Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Enjoying the last peaches of the season!!!

Well peach season is wrapping up. This is always a sad time of the year for me. Peaches have always been one of my favourite fruits. As a kid I remember eating peaches with my mom trying not to get stains all over my shirt as the juices would run down my arms. Peaches are such a versatile fruit too. You can freeze them, canned them, eat them with meet or as part of a dessert. They make excellent jam, pies and chutneys and for all my fellow Canadians, they are grown right in our backyard (well not mine, but you know what I mean!) which is always a nice thing.
One of my favourite peach recipe (which can also be done with nectarine) is a barbecue chicken recipe. Generally speaking, anything that is done on the barbecue taste great (unless you're not a great barbecuer and you burn everything, but that's another story), but put glazed peaches on there and it's like heaven on earth! One thing to keep in mind is that your peaches need to be ripe, but not too soft otherwise they'll fall apart on the grill (and if they are not ripe enough they will taste bitter.

I tend to prepare this recipe in the morning before I go to work so that it has marinaded and that it's all ready to go when I come home, but in a pinch you can marinade for half and hour and everything will be just fine. When I do this recipe I also tend to butterfly my chicken breasts. Yes you have to be more careful when you are grilling them so that you do not over cook them, but it has the advantage to shave off some of the cooking time.

Grilled Chicken and Peaches with Brown Sugar Glazed

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons of soy sauce (I typically will use a low sodium one)
3 tablespoons of butter, melted
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
3 garlic cloves, minced
8-10 fresh peaches (or nectarines), halved
Place the chicken breasts in a shallow dish just large enough to hold them in a single layer. In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, soy sauce, butter and lemon juice. Add the water and garlic to the 
remaining mixture and pour over the chicken breasts. 
Turn to coat well, cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day.

Preheat the BBQ on medium. Remove the chicken from the marinade, brush the chicken and peaches with some of the marinade. 

Grill the chicken until tender, about 7 – 8 minutes per side. Grill the peaches along with the chicken breasts until tender, about 6 minutes per side.
Serve with rice.
Makes 4 servings

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