One cannot live on soup alone. After Chilled Beet, Orange and Buttermilk Soup from The Animal Farm Buttermilk Cookbook (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2013) by Diane St. Clair here's one that puts stone fruits of summer to good use.
Deep-dish buttermilk peach pie
Ripe, juicy peaches nestle in a creamy, sweet filling in a flaky crust—there’s no goopy cornstarch-thickened syrup holding this peach pie together. Instead, buttermilk, sugar, egg, and butter combine to make almost a cheesecake-like base. It’s like a cross between a peach pie and a cheese Danish, and if that doesn’t tempt you, you don’t have a sweet tooth! Peaches are wonderful here, but any ripe stone fruit is good: Try sweet cherries or sour cherries, apricots, or juicy plums. Taste and adjust the sugar amount if your fruit is really sweet or really sour.
6 ripe, juicy peaches
1 Buttermilk Piecrust (page 150), arranged in a 9-inch pie pan
3⁄4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1∕3 cup buttermilk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1⁄4 teaspoon almond extract
1⁄8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and drop in the peaches. After 2 to 3 minutes, when the skins split, lift them out and place them in a bowl of cold water.
2 Slip off the skins and slice up the peaches directly into the crust, and set the crust on a rimmed baking sheet. (If you line the baking sheet with aluminum foil, it makes cleanup even easier later.)
3 In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and flour. Beat in the eggs, then add the buttermilk, butter, vanilla and almond extracts, and the nutmeg, and whisk until smooth. Pour over the peaches in the piecrust and set the baking sheet in the oven.
4 Bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is just set. If the pie is not yet set, cover with aluminum foil and continue baking for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until the pie is puffed and set. Let cool completely before serving.
Makes 6 servings
(* Recipe from The Animal Farm Buttermilk Cookbook by Diane St. Clair -Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2013- Photography by Colin Clark- all rights reserved)