Grilled Peaches with Ras Al Hanout and Ginger Beer Reduction

This sounds fancy but is actually a slam dunk to make, especially if you use a packaged spice mixture. The combination of sweet, pungent and spicy is pretty addictive. You could serve it as an appetizer or as part of a light dinner with a salad or a meze. It seems like it would enjoy a nice assertive piece of cheese. (Tip: if you have trouble skinning the peaches, these relatively new serrated peelers are excellent on soft foods).

Grilled Peaches with Ras Al Hanout and Ginger Beer Reduction
Serves 4

1 bottle of Ginger Beer (Reed‘s is nice)
1 T Ras Al Hanout spice mixture, pre-made or make your own
4 ripe peaches, peeled and cut into thirds
Sea salt (Red Hawaaian Alaea salt works well here)

1. Put the ginger beer in a saucepan with a pinch of (kosher, not Alaea) salt and bring to a boil, then lower heat and reduce until syrupy
2. Give the Ras Al Hanout a quick, low toast in a skillet to bring out the flavors
3. Heat a grill pan (or grill), and grill the peaches for about 30 seconds on each side. You want to get some nice grill marks and heat them through, but not turn them to mush.
4. To serve, put about 1.5 T of the syrup on a rimmed plate, put down 3 peach pieces, and sprinkle with a healthy teaspoon of the Ras Al Hanout, or more if you like. Distribute a pinch of the sea salt and serve.

Obviously there is lots of room for improvisation with this dish. Here are some other ideas:

– use a different stone fruit (nectarines would rock)
– use a different spice mixture (how about Chat Masala? Or Dukkah?)
– use a different sauce (make your own ginger sauce, or pomegranate molasses, or a fine balsamic, or something with honey)
– use a different salt (Maldon (aka the world’s greatest salt) is always nice)