When I think about the one food item that I could not give up, I am most certain that would be cheese. I love it all, just about aged everything, a good Havarti, anything creamy, and most especially blues! So when my friends at Castello invited me to come down to Napa Valley for a few days and spend some time wine and cheese tasting, that was an easy YES!

Over the trip we toured the beautiful Trinchero Family Estates, sampling their wines and learning about food and wine pairings. It was unbelievably educational trying each wine with something sweet, something salty, and something acidic to see what the impact would be on the taste of the wine.

And then, after sampling all the wine, began the cheese eating fest. The incredibly talented and funny Michael Symon led us through how he likes to pair the Castello cheeses. From combining them with honey, to jam, to meats, mustards even espresso! Which then led us into a epic scene of building our own cheese boards with all of the most beautiful food from nuts, olives, fruits, honey, meats, everything you want to devour at a dinner party.

When Castello asked me to put together a recipe, I knew that I wanted something that was easy for summer nights. Taking only a few ingredients that really let the flavors and texture of the Traditional Danish Blue cheese shine through. And topping it with summers best peaches that have been lightly poached and tossed with olive oil, honey and lemon juice. Adding a handful of small, light greens and topping it with more juices. This served alongside a glass Folie à Deux Zinfandel is the perfect summer meal.

Blue Cheese Toast with Summer Peaches
serves 2

4 slices of thick crust bread
6 tablespoons olive oil
pinch of flaky salt + freshly ground pepper
2 large peaches
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon honey
6 ounces Castello Traditional Danish Blue Cheese, room temperature
1 cup small greens (shoots, purslane, baby arugula)

Preheat oven to 425. Slice crusted bread about 1/2” thick. Drizzle 4 slices with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and top with flaky salt. Place bread slices in oven for 4-6 minutes until golden and toasted. Remove from the oven and spread with cheese.

While the bread is toasting, bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Take the 2 peaches and score an X on the bottom. Once the water has come to a boil drop the peaches into the water. Leave in the water from 1-3 minutes. Begin checking at 1 minute to see if the skin is beginning to peel back from where you scored the x. Remove the peaches from the boiling water and set aside until cool.

In a medium size bowl, combine the 4 tablespoons of oil, lemon juice and honey, and season with salt and pepper. Once the peaches are cool, remove the peel and cut the peaches into wedges. Add the peach wedges into the bowl of honey lemon juice and toss together.

Using a slotted spoon place the peached on top of the blue cheese toast. Toss the fresh greens into the leftover honey lemon juice and then top the peaches with the greens. Season with freshly ground pepper and flaky salt. If needed add a teaspoon of juices over top of each toast and serve.