Peaches with Melted Bûcheron

The project at hand is to make a 30-minute express meal. (See IHCC for details.) The clock is ticking. Time is a blur. I wonder how our shortened attention span has shortchanged our way of life.

Prep time for a simple salad can take up precious minutes. Thirty minutes cooking in the microwave seems like eternity. That’s for leftovers. Thirty minutes in a slow cooker is a different game; you are hardly getting to first base. What does a thirty-minute express dish entail? I went with the broiler for an instant treat. (A blow torch would work equally well.) I am making grilled peach with Bûcheron. It’s quick.

The peach season is here. The peak-season peaches last only a few weeks in our area. Each year, I look forward to and enjoy the white peaches, especially. Peach is believed to be a blessed fruit in China and Japan, symbolizing longevity and immortality. It is the antithesis of quick.

I also know someone who loves these white peaches as much as I do — Ms. L, my former high-school teacher. She has moved into an assisted living facility a few years ago. I have to admit these facilities are not among my favorite places to visit. And the food, what can I say about the food — they are marginal, at best. More often than not, institutional and uninspiring. Come peach season, the sight of plume, blemish-free and good-looking white ones would remind me it’s time to get Ms. L. a box of her favorite fruits. She’d eat one peach each day or share them with friends. Some go missing at times. Just dropped off a box for her. The smile on her face says it all: A peach, for what it symbolizes, is much to be cherished.

I’d like to find more ways to eat and highlight the white peaches, as dessert or side. Curtis Stone has just the right one: a grilled peach recipe with Bûcheron, a soft goat cheese from France’s Loire Valley. Bûcheron is unique in its log shape and wide diameter, the right size to cover the peach halves. The rind is edible and gets softened by broiling. Bûcheron has a lot of character, depth of flavor, but more granular.

I also tried the recipe with a slice of Brie. Brie works just fine, much milder in flavor than Bûcheron. Brie melts faster and it’s creamier and less pricey. Less fancy. In the end, it’s all about taste and texture. Any good melting cheese that you like would suffice. Cheese lends a savory taste to the sweetness of ripe peaches.

Consider chilling the peach before putting it under the broiler and eat it right away. The combination of the hot melted cheese with the cold fruit makes the dish even more memorable. This recipe takes minutes from start to finish. No worry about the clock.

Peach half with melted Brie