Friday, August 24th, 2012 | posted by mike
Cruising the Ann Arbor farmers market last week, I came upon some small but perfectly ripe peaches and I have to say those were maybe the best and sweetest peaches I’ve ever tasted. It’s been a rough summer for the farmers this year, with harvests way down or nonexistent due to the heat and drought. It seems the farmers that could irrigate were able to get at least some real nice fruit to market.
Some say that during a drought, the water content in many fruits, including peaches, is lower and the sugars condense resulting in a sweeter fruit. Whatever the reason, those were some darn good peaches.
I was preparing a grilled snapper a couple years back and the recipe called for the fish to be served with mango salsa. I couldn’t find a ripe mango for the life of me, but the peaches were in season and they do have similarities in texture and flavor. The substitution worked out better than expected and we’ve made lots of peach salsas ever since. The salsa was fantastic with the snapper!
Last night we thought we’d try the dish with sea scallops. Slightly spicy with a touch of our Cajun seasoning, the scallops were perfect over the juicy, sweet peach salsa. We pan seared the scallops but they would also be great grilled.