summer fun with peaches and thai basil

yep, you guessed it. it's pie time again!!! this month's theme is the taste of summer and it was chosen by mary and rebecca. when i think of summer, i think of fresh picked fruit and vegetables, big bunches of herbs and ice cream. sitting on the porch spitting watermelon seeds and sipping iced tea. picnics by the lake or the beach with cold fried chicken. then there are the barbecues; food of all kinds on the grill and salads galore and a frosty adult beverage...

so many things to choose from and only one pie to bake, what's a girl to do??? if she's me, she heads out to the garden, the demo garden that is, and she picks peaches and basil. we are volunteers with the master gardeners and we maintain a garden that has peach trees and an herb garden (among many things both edible and non-edible). while doing some trimming of the basil plants, including the varieties of marseille, siam queen, sweet basil and a few others whose name escapes me, i had a thought. what if i combined the fresh picked peaches with some basil and made a tart???

the peaches and some thai basil sprigs (siam queen)

the big basket of basil that i ended up with. we also made two types of pesto and have lots still to use. tomorrow, i am making a peach-basil sorbet with some of the puree that i cooked today. we may save some of it for a batch of peach-basil martinis...

the tart featuring an almond-black sugar crust and the peaches flavored with thai basil and lemon zest. oh, the flavors of summer are so good! with all of the basil in the fridge, i can come up with all kinds of combos. now if the tomatoes in the garden would just hurry up...

thanks to mary and rebecca for helping me to expand my waistline! wish you could help me use up some of the basil. oh well, what's another two hours at the gym?