As my Dad would be super eager to tell you, the grill is a world of possibilities. When he first bought our giant double-racked gas grill for my mom on Mother’s Day, (yes, you heard right, a grill for Mother’s Day) it began a new fascination in him to find every possible thing you could stick on a grill, and grilling it.

He grilled tomatoes, squash, zuchinni, mushrooms, celery, potatoes, you name it. We had a lot of grilled food. 😉 The interesting thing was that the “taste of fire” actually did give a much more grown up flavor to things, if you will. The different aspects were more layered and developed, and the smoky flavor on the outside seemed to help contrast and bring the interior of the food to it’s full, mature taste.

We have a lot of peaches around here for our last truckload of the year, and so the thought naturally occurred. Peaches+Grill=Good? I think it might. That same smoky, fire-grilled taste could just be the thing that knocks this cookout experiment out of the park.

Ingredients: 

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 half-inch piece of vanilla bean, split lengthwise
4 tablespoons organic vanilla coconut palm sugar
4 peaches, halved and pitted
1 pint fresh blackberries (optional) for garnish and extra fruit
8-10 mint leaves for garnish

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Directions:

Before you do anything, make sure your grill grates are nice and clean. We don’t want any oils or lingering tastes of your last barbecue fiddling with your peaches! Scrub them until you at least have a clear spot, if you don’t feel like doing the whole thing (for all you lazy folks like me). Lightly grease your grill grates with whatever you prefer – butter, coconut oil, etc. – so that your peaches won’t stick when the time comes and spoil their pretty looks!

Scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean into a medium bowl. Combine seeds, yogurt, bean, and two tablespoons of the sugar. Let the flavors blend together, and the vanilla to infuse it all, for about an hour. Set the bean aside to make homemade vanilla extract or grind into your next batch of ice cream.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to blend the cream with the other two tablespoons of sugar until it forms medium peaks, about two to four minutes. Gently fold in the yogurt mixture and set aside.

Heat your greased grill to medium heat. You might want to re-grease it just to make absolutely sure. 😉 Put your peaches face down on the grate (cut side down) for three or four minutes, until they are tender. Take them off the grill, place them on some lovely platter, and top each with a few spoonfuls of the yogurt cream. Add the last beautiful touch of sophistication with a garish of mint and blackberries; this time of year our area is resplendent with wild blackberries, so that’s what I used.

Serve with extra berries on the side, and enjoy your glorious dessert, fire-kissed from your grill and bursting with sweet flavor and savory undertones. Ahhhhh…life’s a peach.