Boughton Mark - Just Peachy

Just
Peachy

Belinda Smith-Sullivan

Photographs by
Mark Boughton

Just Peachy

Digital Edition 1.0

Text 2019 Belinda Smith-Sullivan

Photographs 2019 Mark Boughton

Teresa Blackburn Food and Prop Stylist

Tonya Whitaker Food Assistant

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief portions quoted for purpose of review.

Gibbs Smith

P.O. Box 667

Layton, Utah 84041

Orders: 1.800.835.4993

www.gibbs-smith.com

ISBN: 9781423651277

To my grandmother Louise, who lit the peach flame in my heart;
and to my mother Naomi, who kept it burning.

The writing and photography in this book evoke the beauty and aroma of real peaches as Chef Belinda shares the experiences of the childhood summers spent in the Mississippi Delta that ignited her love for the fruit. Now living in the heart of South Carolina peach country, she has compiled this extensive collection of sweet and savory peach recipes to make you eat and enjoy them.

-Nathalie Dupree

James Beard Award Winner for Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking

With recipes that range from sweet to savory and will take you from morning to night, peaches take the main stage in Just Peachy. This delightful cookbook is full of stunning photographs; valuable, practical information about the Souths signature fruit; and a bushel basket full of tantalizing, go-to recipes. Its an absolute masterpeach!

-Virginia Willis

James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and chef

Just Peachy is visually stunning, innovative, and jam-packed with creative peach-inspired recipesmaking it the go-to cookbook for all things peach!

-Chef Jennifer Hill Booker

These are no ordinary peach recipes because Belinda is no ordinary author. This chef, product developer, food writer, culinary authority, airplane pilot, and sweet friend to many, doesnt do anything halfway! Her bubbly personality and knowledgeable voice are ever-present throughout each and every page. Her stories offer a delightful glimpse into heartwarming family memories, deep personal friendships, and international experience. Her mouthwatering recipes tantalize the palate with delicious, fresh, and comforting flavors. I cant wait to cook my way through each page of this book again and again.

-Sandra A. Gutierrez

Award-Winning Author of Empanadas: The Hand-Held Pies of Latin America

There is nothing quite like a fresh peachthey just drip with the essence of a well-spent summer. Belindas mouthwatering Cast Iron Peach Cornbread and Peach Bourbon Roast Chicken are just two of the recipes in this delightful ode to my favorite fruit that I know will be a mainstay on our dinner table.

-Carrie Morey

Founder of Callies Charleston Biscuits and Callies Hot Little Biscuit

A bout fifteen summers ago I arranged to meet two fellow East Coast friends for a morning breakfast meeting at San Franciscos Ferry Building Marketplace, located at the end of Market Street in the shadow of the towering Bay Bridge. I had recently moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and noticed a new caf in the market, owned by Frog Hollow Farm, had opened since my last visit to San Francisco. I had just read about them, about how Alice Waters and Jeffrey Steingarten and pretty much every peach freak I knew were raving about their super high brix peaches. And, since timing is everything, it just happened to be peak season so I grabbed a table while waiting for my friends to arrive and then ordered some coffee and looked over the few remaining peaches in the basket, which were selling for $5.00 a pound! Yikes! But this was my one chance, so I picked out three tree-ripened beauties and brought them to the table just as my friends arrived. I gave them each a peach and we all took a bite. Dead silencecricketsthen sighs of joy and oh-my god as we stared wide-eyed at each other, juice dripping down our chins, and continued to devour our peaches.

After we finished, I went back to the peach basket to get more, but, as I feared, they were already sold outtiming is everything. I returned to the table empty handed. One of my friends said, in a low, almost reverential voice, Do you get the feeling this was, maybe, the first time any of us ever tasted a real peach and experienced the essence of peachness?

I recalled that ah-ha moment of peachness when I opened the pages of Belinda Smith-Sullivans gorgeous new book, Just Peachy , and let her words lead me back, through her own connectedness to cherished food memories, to that moment in San Francisco when I realized that, yes, there are peaches but, also, that there are peaches!

I feel about peaches, as I do about a number of favorite foods, that there are only two kinds: good and very good. That day at the Frog Hollow Farm Caf kind of spoiled me for peaches, yet I continue eating them throughout every summer no matter where they are grown, or their stone type, always in search of more such peachy epiphanies.

Belinda is one of the rare culinary students that Ive taught who not only can create delicious dishes and food products, but also has a love of words and can write beautifully and passionately about food. It gives me great joy to see all of her talents come together in this, her firstbut undoubtedly not her lastbook. And I think you, as was I, will be delightfully transported through Belindas words and recipes (not to mention Mark Boughtons luscious photography), to your own vivid ah-ha moments of taste memory awakenings.

Peter Reinhart, James Beard Awardwinning Chef

Charlotte, NC 2018

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants!Sir Isaac Newton

W hen I think of all the people who helped get me here, they are many and I am so very grateful. I wish to acknowledge:

Chef Peter Reinhart of Johnson & Wales University for giving me my first food writing opportunities. I hope I have made you proud.

Martha Hopkins of Terrace Partners, my agent, for believing in me and for her patience throughout the proposal writing process.

Dianne Jacob, writing coach extraordinaire, who was an incredible sounding board for helping me refine my book concept.

Michelle Branson and Gibbs Smith for taking a chance on a newcomer.

Nancie McDermott, Sandra Gutierrez, Jamie Schler, and Jill OConnor for their never-ending friendship, support, and encouragementI love you all!

South Carolina Living Magazine and Bella Magazine for providing a platform for me to share my culinary knowledge with readers in South Carolina and beyond. I have enjoyed every minute.

Mark Boughton and Teresa Blackburn for your photography and styling genius. You made this book beautiful.

Lynne Chappell of Chappell Farms for being a champion of my book from the inception, and your willingness to share your familys story and recipe. I appreciate you.