Blue Cheese & Peaches

Sometimes simple is all we need.

This is another one of those non-recipe recipes. Take three ingredients, combine them in a dish, and bake. Although the steps are incredibly simple, the dish that it produces really is multi-layered. You have the sweetness of the peaches balanced with the saltiness of the blue cheese and the bite of the red onion. Then you have firmness of the peaches contrasted with the silkiness of the blue cheese and the crunch of the onion. The three play together so nicely and really give your typical cheese and crackers a WOW factor.

To learn more about this recipe, original published in September 2009, keep reading.

I actually made this dish at the end of July when peaches were first in season in New Hampshire. However, I forgot about this simple appetizer until yesterday. That was when I went into the cheese drawer in refrigerator and discovered that I had two new blocks of blue cheese.

Everyone in our family enjoys cheese, so our cheese drawer typically is quite full. Usually I make note of what cheeses we have before I shop for groceries. I obviously did not do that on my most recent shopping trip. I thought we had eaten all of the blue cheese, so I bought a half-pound of it. Tossing it and a block of sharp cheddar into the drawer on Sunday, I didn’t notice that we now had enough blue cheese to stuff literally hundreds of olives.

After discovering the excess of blue cheese, I began to ponder how I could use it in the coming weeks. As we will be having soup tonight, I am going to make blue cheese crackers. Certainly some will be used for stuffing the previously mentioned olives. Another use will be in a simple appetizer that both my husband and I enjoy, Blue Cheese & Peaches.

Served on top of a savory cracker, such as whole wheat or multi-grain, this hot topping has a wonderful contrast of sweet and salty flavors. Served with a glass of Chenin Blanc, this dish can be the perfect kick-off to your weekend.