Recipe title may be "upside-down", but peach dish is right-side-up at summer's end

While I'm in the mode of walking down summer's memory lane, I find in my notes that a wonderful recipe that used some of our last peaches from our peach crop has not been blogged upon. How could I overlook this unusual, incredible dish that mixes our own peach fruit with the fruit of our prized pecan trees?

Somehow in my rhapsodic euphoria about Peach Preserves and Peach Muffins and all the other peach delirium of the summer, I've neglected to mention Upside-Down Ginger-Pecan Peach Pie, which originally caught my attention and netted a spot in my new cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden, because of the "upside-down" nature of it all. It's just so out-of-the-box, which is probably why the California Peaches Plums and Nectarines Network distributed the recipe in the first place. That's how I acquired it.

The purpose of the Network's advancing the recipe, if I recall correctly, was to encourage people about how wonderful peaches taste when they are grilled. I had never thought of that. Truthfully Upside-Down Ginger-Pecan Peach Pie is just as great if you decide to cut up the peach slices into a saucepan, add a little water, and blanch them on the stovetop (or in the microwave in a suitable bowl).

Since I didn't have a charcoal outdoor grill going, I simply pulled out my countertop George Foreman grill and quickly browned them so I could get onto the remainder of the process for this "upside-down" recipe.

I can tell you that the beauty of this recipe, besides the ravishing grilled peaches, of course, is the shortbread that is produced from mixture of the dry ingredients that later is sprinkled over the warm peaches and ice cream. That shortbread lasted us much longer than the peaches did; later we crumbled it over some pudding or even over toast.

So the recipe title also should tout the shortbread by calling it, "Upside-Down Ginger-Pecan Peach Shortbread Pie". The shortbread is a gift that keeps on giving even after the delicious peaches are gone . . . gone but not forgotten--here's to next summer 2011!

Upside-Down Ginger-Pecan Peach Pie

1 cup flour

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted

2 tablespoons minced crystallied ginger

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, divided

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons softened butter, divided

1 tablespoon brown sugar (I used brown-sugar substitute)

4 firm peaches, pitted and cut into 8 slices each

sugar-free whipped topping or sugar-free ice cream, optional

Preheat oven to 325 degrees; spray a loaf pan with nonfat cooking spray. Stir together flour, powdered sugar, pecans, crystallized ginger, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Add in 1/2 cup butter and mix well to form a soft dough. Press into the bottom of prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes. Set aside to cool; then break into a rough crumble,. Leave some larger and smaller pieces. In a large bowl in the microwave melt remaining butter and cinnamon with brown sugar. Toss fruit in butter mixture; then grill over high heat for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side to lightly brown. Remove from grill. Place ice cream in bowls. Top with warm fruit and sprinkle with crumbled shortbread. Makes 8 servings.

Too many recipes left at the end of the fruit supply? Roadside produce stands are the answer

The old saying, "Why do I have so much month left at the end of the money?", could be applied to where we are season-wise right now.

I'm thinking (and mourning), "Why do I have so many peach recipes left at the end of my summer?"

The peaches long ago left our trees; the branches, though still green and leafy, are sadly bare of fruit and will remain that way until next June.

And yet my recipe file still brims with untried recipes that didn't get brought to life before the peach crop faded away. One of those was an all-time winner, "Peach-Blueberry Pie", which combines two of my favorite fruit in all the world. It appears in my new cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden, but truthfully, I don't think I prepared it all last summer or maybe even the summer before. It's the absolute greatest, but yet another year was breezing by without it materializing.

Enter Ham's Orchard. Until a few weeks ago I probably was the only North Texan alive who didn't know about this fun little spot, just east of Terrell off Highway 80. A combination roadside market/fudgery/burger stand, Ham's is best-known for its many varieties of peaches produced from the massive orchard adjacent to the indoor produce stop. A few weeks beforehand my daughter and her husband had been introduced to Ham's and had suggested we take a Sunday-afternoon drive to tour it as well. I knew Ham's would have to be special to entice my daughter, who is very great with a child (did I say very?) and desperately seeks to avoid crowds, to brave Ham's crowded aisles to show us this haven of goodies.

Perhaps Ham's best draws are the fresh homemade peach ice cream and peach shakes that are wildly popular with customers, especially on extremely hot Texas summer afternoons. Other delicacies are the homemade peach cobblers and ready-prepared meals that are sold ready to be popped into the oven. On the Sunday afternoon we stopped in, customers swarmed around like bees after honey. I saw my opportunity to replenish my peach supply and give life to my "Peach-Blueberry Pie" after all.

With a small sack of some of Ham's finest tucked under my arm, I resisted the temptation for a soft-serve peach ice cream cone and instead envisioned my upcoming pie that soon would have intermingled morsels of peaches and blueberries bubbling through the squares in the lattice-topped crust. (I had a bag of blueberries left from an earlier visit to the Chickasaw Nation farmer's market, so now with the peaches I was in business.)

Happily, that dream was soon realized. Nobody we saw departing Ham's slurping peach shakes or licking peach cones on that Sunday afternoon had anything near the smiles on our faces that resulted from the first bite of my upcoming warm homemade Peach-Blueberry Pie.

Yay! I didn't have to wait another year to enjoy it after all.

Peach-Blueberry Pie

1 cup sugar (I use sugar substitute)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

3 cups sliced peeled fresh peaches

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 tablespoon butter (I use unsalted, not margarine)

pastry for double-crust pie (9 inches)

milk (I use skim milk)

cinnamon

a "little" extra sugar to mix with the cinnamon

In a bowl combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, and allspice. Add the peaches and blueberries; toss gently. Line pie plate with bottom crust; add the filling. Dot with butter. Top with a lattice crust. Brush crust with milk; sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filing is bubbly. Cool completely. Frozen fruit may be used if it is thawed and well-drained. Serves 6-8.