Don’t Rule Out Peaches When It Comes to Savory Summer Dinners

By this point in the season, markets and farm stands are literally ripe with summer produce, and if you are any collector of seasonality you may find that the fruits of your kitchen labor have left you just one pie shy of a trip to the dentist. Not something, I might add, that one typically seeks to cross off a summer bucket list as September looms.

Before you cobble together one more crumble, crisp, or slump, (yes, this is a thing,) consider this: Functionally speaking, peaches are basically tomatoes with a fruitier attitude. Acidity and sweetness, juicy, pulpy flesh—on paper they are interchangeable, so why not on the plate?

As evidence, I offer a veritable bushel of savory peach suppers—incorporated in every way from sauces to salads to skewers—before that too-sweet sweet tooth takes hold.

Peach Caprese Salad

Chowhound

Look no further than the tomato’s typical star vehicle—the simple yet flawless Caprese—for validation of the peach’s worthiness to fill its shoes. Mozzarella and basil are fully willing to hang, with a lightened, aromatic vinaigrette made from white balsamic. Get our Peach Caprese Salad recipe.

Grilled Chicken Sausages with Peach Sage Skewers

Chowhound

Anything worth grilling is worth grilling on a stick, says me, and fruit and herbs are no exception. Sage is a woefully underutilized dance partner for peaches, bringing an earthy note to the scene, and as an accompaniment for chicken sausage, why should apples get all the fun? Get our Grilled Chicken Sausages with Peach Sage Skewers recipe.

Whiskey Peach Barbecue Sauce

Hey Grill Hey

Can you think of any reason not to use up some extra peaches to make a big batch of this sweet, sticky, spicy barbecue sauce to slather all over all manner of meats while grill season holds through September? Yeah, me neither. Get this Whiskey Peach Barbecue Sauce recipe.

Pan-Fried Five Spice Pork and Peaches

The Flavor Bender

I can scarcely recall a dinner table in my youth where pork chops didn’t comfortably share the playground with applesauce. Here, peaches that are pan-fried alongside the chops bring a firmer texture and a robust sweetness to contrast the light spiciness from Chinese five-spice powder. Get this Pan Fried Five Spice Pork and Peaches recipe.

Sweet Tea Rice with Jalapeño, Peaches, and Pecans

Imagine a Mediterranean rice salad studded with dried apricots and almonds and aromatic with fresh parsley. Now dress each component up like a Southern belle, including fresh peaches in the role of apricots, and the result, bless your heart, is this gem of a side dish. Get this Sweet Tea Rice with Jalapeño, Peaches, and Pecans recipe.

Peach, Tomato, and Sweet Onion Salsa

Chowhound

Here’s another vehicle where tomatoes usually get star billing, though in this fresh and lively salsa they seem more than willing to feature a co-star by way of peaches. Possible other hit ingredients for a summer blockbuster to include a picnic blanket and a bucket of fried chicken. Get our Peach, Tomato, and Sweet Onion Salsa recipe.

Thai Curried Chicken with Peaches

The Spruce Eats

Peaches and peas have little in common, besides their first three letters. One pulpy and sweet, the other vegetal and starchy, how can they possibly find common ground? Fortunately, this savory coconut curry provides a safe space where they can come together and work out their differences. Get this Thai Curried Chicken with Peaches recipe.

Grilled Shrimp, Peach, and Bread Salad with Avocado Vinaigrette

Half Baked Harvest

So many things are good on their own, but don’t always come together harmoniously in a dish. This is not one of those cases. Peaches, grilled shrimp, rustic bread, and avocados have an almost surprising affinity in this hearty salad, best explained by the principles of attractive opposites. Get this Grilled Shrimp, Peach, and Bread Salad with Avocado Vinaigrette recipe.

Fried Mozzarella and Caramelized Peach Caprese Burger

Half Baked Harvest

Take the beautiful peach caprese salad as described above. Fry the mozzarella, and put the entire thing on top of a burger. Finish by standing on the edge of your deck and proclaiming yourself the rightful king or queen of summer. Get this Fried Mozzarella and Caramelized Peach Caprese Burger recipe.

