Pat Branning’s Carolina Cooking: Red, White and Blueberry
Pat Branning’s Carolina Cooking
Blueberries by Lowcountry artist Joe Bowler, courtesy of the Morris-Whiteside Gallery on Hilton Head Island
Summer in the South fairly sings with the sweetness of fresh blueberries and peaches.
Plan now to celebrate your 4th of July with a delicious blueberry and peach crisp for your picnic grand finale. Blueberries and peaches are now at their freshest, bursting with flavor and guaranteed to make for big smiles on all the little faces in your life.
There’s a lot to love about this great nation of ours, so kick off your shoes and celebrate with friends, family and the finest flavors of the season.
Nothing says summer like the sight and smell of baskets of fresh blueberries and peaches at a roadside stand. And what better way to showcase them than with an old fashioned crisp topped with ice cream.
Inspiration for this recipe comes from Ina Garten.
Blueberry and Peach Crisp
10 to 12 large peaches
1 orange, zested
1¼ cups granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1½ cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ pint fresh blueberries
Pinch of salt
1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
½ pound cold butter, dicedPreheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter the inside of a 10 by 15 oval baking dish. Here’s a tip on how to make peeling peaches very easy.
Immerse the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds, and then place them in cold water. Peel the peaches and slice them into thick wedges and place them into a large bowl. Add the orange zest, ¼ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of flour. Toss well. Gently mix in the blueberries. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes. If there is a lot of liquid, add another tablespoon of flour. Pour the peaches into the baking dish and gently smooth the top.
Combine 1½ cups flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, ½ cup brown sugar, salt, oatmeal, and the cold, diced butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low until the butter is pea sized and the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle evenly on top of the peaches and blueberries. Bake for 1 hour until the top is browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly. Serve at once or store in the refrigerator and reheat later at 350 degrees until warm. Top it off with some real French vanilla ice cream.
Pat Branning, the former women’s editor for WSB, Atlanta, is food editor for The Beaufort Tribune. She and her husband, Cloide, work together to help the underserved and uninsured in health care through a nonprofit organization called Wellness4America. Her new book of Lowcountry recipes, “Shrimp, Collards and Grits, recipes from the creeks and gardens of the South Carolina Lowcountry”, is available at bookstores in Beaufort and on Hilton Head. The website is www.mycarolinacooking.com.
Click here for more information about Pat Branning’s new cookbook.
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