Peach and Blueberry Crisp

One of the reasons why I love summer so much is the endless variety of in-season (aka light on the wallet) produce.  This time a trip to the store yielded fresh golden peaches on super sale.  When I got home, I realized that I also had a few fresh blueberries that needed to be used up, and thus, a peach blueberry crisp was created.  Not only was this recipe incredibly easy to put together, it took me only about 25 minutes to prepare and combine the ingredients and then pop it in the oven.   The end product was beautiful-crispy, buttery, golden topping over a juicy, thick, sweet blueberry and peach concoction.  Definitely make this before the end of the summer.  (It will count towards your Daily 5 Fruits and Vegetables, you know……)

Peach and Blueberry Crisp

Serves: 4 to 6

Topping:

6 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

3/4 cup coarsely chopped nuts, such as almonds, pecans, or walnuts (I used some walnuts I had on hand-gotta love those omega-3’s!)

Filling:

5 cups peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/3-inch wedges peaches (2 1/2 pounds)-I used 5 large peaches (but you could also use nectarines)

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 tablespoon quick-cooking tapioca (I did not have this on hand, and I forgot to pick it up at the store. Instead, I used 1 teaspoon of arrowroot as an appropriate substitute.)

1/2 teaspoon grated zest and 1 1/2 tablespoons juice from 1 lemon

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1. For the topping:

Place the flours, sugars, spices, and salt in a food processor and process briefly to combine.  Add the butter and pulse 10 times, about 4 seconds for each pulse.  The mixture will first look like dry sand, with large lumps of butter, then like coarse cornmeal.  Add the nuts, then process again, four or five 1-second pulses.  The topping should look like slightly clumpy wet sand.  Be sure not to overmix or the mixture will become too wet and homogenous. Refrigerate the topping while preparing the fruit, at least 15 minutes.

2. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees.

3. For the filling:

Toss the peaches, blueberries, zest, tapioca, juice, and sugar in a medium bowl.  Scrape the fruit mixture with a rubber spatula into an 8-inch square baking pan or 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.

4. To assemble and bake the crisp:

Distribute the chilled topping evenly over the fruit.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees and continue baking until the fruit is bubbling and the topping turns deep golden brown, about 5 minutes more.  Serve warm.  (The crisp can be set aside at room temperature for a few hours and then reheated in a warm oven just before serving.)

Adapted from Baking Illustrated