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What Grilling Really Means in the Midwest and the South

Chef Thomas Boemer wants to set one assumption straight: Discussing Midwestern grilling in general is like lumping all Southern desserts together, from Key lime pie to beignets. You just can’t do it. And he’s an award-winning chef in Minnesota in particular, which is quite different from other parts of the region — besides his state’s obvious northern, lake-filled qualities.

“In Minnesota we consider it the North, so it’s kind of Game of Thrones here with winter. It’s one of coldest places in the United States,” the chef says.

But we’re going to generalize both for a moment, focusing on Minnesota, where Boemer runs the award-winning Corner Table and more casual Revival restaurants in Minneapolis, and North Carolina, where Boemer grew up.

We love to break the rules.

After all, Boemer was a James Beard Foundation semi-finalist for the 2016 and 2017 The Best Chef: Midwest category. In 2014 and 2015, Boemer also won both the Cochon555 Minneapolis Championship and the Grand Cochon Championship. The Cochon championships are a nationwide tour and culinary contest pitting five chefs against each other, cooking more than 30 dishes using whole locally-raised heritage breed pigs.

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So this chef handles not only the highest-quality meats using the best techniques, he handles a ton of it.

Boemer’s Corner Table easily goes through 100 pounds of house-made pork sausage a week, “and that’s a minimum,” he says. That number can double at peak times. In the spring, he and staff butcher two whole lambs and 30 ducks every week, and then one whole hog every two weeks.

At Revival, they’ll sell five to 10 whole briskets, four to eight pork shoulders, 750 to 1,000 piece of chicken, and racks upon racks (upon racks) of ribs — in a day. “That’s a lot of fried chicken,” Boemer says with a laugh. Among other things.

So if anyone’s going to give advice on grilling and barbecue, it should be Boemer. These are a few of this grill master’s most critical, easy-to-follow tips:

DON’T

The worst grilling sin is to grill at too low of a temperature. “People do not put enough charcoal in the grill,” Boemer says. “It’s not the best, most efficient, or most cost-effective way of grilling something.” When you really want to get that grilled flavor, it comes from two things: the char, and when those juices hit those super-hot coals and it creates a savory smoke that infuses the meat.

DO

Set zones on your grill. You always need a hot spot and a cooler part, “so you can get a really great sear, that carbonization, and then move it over to a cooler spot so you cook it all the way through; that’s how you maximize the texture.” When people do use really high heat, they then make the mistake of trying to cook the meat all the way through on that direct heat. And that, of course, leads to burning, or at least dry meat. That makes people like Boemer (and us) very sad.

DON’T

There’s no reason to ever use lighter fluid. Don’t even use charcoal with lighter fluid in it. And don’t use briquettes. Well, what should you use then? Look for natural lump charcoal. “It cooks more consistently and longer and with better flavor. You’ll get far superior flavor. Briquettes have a lot of fillers,” Boemer says.

DO

Experiment with rub mixtures. You can match your rub with your sides, such as choosing a Moroccan rub on grilled chicken served with couscous. A Southern rub on pork can come with slaw. “You can play with it,” he says.

So what about these regional American differences?

In the Midwest, or Minnesota at least, they think of it as grilling, Boemer says. In the South, they’re all about barbecue. “Here where it’s cold for a very long period of the year, as soon as it gets above 32 degrees, we get out there. We don’t waste any time here. We enjoy it,” Boemer says. It’s not uncommon to dig a pathway through the snow to the outdoor Weber grill.

In the northern Midwest, it’s about sausages: bratwurst, Polish kielbasa, and knockwurst served with garnishes. But people are branching out lately, grilling more vegetables and whole chickens, he says. The outdoors and hunting are huge in Minnesota, so venison sausages are popular. Everyone has their own blend of spices, but garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper are common. People will bring their animal to a butcher to prepare and then eat the cuts, including grinding some of it for sausage. Buy a natural casing from a whole-animal butcher for the best flavor, if possible. See our step-by-step instructions for making sausage.

