We are a home, divided. A home divided over cooked peaches.

I know it sounds stupid but last week Matt wrote the Peach & Serrano Margarita post and said, "cooked peaches are heinous," and I'm like, still kind of hurt. You live with someone for years and watch them eat so much food and you laugh while making salads or some gay stuff like that and then all of the sudden they're like, "cooked peaches are heinous" and everything changes.

I'm being v dramatic and to be honest at the time of writing this post I still haven't actually addressed the issue with him personally, but I will say that it struck a chord with me. You can only imagine my happiness when I made this roasted peach salad and fed it to him he said "yummmonomNOMNOMNomnomskjfafhelp!" so he's either lying about not liking cooked peaches or he just hasn't had a cooked peach done right. I don't know!

Unlike that guy, I've always loved cooked peaches covered in cream, ice cream, coconut milk, or in this case, goat cheese. This dish roasts figs and peaches, chills them, and then layers them in mounds of tomatoes, basil, goat cheese, and a little vinegar and it's all so creamy and sweet and mild and mmmmm.

Other things you can do with roasted or cooked peaches:

Touch them and giggle, they're very squishy in a weirdly enjoyable way.
Peach Braised Chicken Thighs holy shit be still my v cold heart.
Bourbon Peach French Toast UGH UGH yaaas
Make Peach Tartlets that are so cute it's kind of like when you want to eat your baby but you gently bite it's cheek instead (but you can like actually eat this one).

Anyway, I'm going to go bury myself in mounds of roasted peaches and giggle and squeal until our neighbors are both concerned and uncomfortable but it's fine because they keep waking us up at 4 a.m. with noises that makes us feel the same way. On that note, bye cuties!

Roasted White Peach & Fig Salad

Serves 2

3 large unripe* white peaches, halved
5 - 7 large figs, halved
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup shredded basil
1/2 T red pepper flakes
1/2 T red wine vinegar
A few tablespoons of olive oil, for drizzling
Salt, Pepper

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees.
Place cut figs and peaches into a roasting pan, cut side facing up, and drizzle with about two tablespoons of olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.
Roast for about 25 - 30 minutes, until a fork easily penetrates the peaches.
Remove from oven and place the fruit in a heat-safe bowl. Let come to room temperature before placing in the refrigerator to chill. (You can expedite this whole process by throwing them into a heat-safe Tupperware and placing in the freezer for like 20 minutes. I know some folks don't like putting hot food into fridge or freezer, so it's up to you!).
Once the peaches and figs are chilled, cut them into desired shapes. I'd recommend cutting the peaches into four slices and the figs in two.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cherry tomatoes, basil, red pepper flakes, and vinegar. Add the fruit and toss it all together.
Place into serving bowls and top with goat cheese and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Serve as an appetizer or as part of a light lunch!

*This recipe calls for unripe peaches, mostly because roasting very ripe peaches makes them super mushy and gushy and less fun and in my opinion, a little too sweet for this dish. But hey, you do you.