Serves 6

Ingredients:
6 small apricots, washed, halved and pitted
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Tbsp honey
4 sprigs lemon thyme or regular thyme
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat grill. In a small bowl mix the honey, thyme sprigs, melted butter, salt and pepper. Set aside. Brush the apricot halves with the olive oil and grill, cut side down, until they are just softened and have caramelized grill marks, about 3 minutes. Immediately toss into the bowl with the honey, thyme and butter and let marinate at room temperature until ready to serve. Use as a garnish for grilled pork chops.

Serves 6; recipe by Courtney McDonald

Ingredients:
-6 NY strip steaks or ribeyes
-1/2 cup olive oil
-6 cloves garlic, smashed
-1 shallot, sliced
-2 sprigs rosemary
-2 Tbsp red wine

-4 large heirloom tomatoes, sliced ¼ inch thick
-4 ounces salty blue cheese, such as Bleu d’Auvergne or Roquefort
-1 small red onion or torpedo onion, sliced ¼ inch thick
-1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
-2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
-salt and pepper, to taste

2 hours ahead of cooking time, marinate the steaks – in a large ziplock bag, place ½ cup olive oil, 3 cloves smashed garlic, the sliced shallot, 2 sprigs rosemary and the red wine. Add the steaks and refrigerate for 2 hours to marinate.
Preheat grill. Brush the red onion slices with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill onions until slightly softened and beginning to caramelize, about 1 minute on each side. On a large platter, lay out the tomato slices in a shingled pattern. Crumble the blue cheese evenly on top, then layer the grilled red onion on top of that. Crush the basil leaves and sprinkle over the platter to garnish. Drizzle the tomatoes with the olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside while grilling the steaks.
Remove the steaks from the marinade and season with salt and pepper. Grill to desired doneness and let rest 10 minutes before serving. Serve alongside the tomato platter.

Cat­e­gory: Side Dish

Plac­er­Grown ingre­di­ents used: Strawberries

Served with these Plac­er­Grown Prod­ucts: Strawberries

Ingre­di­ents:

• 2 pounds large-sized firm strawberries
• 2 table­spoons butter
• ½ cup vanilla syrup
• Soaked bam­boo skewers

Instruc­tions:
Pre­heat grill to medium heat. Make sure grate is well oiled. Thread straw­ber­ries onto skew­ers, about 4–6 berries per serv­ing. Arrange on pat­ter or bak­ing sheet. Warm but­ter and syrup together in a small skil­let placed on the edge of the grill, and stir until but­ter melts. Brush berries well with syrup mix­ture. Trans­fer kebabs to grill. Cook for 6 to 8 min­utes, turn­ing occa­sion­ally to grill on all sides until ten­der the juices are ooz­ing. If you wish, driz­zle with more syrup and serve on a bed of fresh mint.