Cast Iron Roasted Peaches with Bacon, Bleu Cheese & Rosemary
Sugared peaches roasted in a cast iron skillet with bacon, bleu cheese, and rosemary. A beautiful summer appetizer, side dish, or salad. Adapted from [How Sweet It Is|http://www.howsweeteats.com/2012/08/sugar-roasted-peaches/], originally from Pittsburg Post Gazette.
Yields: 8 peach halves, 4 servings
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon
- 4 peaches, sliced in half, pits discarded
- coarse salt and black pepper
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 fresh rosemary sprigs
- ½ cup bleu cheese, crumbled
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In a cast iron skillet, over medium to medium high heat, cook the bacon until browned and crisp. Transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain and cool. Pour off most of the bacon drippings, reserving 1 tablespoon in the bottom of the pan. Return the pan to the heat.
Season each peach half with salt and pepper. Sprinkle each peach generously with brown sugar. Place the peaches cut side down into the hot skillet with the bacon grease. Add the sprigs of rosemary to the pan. Turn off the heat and transfer the skillet to the preheated oven. Roast the peaches for 5 minutes, turn the peaches over, and roast another 5 minutes, or until browned, fragrant and softened, but not mushy.
When peaches come out of the oven, crumble the bacon and sprinkle it evenly over the peaches, followed by a sprinkle of bleu cheese. Some of the rosemary can also be finely chopped and sprinkled on top, if you like, otherwise you can discard it. Serve a la carte as an appetizer or side dish or serve over salad greens with a drizzle of good balsamic.