Try This Summertime Combination

Ah, summertime! Among the many pleasures of the summer months is the arrival of peaches, which are just now making their debut from South Carolina. Local peaches will arrive in late July.

One of my favorite ways to enjoy fresh peaches is to grill them and then serve them with vanilla ice cream and basil syrup. Yes, basil syrup. The flavors of sweet summer herbs like basil, lemon balm, lemon verbena, mint and lavender pair beautifully with summer stone fruits.

To flavor a syrup with any fresh herb, collect a packed cup of the leaves of your herb of choice. Combine one cup of water and one cup of sugar with a pinch of salt in a saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil for one minute. Remove from the heat and allow to sit one minute. Stir in the herb leaves. Allow the syrup and leaves to cool to room temperature, then puree in a blender. Strain the syrup through a fine sieve and store it covered in the refrigerator.

That's all there is to it. Serve your herb syrup with any fresh fruit or a combination.

Pea Picking Time

Green Arrow makes huge pods.

Early June peas provide some good eating, even if they arrive early because of a warmer-then-usual month of May. I planted my favorite variety, Green Arrow, in the main raised garden bed last February. You may notice seed packets tell you to plant peas 2 inches deep. This is to protect them from severe cold while they decide when would be a good time to germinate. Seems they always manage to be up in time to mature by late May or early June.

Instead of installing a trellis, I plant pea seeds in a circle about one foot in diameter at the base of a large galvanized wire tomato cage. (The inverted cone type from the big-box store.) Training the plants on the cages is easy, and two such plantings will provide plenty of peas for fresh use and some to freeze.

Freshly shelled peas freeze perfectly if blanched for 3 minutes. Refresh them under cold tap water, drain well, pack into boxes or bags, label and freeze. I have not had good luck freezing either snow or snap peas, and we actually prefer the flavor of the old fashioned, English shelling peas. The extra effort to shell them is worth it.

When visiting friends in Colorado a while back, we had dinner at the Bentfork Grill in Ft. Collins. As an appetizer, we were served house-made sourdough bread, grilled, with house-made ricotta, fresh peas, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. The peas had barely been cooked, and the dish was as good as it gets. When our homegrown peas, we find the same dish just as tasty with purchased ricotta.

Another good way to use fresh peas is to make soup. Cook peas and chopped onions in chicken broth, season to taste and puree in a blender. You can add cream to the puree to make a richer soup. Either way, garnish with cooked fresh peas, and the herb of your choice. Mint and tarragon are traditional, but feel free to experiment. This soup can be served hot or cold. The puree keeps in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a week.