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In the Carolinas, pork reigns. Often it’s a pork shoulder or a whole hog, cooked low and slow on the grill all day. Southerners are more excited about smoking your meat. The cooking process can take as little as three hours for ribs or as long as 24 hours for a whole brisket. “When it’s time to enjoy it with guests there, you just chop it up and you’re ready,” Boemer says. Generally, between 275 to 325 degrees Fahrenheit is the ideal temperature. The humidity in the environment can slow down the cooking time. “We call that the ‘stall,'” he says. People often serve vinegar-heavy sauces or coleslaws because the acidity cuts the richness of the fattier meat that you get with pork.

Boemer created three recipes for us to highlight these grilling and barbecue tips, fusing his expertise and Midwestern-Southern roots.

1. BBQ Pork Shoulder Sandwiches with Mustard Slaw

Thomas Boemer

That mustard-based barbecue sauce has the tang of cider vinegar, a signature Carolina move when it comes to smoking or grilling pork. The acidity of the vinegar is a welcome contrast to the fatty meat. Get our BBQ Pork Shoulder Sandwiches with Mustard Slaw recipe.

2. Toasts with Grilled Chicken Livers and Peach Agrodolce

Thomas Boemer

You grill the peaches too, along with the marinated chicken livers for a crunchy, creamy, juicy, smoky, sweet, and piquant bite that’s irresistible. Get our Toasts with Grilled Chicken Livers and Peach Agrodolce recipe.

3. Grilled Lamb Chops with Broccolini and Olive-Pistachio Sauce

Thomas Boemer

There are so many well-thought-out elements here that provide you with contrasting and complementing flavors. It’s lamb like you’ve never had it before. Get our Grilled Lamb Chops with Broccolini and Olive-Pistachio Sauce recipe.

For more recipes and tips, check out our grilling page.

Related Video: Smoked Barbecue Baby Back Ribs

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11 Make-Ahead Labor Day Recipes

Labor Day is the time to make the most of summer’s dwindling daylight and receding sense of freedom. One way to keep the chill of the past couple of months going: Plan a Labor Day picnic that lets you have fun, without the stress of last-minute cooking. Here are 11 delicious recipes you can make ahead, then haul to the party.

1. Easy Slow Cooker BBQ Brisket

Chowhound

Slow cookers, it seems, were made to deal with something like beef brisket, simmering it slowly until it renders into something tender and luscious. In this recipe, brown sugar, adobo sauce, Worcestershire, cider vinegar, and spices give it the picnic-appropriate appeal of good barbecue. Make it ahead and reheat. Get our Easy Slow Cooker BBQ Brisket recipe.

2. Muffaletta Pasta Salad

Chowhound

Think of it as a NOLA-driven, pasta-salad update on the old chef’s salad. Hear, chewy al dente pasta shells are tossed with salami, provolone, roasted red pepper, celery, pepperoncini, and two kinds of olives. A bold red wine vinaigrette ties everything together in style. Get our Muffaletta Pasta Salad recipe.

3. Broccoli Slaw

Chowhound

Bagged, pre-shredded broccoli slaw meets up with shredded green and purple cabbage in this healthy coleslaw twist with an uncanny ability to hold up as it sits. A dressing of vinaigrette and Greek-style yogurt—along with chewy additions of dried cranberries and walnuts—makes it interesting. Get our Broccoli Slaw recipe.

4. Classic Pesto Pasta Salad

Chowhound

A chewy, hold-up pasta shape (here, we’ve used penne rigate) is slathered in summer goodness. That means halved cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella balls, chopped basil, and a heaping cup of green basil pesto. Toss and let sit to allow the flavors to combine. Get our Classic Pesto Pasta Salad recipe.

5. Dill, Chickpea, and Feta Pasta Salad

Chowhound

Canned chickpeas and dense, chewy gemelli pasta gives this summer salad plenty of chew, and also, the ability to stand up over time. Toss these farinaceous elements with cucumber, feta, capers, chopped parsley and a dressing of white wine vinegar and olive oil. Get our Dill, Chickpea, and Feta Pasta Salad recipe.

