letting that macerate for a few minutes, I topped it with a mixture of 1 cup GF flour mix, 1/3 cup softened butter, 2/3 cup packed brown sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 cup ground flax seeds, and 3/4 cup chopped almonds. I just mushed the butter into the dry ingredients until it was well combined and could crumble in my hands, then sprinkled the mixture atop the fruit. Note: This could easily be modified to be vegan with some margarine or vegetable shortening.
I baked this at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, until the juices bubbled and the topping was nicely browned. It's best to let this sit for a while to thicken, but if you must eat it right way, be prepared for a very juicy dessert with a serious crunch from the almonds on top. It's also delicious cold for breakfast. For dessert, I had mine with frozen yogurt and Alex ate his with ice cream to sweeten the berries (I love tart foods so this recipe does not have much sugar. Definitely add more if you are a sweet pie kind of person).
The next morning, I piled leftovers on top of yogurt but Alex preferred his straight up with a glass of milk. Warm or cool, plain or sweetened, this crisp is one of the best things about summer.
We still have at least ten pounds of blueberries left. How have you been using up your summer berries?
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