What does summer mean to you? Summer to me means fresh produce, stone fruit and berries galore, lots of vegetables, and access to all possible colors at the farmer’s market. Visiting the market is eye candy! The heaps and piles of peaches, nectarines, pluots and cherries, and baskets of strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, make me so happy! I crave light, refreshing salads during summer, using all the local, seasonal produce.
I make a grilled peach and burrata salad every year, but this year I decided to notch it up a bit. I used all ingredients from the farmer’s market, except the burrata and the hazelnuts. I grilled up peaches and nectarines brushed with orange blossom honey, and grilled red onions as well. Then came a bed of arugula, with the grilled peaches and nectarines, pluots, cherries, heirloom cherry tomatoes, grilled red onions, burrata, chopped hazelnuts and basil leaves, with a final sprinkle of black pepper.
For the dressing, I used Nectarine and Star Anise Jam, from Jam Lab, with balsamic vinegar(or glaze), olive oil, salt and pepper. Its a sweet and tangy dressing that goes so well with this salad! This is summer on a platter!
If you do make this recipe, it would be great if you could tag #thejamlab on Instagram, and/or comment in the below blog post of how you liked the recipe!
Enjoy summer you lovely people!
XO
Amisha
Ingredients
- 2 Nectarines halved with seed removed
- 2 Peaches halved with seed removed
- 2 Pluots halved with seed removed
- 6-8 pitted cherries and halved
- 8-10 heirloom cherry tomatoes halved(in various colors)
- 1 small red onion halved and thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped hazelnuts
- 5-6 basil leaves (chiffonade - thin slivers)
- 1 cup burrata
- 4-5 cups of arugula
- 1/4 cup orange blossom honey or any good local honey
For the dressing:
- 2 tablespoons of Nectarine and Star Anise Jam(from Jam Lab) or honey
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- For the salad, on a platter, lay out the washed arugula evenly.
- Set up a grill pan on high heat. Gently brush the peaches and nectarine halves with the honey. Lay them gently on the grill and let it grill for about a minute or so. Do not check on it, else it wont get the perfect grill marks. Check after a minute to see the grill marks. Let it rest on a plate or cutting board, the grilled side up. Now, add a little olive oil to the pan(about 2 tablespoons), and grill the red onions for 2-3 minutes until soft yet crisp to be able to bite into it. Let it cool.
- Gently scatter the grilled red onions on top of the arugula first. Gently place the grilled peaches and nectarines next. Place the cherry tomatoes, cherries, pluots next. Sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts all over the salad. Next add the burrata in pieces all over the salad. Top with the chiffonade of basil leaves. Sprinkle the entire salad with black pepper. The salad is ready.
For the dressing:
- Add all the ingredients in a medium glass bottle. Cover it with the lid and shake away till it is all well mixed. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and enjoy!
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