Sweet Twist: 13 Dishes with Cooked Peaches
Cooked peaches have a wonderfully rich and intense flavor.
Whether they are poached, grilled, or baked, cooked peaches have a wonderfully rich and intense flavor. And you can enhance the summer fruit with vanilla, herbs, and spices to create stunning desserts, main courses, and appetizers.
Looking for more peach recipes? Check out these 12 peach pie recipes.
Poached Peaches with Baked Ricotta
"In hot weather, I like the idea of a simple fruit dessert," says Tom Colicchio. He serves his poached peaches in lemon verbena-infused syrup with squares of baked ricotta.
Sweet Peach Olive Oil Cake
On Top Chef, Kristen Kish's winning menu included fennel pollen olive oil cake. She makes the simplified version here with peach slices.
Recipe: Sweet Peach Olive Oil Cake
Buttermilk-Biscuit Peach Cobbler
Unlike most people who make cobblers, Bobby Flay opts to bake the biscuits separately from the fruit so the undersides cook fully.
Recipe: Buttermilk-Biscuit Peach Cobbler
Peach, Currant, and Cilantro Chutney
"The day I created this chutney, the ingredient list grew and grew because I just kept adding things," says chef Minh Phan, who loves to improvise when creating pickles. Adjust the vinegar brine's flavor until it tastes good, then add the fruit and continue to tweak the flavor. "The main components to play with are sweet, tart, and salt. There's really no messing up: You can always add more sugar, more salt, or more vinegar. If you like a particular herb or spice more than others, just add more of it."
Peaches and Plums with Sesame Crumble
When making fruit crumbles, pastry chefs prepare the components separately, then bake them together quickly so the topping stays crispy.
Grilled Peach Onion and Bacon Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
The secret to this salad is using big, juicy sweet onions like the Vidalias that Linton Hopkins favors, which get nicely charred on the grill.
Recipe: Grilled Peach, Onion, and Bacon Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
Ginger-Peach Conserve
The warm heat of ginger perfectly complements sweet peaches in this thick fruit sauce that's made for yogurt, ice cream, or even a piece of toast.
Recipe: Ginger-Peach Conserve
Creamy Peach Tart with Smoky Almond Crust
An almost-instant crust, made with vanilla wafer cookies and smoked almonds, is the secret to this simple and unusual tart.
Peach Chutney
This gingery peach chutney is terrific on a grilled cheddar-cheese sandwich or brushed on pork chops during the last few minutes of cooking. To make removing the pits easier, look for freestone peaches, rather than clingstone.
Recipe: Peach Chutney
White Peach Tart
The dough for this tart is terrific for impromptu baking. For the filling, Marco Canora recommends using peaches that are ripe but still firm, as drippy fruit will make the soft crust soggy.
Recipe: White Peach Tart
Roasted Peaches with Mascarpone Ice Cream
"Every house has an herb garden," says Daniel Humm of Ticino, the southern region of Switzerland. Accordingly, he infuses roasted peaches with honey-rosemary syrup. The mascarpone in the ice cream reveals the strong Italian influence on Ticino's cuisine.
Peach-Lavender Cobbler
Nicole Krasinski loves the combination of peaches and lavender because the dried blossoms amplify the floral flavor of the fruit.
Recipe: Peach-Lavender Cobbler
Peach Crisps
Paul Virant bakes his simple peach crisps — a classic Southern dessert — in individual ramekins, but the sweet summer fruit and crunchy, buttery topping could be prepared in a single baking dish as well.
Recipe: Peach Crisps
