Grilled peaches. Three ways to enjoy ripe local peaches on the BBQ
By John D Lee
smoky sweet grilled peaches
Grilled peaches three ways
Peaches take wonderfully to the grill, and their luscious sweetness marries perfectly with a bit of smoke. Here are three different, but all easy ways to use some peaches on the grill, and surprise your family with an unexpected, and delicious, savory grilled peach centerpiece.
Simply grilled peaches with parmesan and dressed salad greens
Peel and slice peaches in half, removing the pit. Brush with some extra virgin olive oil, and a bit of salt and pepper.
Pre heat grill to medium, and use the pre heating time to make sure your grill is nice and clean. Yesterday's burgers are not a great accompaniment to today's grilled peaches!
Grill peaches on both sides, for about three minutes per side.
To serve, simply shave a good parmesan, or other hard salty Italian cheese over the top, and you have an elegant and easy, and delicious appetizer. This is great served over simply dressed salad greens. Try lemon juice, olive oil and salt over any salad green. Greens with a bit of bite work well here, and their slight bitterness will contrast well with the smoky sweetness of the peaches and the salty richness of the cheese.
Grilled peach salsa
Brush pitted and peeled peach halves with some olive oil, and sprinkle a bit of salt all over
Grill over medium for about 2 minutes per side
Let cool, and then slice, and mix with a good squeeze of lemon juice, a bit of finely chopped red onion, a bit of chopped fresh mint, and salt to taste.
This is beautiful with grilled pork, and will add a lot of life to an everyday grilled chicken breast.
Grilled sweet peaches with ice cream
Peaches and cream…naturally; grilled peaches and ice cream are equally good.
Coat the peaches in melted butter, and sprinkle on a generous coating of brown sugar, with a pinch of salt
Grill over medium for about 3-4 minutes per side, and serve warm, with a squeeze of fresh lemon, with a good quality vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy peaches while they're in season. Nothing beats a tree ripened local peach.
Don't store your peaches in the fridge, as this will blunt their flavors. Peaches and pork are very well paired for one another, and once you start grilling peaches, you'll soon get inspired to create your own perfect fruit accompaniment for grilled pork chops and other BBQ fare.
Peaches and summer and BBQ…it all comes together here.
Comments
You're right...it's all about the quality of the fruit! Where are you located? I'm in Thailand, and there are no good peaches here either! Thankfully, the available fruits make up for it.
Sounds so good, im thinking of making it right now. With riped peaches from local farm store.
Hubby & I just tried the "sweet peaches" recipe and was wonderful but heed the warning advice!!! They tasted a little "steaky"!!! Needed to clean the grill better.
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for the comment...and the tip!
Sounds great, and it's just about peach season in the Pacific Northwest. Will be looking in my local farmers market tomorrow.
For the Peach Salsa, I fine we need more information / instruction e.g. peaches need to be more firm than ripe for grilling so that they don't fall apart or exude more juices. As well, the recipe should include how much mint, we found out that too much mint is too much- what is the best????. Recipe is tooo simplistic......what other ingredients can you add on (ie ground cinnamon?, finely chopped hot peppers (lacking in this recipe), chopped red peppers, or even blueberries! There is no creativity except for the very basic!
I'm from Southern Ontario Canada, peaches are is season , now and they are fantastic, sweet and juicy, can't wait to try these recipes tonight.
Try using Nectarine peaches for barbequing. You can leave the skin on and they stay firmer while cooking.
Instead of grilling them directly on the grill where other foods, like steak & chicken, have been cooked before, go to the dollar store or wherever, and get one of those disposable grill pans with holes in the bottom. They will turn out perfectly grilled, with the "grill marks" on them as well, and not taste like the meats you've been grilling previously.
Thanks very much for the tip Irene - makes sense!
For the peach salsa, try adding fresh ginger and lime juice as well as some minced hot pepper.
And I'm trying the grilled peaches for dessert with fresh ricotta and a dusting of brown sugar.
snapdharlich 4 years ago
Sounds delicious, but sadly the quality of the peaches we get here just wouldn't be worth trying that out. Shame.