6. Italian Tuna and Rice Salad

Chowhound

Two simple pantry items—oil-packed tuna and rice—form the backbone of this healthy and versatile salad. Stir in briny chopped olives, sweet sun-dried tomatoes, and tart vinegar and serve this salad over a bed of salad greens, stuffed into a pita, or rolled up in lavash for an easy Labor Day picnic dish. Get our Italian Tuna and Rice Salad recipe.

7. Slow Cooker Ranch Beans

Chowhound

Ranch-style beans are one of our favorite things at a picnic. Here, dried pinto beans are log simmered in the crockpot, with onion, tomato sauce, garlic, spices, cider vinegar, and brown sugar. They emerge rich, creamy-textured, and spicy. Get our Slow Cooker Ranch Beans recipe.

8. Carrot Slaw

Chowhound

Inspired by a French charcutier salad, this zesty, cool-looking mix of grated carrots and minced chives gets its vivid backbone from a dressing of Dijon mustard, olie oil, red wine vinegar, and orange zest. It gets better and better as it sits. Get our Carrot Slaw recipe.

9. Spicy Slow Cooker Chili

Chowhound

To start developing the flavors, sauté vegetables, ground beef, and spices, then put the mixture into the slow cooker along with tomatoes and kidney beans. Let the chili cook overnight or all day until it’s thickened and has a nice beefy flavor, then stir in jalapeños for a kick of heat. Get our Spicy Slow Cooker Chili recipe.

10. PBJ Bars

Chowhound

Everything we love about our favorite sandwich in bar form. Rolled oats and chunky peanut butter are mixed into a crumble that does double duty as both the bottom crust and a sweet, nutty topping. In between: a thick layer of chunky strawberry jam that bakes into a bubbly, fruity filling. Get our PBJ Bars recipe.

11. Herbed Potato Salad

This classic side dish is a must have at any summer party. Get our Herbed Potato Salad recipe.

Check out all of Labor Day recipes offered by Chowhound for more ideas to make your summer close-out the best ever.  Don’t forget to check out the advice, tips and suggestion our members have for Labor Day.

Related Video: How to Make Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

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How to Make Stuffed Tomatoes

A summer tomato is a thing of incomparable beauty. Even the gnarliest scarred heirloom of late August tastes divine, sweet and acidic and intensely like a tomato—entirely different from the bland specimens we make do with the rest of the year. But even when they’re not quite at their peak, roasting them is an easy way to concentrate their flavor. And stuffing them is a good move in any case.

My grandmother used to hollow out raw tomatoes and pack them with cheese, which was a simple and delicious summer snack I don’t revisit often enough. I should, because eating as many raw tomatoes as humanly possible is the closest I come to participating in a summer sport, but aside from making sandwiches, tossing them in salads, and devouring them right out of hand with a sprinkle of salt, it’s nice to find other ways to enjoy them. Really good raw tomatoes make great edible bowls for all sorts of things, from tuna salad to Texas caviar. You don’t really need a recipe for them, but the basic steps are as follows:

1. Pick tomatoes that are large enough to easily work with even once you cut the tops off, and that sit relatively flat so they don’t roll all over the place. (That said, you can totally stuff tiny cherry tomatoes if you don’t mind the tedium!)

2. Peel them if you prefer. This is completely optional, but if you’re sensitive to the skins, cut a small x into the bottom of each tomato, gently drop them into a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, then lift them out with a slotted spoon into a bowl of ice water. The skins should slip right off. This makes handling the tomatoes a more delicate operation, so be extra careful not to puncture their sides, and don’t stuff in too much filling lest it pull a Kool-Aid Man and burst right through. If you’re baking the tomatoes after stuffing them, skip this step, since the skin will help hold them together but be easy to peel away from each tomato once they’re cooked.

