Savory peach ideas

[Chris Hennes]

Peaches are in season and on sale, so of course I wound up with a bunch of them on today's trip to the grocery store. I'm looking for some savory-cooking ideas for some of these: peach salsa, maybe? Something to go with pork would be great.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Peach salsa is fabulous! I just substitute peaches for tomatoes and add a little brown sugar. A peach conserve laced with jalapeno is excellent with pork. Sliced peaches can join sliced onions as a base for slow roasted (say, 4 hours at 275) pork shoulder. Halved peaches brushed with OO and dusted with cracked pepper are nice on the grill, maybe with sausages.

[heidih]

If you have the grill out, I like them halved and grilled brushed with a light mix of Dijon and soy or fish sauce as an accompaniment to whatever protein you have on the grill. If you are doing corn on the grill they are great treated simply and identically with the corn - salt, butter, pepper and lime.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

You can also dredge slices in curry and stuff them into fish on the grill...

[andiesenji]

I use peaches in several savory dishes. A brunch casserole made with cooked sausage (or ham) sliced peaches and lightly toasted bread cubes moistened with liquid made with one peach blended with a cup of riesling, two tablespoons of sugar, a tiny pinch of nutmeg and cooked to reduce it by half, then baked for 35-40 minutes in a 325° oven.

I like peaches with sharp cheeses - tossed in a salad with crumbled Caerphilly or Cheshire - also Wensledale.

There are a few online like this one for peaches and sausage stuffed pork chops - for the pork overload adherents.

and this one for Grilled peach and Prosciutto salad.

[Lisa Shock]

A peach gastrique is tasty, especially one made with ginger.

[chezcherie]

saute with a little garlic and shallots. pour in a little cream and reduce. maybe top with a little chiffonaded basil. serve over grilled or sauteed fish. yum!

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I like peaches with sharp cheeses - tossed in a salad with crumbled Caerphilly or Cheshire - also Wensledale.

Oh, yes! And peaches with Brie.

[LindaK]

Peach relish made with roasted red peppers, kalamata olives, and red onion is great with grilled food.

Semi-savory: goat cheese tart topped with sliced peaches, then baked. Fabulous.

[SylviaLovegren]

I used to stuff whole salmon with sliced peaches and onions before baking. Still would if an unknown rich uncle dies and leaves me a fortune to buy a whole salmon.

[Doodad]

I have done a GA style salsa of peaches, black eyed peas, okra and green tomatoes in the past.

[scordelia]

Chicken Augusta--delicate, little ground chicken patties sauteed in butter and wine and served with a grilled peach half.

[JBailey]

Why don't you consider a peach risotto...don't forget to add the balsamic as a flavor additon!

[Tri2Cook]

This is from a few years ago, that's my excuse for that plate, but I still do variations on it.

Pork belly on a salad of diced peaches, dandelion greens and chive blossoms dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper. The clear liquid is a pickled peach consomme that adds a punch of peach flavor while the acidity does dual-duty of cutting through the fattiness of the pork belly and combining with the oil-dressed salad to form a vinaigrette of sorts. The incarnation I'm working on now involves using an onion syrup I made as part of the pickled peach recipe and pickling the chive blossoms with the peaches. I plan to serve the pork with the actual pickled peaches instead of doing a consomme with them. I'm thinking I'm also going to replace the dandelion with braised mustard seeds in this, probably bite-sized, version. Anyway... it's savory peaches.

[mkayahara]

This is from a few years ago, that's my excuse for that plate, but I still do variations on it.

Pork belly on a salad of diced peaches, dandelion greens and chive blossoms dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper. The clear liquid is a pickled peach consomme that adds a punch of peach flavor while the acidity does dual-duty of cutting through the fattiness of the pork belly and combining with the oil-dressed salad to form a vinaigrette of sorts. The incarnation I'm working on now involves using an onion syrup I made as part of the pickled peach recipe and pickling the chive blossoms with the peaches. I plan to serve the pork with the actual pickled peaches instead of doing a consomme with them. I'm thinking I'm also going to replace the dandelion with braised mustard seeds in this, probably bite-sized, version. Anyway... it's savory peaches.

That looks good. OT, but would you mind sharing your recipe for the pickled chive buds? Not that it'll help me for this year, but we always end up with way more chive blossoms than I can reasonably use; some way of preserving them would be handy.

[Tri2Cook]

Sorry Matt, I probably wasn't clear on that but the chive blossoms weren't pickled. That's a change I have planned for the next variation. I'm just going to give them a very quick blanch and chill then toss them in the jars with the peaches and pickle it all together.

[Chris Hennes]

Pickled peaches sound great: brine recipe suggestions?

[andiesenji]

I've tried all of the recipes for pickled peaches on this site. I have altered them by adding cracked black pepper or dried chiles to add a bit of "bite" and have also used alternative spices.

One successful batch was made with half the cinnamon and two tablespoons of grains of paradise instead of one tablespoon of cloves.

I've also tried some herbs (sage, anise hyssop, thyme, etc., into separate jars with the peaches before pouring the hot "brine" into the jars.

[Chris Hennes]

Wow, those all look really sweet: these peaches have plenty of sugar in them for my tastebuds, I was thinking of a strictly sour sort of brine. Has anyone tried anything like that?

[Tri2Cook]

I don't have an actual recipe, I pretty much wing it because what goes in depends on what I'm using them with, but I do keep the sugar way lower than traditional recipes. I don't do mine for long-term storage, I keep them in the cooler. I've done them with red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar and cider vinegar and alter the spices for the flavor profile I want. I sometimes include fresh herbs as well. Water, vinegar and salt are the base. Sugar (sometimes white, sometimes other) is always in there but the amount varies by the sweetness of the peaches and the end result I want. Peppercorns are usually in there. I don't always use "sweet" spices (cinnamon, cloves, etc.). Mustard seeds and dried chilies are nice additions. I've played around with adding different wines to the brine to match the vinegar. I have bourbon pickled peaches (hoping for something similar to a peach shrub with bourbon end result) floating around in my head but haven't done it yet.

[andiesenji]

Wow, those all look really sweet: these peaches have plenty of sugar in them for my tastebuds, I was thinking of a strictly sour sort of brine. Has anyone tried anything like that?

They are sweet but you can use less sugar - or different sugars. I've used palm sugar with outstanding results. You can also use citrus - lime juice with some of the zest, a raw sugar - jaggery is brilliant as I expect the piloncillo would be - but you do need some sugar to balance the flavor. This latter "pickle" should be refrigerated because it will ferment - I know this from personal experience, spend two days cleaning the pantry after an exploded jar...

I would advise that you use one of the "softer" vinegars such as apple cider, or other fruit vinegars instead of distilled vinegar. A white wine vinegar works nicely. Peaches are often dressed with balsamic vinegar and although I haven't tried it, I have heard of peaches marinated for a few days in white balsamic vinegar.

[onrushpam]

Okay, this isn't strictly savory (the peach part is sweet), but it's worth a mention...

I stopped into the Sweetgrass Dairy store the other day and they were sampling their housemade pimento cheese (Thomasville Tomme, piquillo peppers, housemade mayo) with peach/pecan preserves. Smear some pimento cheese on a cracker and top with just a LEETLE bit of those preserves. OMG! So good! We had to go back and buy more. The combo of the salty/spicy/sweet/crunchy was just perfect.

I have frozen peaches left over from last summer. I plan to make some peach preserves with them next weekend.