Life's a Peach

As I have said in other posts, I really enjoy the summertime produce in our local markets. Today we get to combine two summertime greats, peaches and grilling. Thanks for the peaches, Beth! Today’s dish is grilled peaches with brown sugar butter sauce and toasted pecans. This is a really simple, quick and delicious summertime recipe. The best peaches I have ever eaten are from Chilton County Alabama. When I was a young kid, we would go to the Gulf of Mexico for vacation and we would always stop in Chilton County to get a basket of peaches for our trip. I remember the peaches being sweet and juicy just like natural candy. Let’s get started preparing this summertime favorite.

Ingredients:

2 peaches (1 peach per person at a minimum)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 tablespoon of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of butter (one tablespoon of butter per peach)

1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (optional if you like spicy hot stuff)

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 cup of pecans (whole or pieces)

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Preparation: (about 25 mins)

Set up your cutting board with a towel, knife and peaches

Cutting board with knife and peaches

Cut peaches in half, starting at the stem and rotating around the whole peach

Cutting peach in half

Remove the peach pits with your fingers, apply gentle pressure and the pit should pop right out

Remove the peach pit

In a mixing bowl, add the peaches and olive oil and toss them to coat.

Tossing the peach halves with olive oil

Place peaches on a plate and lightly salt each one. Let the peaches sit for a minimum of 15 minutes after salting

Salting the peaches

Take a small sauté pan and toast the pecans over medium heat until a nutty aroma appears. This usually takes around 8 to 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the pecans from the heat and let cool. Note: if the pecans are whole, chop them into quarters or large pieces

Toasting the pecans

In the same sauté pan, add butter, brown sugar, cayenne (if desired), cinnamon and vanilla. Bring to simmer and combine.

Sautéing butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cayenne and vanilla

After the butter comes together, add the pecans and coat them in the sauce.

Put the peaches on the grill flesh side down for 8 to 10 minutes

Peaches flesh side down on the grill

Flip and grill for another 5 minutes

Peaches flipped skin side down

After 15 minutes on the grill, remove the peaches and let them sit for 5 minutes

Peaches resting after grilling is complete

Spoon the brown sugar pecan sauce over the top

Grilled peach with brown sugar butter and toasted pecans

Bon Appetit!