When Labor Day passes and hot days are on the wane, we always find that our trips to the farmers' market start to resemble a contact sport: everyone is urgently lunging for dwindling tomatoes and fruit, desperate to savor anything that hints at summer. And if we do manage to emerge from the chaos with some coveted produce, we want to use our haul in low-effort, big-flavor dishes that will hold us over until next July.
If you manage to snatch up some end-of-season peaches (or any other stone fruit, for that matter), this no-frills crostata from Mike Isabella is a more than worthy application. Isabella tosses peach slices in a spice mixture of toasted allspice, juniper berries, and black peppercorns, then nestles them in a pleated sheet of standard-issue pie dough. (Use your food processor to make it in minutes.) He then folds the remaining seasonings into whipped and sweetened mascarpone, which is spooned onto pieces of crostata after it bakes. The blend of spices offers an enticing preview of autumn, resulting in a dessert that's not only delicious, but one that also begins to wean us off summer.
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