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Simple Cooking: Al Fresco Snacking with Grilled Peach and Blue Cheese Crostini

By Minna A in Food on Jun 30, 2011 6:45PM

It's 4th of July Weekend! With plenty of outdoor concerts and summer celebrations, opportunities for outdoor al fresco dining are abound. Enjoy our take on outdoor summer snacking with this savory, sweet and slightly tart grilled peach and blue cheese crostini. This small bite with bold flavors makes for a tasty snack and travels well.

INGREDIENTS
4 Tablespoons of Honey
1 Large Ripe Peach
1 Small Loaf of Crusty Bread
1 Cup of Crumbled Blue Cheese
Butter
Water

1. In a small bowl, mix together the four tablespoons of honey with about two teaspoons of water and set aside. (Note: to add more savory flavor, you can choose to add a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar in place of the water.)

2. Place grill pan on stove at low heat. Melt and evenly distribute 1 tablespoon of butter across the pan.

3. Cut your large ripe peach into thin slices. Lightly dip each of the slices into the honey/water mixture and place onto the grill pan. Reserve honey/water mixture for later use. Cook peach slices for approximately 3 minutes, or until you can see grill marks on the peach slice, and flip over and repeat.

4. While peaches are grilling, cut bread into thin 1 centimeter think slices. You can choose to bake these in the oven by drizzling olive oil on each side of the bread with light salt and pepper and baking in the oven at 110 degrees for ten minutes. Or you can remove the grilled peaches, add another table spoon of butter to the pan, and grill the bread on the grill pan. (We love butter and prefer the second option.)

5. On a baking sheet, evenly distribute toasted bread pieces. Top each with a grilled peach slice and top with approximately 1 teaspoon of blue cheese for each.

6. In a 250 degree oven, toast the crostini until the blue cheese is slightly melted. Take crostini out of the oven and glaze each crostini with some of the reserved honey/water mixture.

7. Enjoy!