3. Carve the tops off and scoop the insides out. Think of each tomato as a mini pumpkin; you can slice the top clean off (in which case, save the “hats” for A+ presentation), but if you want to keep more of the tomato intact, carve out a plug shape with a sharp paring knife, making it larger than the natural scar from where the stem was attached, but stopping short of the total circumference of the fruit. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and discard them (or save them to use as “tomato caviar”), being careful not to scrape too deep. You may need to use your knife to cut through the inner membranes attached to the walls of the tomato first if your spoon isn’t, er, cutting it—but again, be gentle. Set the hollow tomatoes upside down on paper towels to drain the juice, or if it’s too tasty to waste, drain them over a rack set on a rimmed baking sheet so you can collect the nectar and add it to sauces, dressings, or drinks.

4. Stuff them! Use your spoon to gently pack in whatever filling sounds good to you, from herb-flecked cream cheese to raw corn and avocado. Or go with cooked ground beef or turkey, and/or cooked rice or quinoa, even crack an egg in there (if you’re baking them).

5. Bake them if you want to. While stuffed raw tomatoes are perfect during peak season, cooked stuffed tomatoes taste great even when the star ingredient isn’t all that stellar (but even better if they are ripe, of course). If you want to bake them, especially if you’re using wan winter tomatoes, roast the tomato “shells” on their own for about 10 minutes, then stuff them and finish baking, to ensure they soften and intensify in flavor. Sprinkling salt and pepper inside the tomato cavity before stuffing doesn’t hurt either.

Check out some of these delicious ways to enjoy stuffed tomatoes.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Tomatoes

Peas and Crayons

My grandma had the right idea; stuffing sweet, acidic raw tomatoes with any cheese is fantastic, especially if it’s soft and tangy. This version adds toasted panko and parsley to the sharp, creamy goat cheese filling, with a touch of honey to mellow it out a bit. Get the recipe.

Fresh Stuffed Tomatoes with Avocado Egg Salad and Bacon

The Healthy Foodie

Another great filling for raw stuffed tomatoes? Basically any salad, especially if it’s creamy. This egg salad uses avocado in place of mayo and adds crisp bacon and asparagus, but they’re really optional. (The asparagus more so than the bacon…) Get the recipe.

Roasted Stuffed Heirloom Tomatoes with Goat Cheese and Thyme

Running to the Kitchen

Moving on to cooked stuffed tomatoes, cheese is still a fabulous filling option. Here, goat cheese, crème fraîche, and thyme get beautifully gooey, with a sprinkle of garlic butter breadcrumbs for crisp contrast. This is definitely a lovely way to honor the last heirlooms of the season. Get the recipe.

Roasted Corn and Basil Stuffed Tomatoes

Pinch of Yum

Sweet corn is another summer superstar, and it makes a great partner to tomatoes, especially with fresh basil and cheese as supporting players. Cooked brown rice adds enough heft to make these a meal with a green salad on the side. Get the recipe.

Tofu Stuffed Tomatoes

Red House Spice

You’ve probably never had stuffed tomatoes like this—they’re steamed, for one thing, and filled with tofu, shiitakes, and ginger, with a sweet and sour sauce that cleverly utilizes the tomato seeds and juice, so nothing is wasted! Get the recipe.

Greek Stuffed Tomatoes

Heather Christo

Rice-stuffed tomatoes are always delicious. You can add beef to the mix if you wish, but either way, don’t skimp on the herbs. Tossing cubes of potato in the pan is a smart move too, since they soak up some of the juice. Get the recipe.

Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Tomatoes

The Veg Life

This recipe happens to be vegan, but you can use traditional cream cheese and sour cream if you prefer; either way, you get what is basically spinach artichoke dip-stuffed tomatoes, complete with crunchy crumbs on top. Get the recipe.

Southwest Mac and Cheese Stuffed Tomatoes

Weary Chef

You truly can stuff a tomato with anything, including pasta, from spaghetti to macaroni. If you have leftover homemade mac and cheese, try scooping it into tomatoes and baking it, or make a quick batch of the stovetop stuff doctored up with spices and black beans before stuffing and baking away. Get the recipe.

Related Video: How to Peel Tomatoes

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