One last taste of summer: Peach Crunch Pie

Despite it being so awesome to live here otherwise, I commonly hear complaints about our year-round produce selection. During Alaska's winters, bright green bananas, or hard, white tomatoes never quite satisfy if you've lived Outside in a place near farm country.

Don't get me wrong. In the summer that's a different story. The Tanana Valley Farmer's Market, the Mat-Su Valley, Anchorage, and even Southeast have farmers markets. Long hours of daylight lend to a short growing season that packs a punch! We're becoming known for our 1000-pound+ pumpkins that we blue ribbon instead of roast. Even here in the rainforest, we've got enough backyard growers to fashion an annual local food fest and a fledgling weekly market.

Cool, northern climates grow potatoes, carrots, kale, and cabbage very well, but nothing says summer like a peach. And for those, we look to our neighbors down the coast. The organic peaches from Washington state I used for Peach Crunch Pie (Pages 194-195) were juicy and colorful: pure ambrosia.

Peeling peaches is tedious work. Luckily for me, I had my 94-year old sous chef to assist. That's the trickiest part. Then just mix the sliced peaches with the sour cream sauce and dump the whole thing into the unbaked pie crust, and bake!

This is a keeper of a recipe. You've got three heavenly flavors combined: a flaky crust base filled with a creamy peach middle, topped by a crunchy streusel topping. Yum.