Peaches and blueberries on a burger? You better believe it. Delicious!

With freshly painted toenails I was seated in the pedicurist’s chair when I saw it—a recipe for Turkey Burger with Peaches and Blueberries. Thumbing through a Better Homes and Gardens magazine while I waited for my toes to dry, I got so excited I almost leaped off the chair—wet toes and all—and flew home to try it.

Peaches and blueberries on a turkey burger? In my refrigerator are five huge plastic containers of peeled and chopped peaches—waiting for my planned weekend cook-a-thon to fold them into pies, cobblers, preserves, and other delicacies. Peaches I have. But the delight of this recipe is that it combined peaches with blueberries, another of my favorite things, as a topping and called for creating the burger by mixing chopped peaches with ground turkey and serving with Monterey Jack cheese on top. Would this actually work? Do people actually do things such as this? I had to see.

The recipe called for adding 1/4 teaspoon chili powder to 1/2 cup blueberries and three chopped peaches to make a burger topping that cooks until the fruit is tender. What would chili powder do to this fruit mixture? Furthermore it called for Monterey Jack cheese to be placed as a layer between the grilled burger and the fruit—atop a slice of toasted garlic bread. Whoa! An oddball assortment if one ever existed.

But it worked. The Southwest flavors of the Monterey Jack cheese, chili powder, and garlic in the bread served as a perfect counter for the sweetness of the fruit. Hubby said the fruit atop the thick bread reminded him of his growing-up mornings when his mother sent the kids off to school with steaming fruit (peaches, strawberries, or applesauce) over hot biscuits in their bellies.

Best of all the recipe was what BH&G touted it to be—30 minutes prep time start to finish—a good thing since my late-afternoon nails appointment made me a tad late getting home to start dinner.

2011 peach crop—I’m onto you with this, the first of many great concoctions from this year’s orchard yield.

Turkey Burger with Peaches and Blueberries

4 small peaches

1 pound ground turkey

salt (or salt substitute) and pepper

4 slices Monterey Jack cheese (I used shredded)

1/2 cup blueberries

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

4 thick slices roasted garlic country bread or garlic bread, toasted if desired

fresh mint

Finely chop one of the peaches; add ground turkey, salt (or salt substitute), and pepper. Shape into four 1/2-inch-thick patties. You may need to dampen your hands before you shape the burgers. Grill burgers directly over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until no pink remains (165-degrees F). Add cheese; cover and cook one minute more. Meanwhile coarsely chop remaining peaches; in a large skillet combine peaches with blueberries and 1/4 teaspoon chili powder. Cook fruit mixture, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes or until heated through and the mixture begins to have juices form. Top each piece of garlic bread with one patty and some of the peach mixture. Add mint and additional chili powder. Makes 4 servings.