I don't cook a lot. I can cook and not half bad actually. I bake as well. I can follow a recipe with the best of them. But by the time I get home from work, walk the dog, feed the dog and have a moment to sit down I'm over it. I usually won't eat dinner, will get take out or eat a bag of freeze dried fruit/veggies (which I will inevitably have to share with the dog). I've started being better about this recently though and have been making brussel sprouts, steamed broccoli and fish or some other quick meal.
Recently I have discovered that I LOVE grilled/broiled peaches. Also I have an insane amount of lemon balm growing in my little container garden and I made a pesto-type of sauce with it one night. Both were inspiration for this recipe.
Ingredients:
1 lb of pasta - your choice but something tubular is better for this than spaghetti. I made it once with whole wheat and once with regular - either works fine.
1 lemon - we're going to use the juice and some zest
1 cup of finely chopped lemon balm. I have no idea if you can buy this anywhere. I bought a plant and it grows like a weed/mint in a container.
3 peaches
Olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
Pancetta
Creamy Goat Cheese
This took be about 40 minutes from start to the finish but I was doing some stuff at the same time.
First you want to put the water on to boil. I have a big pot so it takes some time.
Next cut up the peaches. I just sliced mine into wedges (there are only two here but I felt it wasn't enough and one or even two more was needed). Then brush them with some olive oil. Put the peaches on the broiler (I don't have a grill but that would work fine too). I set my broiler to a low setting and checked on them every few minutes.
Next I started chopping up my lemon balm. This takes some time. I divided it into thirds and just went to town.
Also dice three cloves of garlic.
Put some olive oil in a pan and heat it up. Then you add the pancetta. I didn't measure this I just put a small handful in. If you don't like meat you can leave this out. I like the little bit of crunch it gave the pasta. I then put in the garlic and let it get a little brown and stirring it up. Remove from heat when done.
Pour the garlic/oil/pancetta combo in a big bowl.
Your peaches should be done by now - I let mine get a little brown on the outside. Throw those in the bowl too.
Now put in your lemon balm and three to four tablespoons of olive oil.
Add the juice or one lemon and the lemon zest of one lemon.
Your pasta should almost be done too. Drain and add to the bowl. I like to add half and then mix and then add the second half so that everything gets coated in the sauce.
I served into my bowl and put the creamy goat cheese on top. I used creamy goat cheese because that's what I had. You could use burrata mozzarella, crumbly goat cheese, feta or even plain old parmesan. Or no cheese at all (which is how I ate the left overs).
This was yummy hot and the next day as a pasta salad. If you want to be fancy I would put some peaches to the side and arrange on top of the bowl or each serving. I found that my kitchen smelled very nutty after making this despite the fact that there were no nuts in the recipe!
P.S. Grilled peaches are also delicious with some prosciutto, arugula, and burata mozzarella on bread!
