When you get ahold of a perfectly ripe peach—soft,
sweet, and ready to pour peach juice all over your shirt—you know what to do:
Eat it right then and there, maybe even leaning over a trash can at the farmers’
market. But for those bum peaches—the ones that could roll around the bottom of your bag all day and emerge unscathed—Bill Smith, longtime chef at Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, gives us a low-maintenance salad that’s perfect for the hottest, most beastly days of summer.
Green peaches, unless you have access to a peach
orchard, are not actually green. Just poke around for the hardest, most
unforgiving peaches in the pile. Unfortunately, these are easy to find,
especially at your local grocery store. Once you shake some sugar and salt over
some peach wedges and let them macerate for a mere 10 minutes, they’ll turn
glossy and bright as moisture is drawn out. A bit of peachy nectar collects in
the bottom of the bowl, which you swish together with olive oil, mint, and lots
of black pepper to make the dressing.
Bill Smith says this salad is great with cold
meats. I think a big bowlful would make a lot of sense at either a hot, smoky
barbecue or a civilized brunch.
Serves 4 to 6
2½ pounds (1.1kg) unripe peaches,
peeled and sliced as for pie into ½-inch (1.3cm) segments
Scant ¼ cup (50g)
sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black
pepper
2 tablespoons strong-flavored
extra-virgin olive oil, like Greek or Lebanese
1 Toss the peaches with the sugar and salt. Let them
sit for 10 minutes. Fold in the pepper, oil, and mint. Serve immediately at room
temperature or cold within a few hours of preparation; it will become mushy
overnight.
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