Great Grapes Recipe: Sweet Peach BLT

This is the second installment in my posts detailing the recipes I made for the Great Grapes blogger cookoff. You can read my bacon vodka infusing instructions here.

Of the three BLTs I made last Saturday, the "sweet" version was definitely the favorite (in the back of the picture). It involved sauteed white peaches, arugula, and a goat cheese spread on Atwater's raisin pumpernickel bread (which, even alone, is amazing). It's actually not overly sweet - it's got some tang to it.

The sandwich isn't difficult to make at all and it also works nicely as an open-faced, smaller hors d'oeuvres. But it does have a lot of steps.

Ingredients

(yield: two sandwiches)

Goat cheese spread:

• 4 oz. goat cheese at room temperature
• 2 tbls. cream
• 1 1/2 tbls. honey
• 1 tsp. fresh ground pepper

The rest of it:

• 2 white peaches
• 1/2 tbl. good, unsalted butter
• 4 slices raisin pumpernickel bread from Atwaters
• One big handful of arugula
• 6 or so slices of crispy, cooked bacon (I used Niman Ranch applewood smoked bacon from Trader Joe's)

First, the goat cheese spread, which can be made a couple of days in advance. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl or in a Cuisinart (a mini-prep, if you have one). Mash with a fork or puree to combine. Scrape out of the bowl and set aside. Store in the fridge for a few days if you'd like.

Next up, the peaches. First, you need to blanch and peel the peaches. Score the bottom of each peach with a little "x," just breaking through the skin. Bring a big pot of water to boiling, then submerge the peaches for just one minute. Once the minute's up, put the peaches in a bowl of ice water to cool. Once they're cool, peel the peaches from the bottom, where you scored them. The skin should peel off easily (I find peeling peaches immensely satisfying, in that peeling sunburn sort of way).

Once the peaches are peeled, slice them into big chunks no more than 1/2 an inch thick. They don't have to be perfectly even, but it can't hurt to try to make them pretty.

Put a wide saute pan on the stove and heat the butter over medium heat until it just starts to bubble. Add the peach slices and saute until they're warm through and start to darken just a little bit (not too much), turning once. This will only take a couple of minutes.

In the meantime, generously spread the goat cheese spread on two slices of the bread (you won't use all the spread - save some for later). Top with the sauteed peaches and three bacon slices for each sandwich (or more if you'd like), then divide the arugula between the two sandwiches, spreading it evenly. Add the other pieces of bread to the top of your sandwiches and slice.

There you go - two lovely sweet BLTs. Well, BLPs, really, if you want to be technical about it.

[Photo credit: Lyndsay Polloway]