When I was a kid in North Carolina, our backyard was a landscape of fruit.
We had peach and apple trees, a fig shrub, thickets of blackberries and
blueberry bushes planted by my Aunt Pluma. I remember wearing a
swimsuit and a bucket hung with twine around my neck and standing
under the canopy of branches, picking and eating berries until my bucket
and belly were full.
These fruits came into season at slightly different moments over the
summer: the blueberries first, then blackberries, peaches, figs, and, finally,
apples. When each made its debut, my mom topped a panful of fruit with
biscuit dough and baked a simple, bubbly dessert that my sisters and
I gobbled down hot, in bowls swimming with melted vanilla ice cream.
That memory inspired my blueberry crisp, which I top with something akin
to a sugar cookie—better than biscuits, in my book.
As I grew up and started cooking professionally, I thought it strange that
fruit is so often underused in savory dishes, and I wanted to incorporate
the heady taste of my childhood in my food. At my restaurant,
Chef & the Farmer, I wrap peaches in country ham, a decidedly
Southern take on the classic Italian pairing of melon and prosciutto.
I lay grilled shrimp, seasoned with zingy citrus zest, across a bed of
bursting figs. Fruits still evoke summer so strongly to me—and
take me right back to those hot days in the brambles, picking berries at
the height of this sweet season.
Get the recipe: Country Ham-Wrapped Peaches with Goat Cheese Sauce
