Grilled Peaches with a Sweet Raspberry Sauce (Grilled Peach Melba)

Who says vegans can’t have fun at a barbecue?

It isn’t all about the balsamic grilled portobellos..  although they are delicious.

Please don’t turn off your barbecue too early.  Let me tell you that it should involve dessert, too.

At my latest barbecue gathering, I experimented with grilling fruit. No stranger to roasting fruit (remember the roasted strawberry balsamic dressing?), grilling them also brings out their natural sweetness.

With the first Ontario peaches rolling off the trees, I was excited to try these grilled peaches with a sweet raspberry sauce. Super simple. Mash some raspberries and mix with some lemon juice and a touch of sweetener. Let the peaches marinade for a bit, then grill. Top with more fresh raspberries and drizzle with the remainder of the sauce. Easy, peasypeachy and so much more than the sum of its parts. Granted, local summer fruit is already pretty spectacular but this definitely brings it up a notch.

I was drawn to this recipe mainly because of the fresh fruit but when my Mom ate it, she said it was similar to Peach Melba. Not sure what Peach Melba was all about, I had to look it up. Named after Nellie Melba, an opera singer, the dessert was invented in 1892. An ice sculpture of a swan sat overtop vanilla ice cream and carried caramelized peaches and spun sugar. A later version in 1900 included a raspberry puree. I am not making any dessert to look like a swan, thank you very much! ;)

A typical peach melba recipe has one boil peaches in a sugar syrup to accentuate its sweetness. I say forget those 3.5 cups of white sugar and resort to grilling instead! Peaches already possess all the sweetness you need: you just have to gently coax it out of them. Next time, I definitely plan on eating this overtop some banana soft-serve ice cream!

This is my submission to Ricki and Amie’s Backyard Barbecue Event, to this week’s Wellness Weekend, to this month’s One Ingredient challenge for peaches, to this week’s Potluck Party, and to Cookbooks Sundays.

Grilled Balsamic Mushroom and Quinoa Salad with Walnuts

Uh, oh. I have become predictable.

Being invited for a BBQ = time for Garlic-Thyme Balsamic Roasted Portobello Mushrooms!

Any time of day, grilled portobello mushrooms fit with the theme. Rob and I went to a post-wedding brunch where the new father-in-law was cooking eggs and sausages on the barbecue. I knew this man must be a barbecue connoisseur, so I left my marinaded mushrooms with him. Do not lose the marinade, I told him, because it was going to be my salad dressing, too.

I was shocked when he returned with beautifully plump mushrooms with even more marinade. He turned my barbecue skills upside down. Instead of doing a continuous grilling on a random side of the mushroom, he started grilling gill side down. Next, he flipped them gill side up to finish them off. The juices from the mushrooms pooled in the middle of the mushrooms. Ingenious. No, really, I was so impressed. (Never mind scrambled eggs on the barbecue…)

In any case, portobello mushrooms alone do not make a meal, so instead of a garlic white bean puree, I opted to add quinoa and toasted walnuts for crunch. This way, you do not lose any of the fabulous garlic-thyme-balsamic marinade and you get a filling meal that is also great as leftovers. Because, yes, it is very sad. I do not like to share my mushrooms. They are just too good. ;)

What are your favourite vegan things to make on the barbecue? I think I need a bigger variety of barbecue tricks! Here are our current barbecue tricks:

Grilled Rosemary Garlic Corn
Rob’s Grilled Pineapple with Lime and Chile Flakes
Lemon Asparagus Quinoa Toss
Dragon Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Vegetables and a Miso Gravy
Wheat Berry Salad with Pomegranate-Roasted Vegetables

Here are some other recipes I have bookmarked:

BBQ Tempeh Kabobs from Making Love in the Kitchen
Peruvian Seitan Skewers from Viva Vegan
Coconut and Lime Grilled Kale from Kitchen Operas
Grilled Corn and Tomatoes with Vegan Tonnato Sauce from Food & Wine
Portobello Salad with Spicy Mustard Dressing from Veganomicon

This is my submission to this week’s Summer Salad Sundays, to this week’s Weekend Wellness and to Deb for this week’s Souper Sundays.