This luscious peach salad with mozzarella is simple and delicious- perfect for summer entertaining. Marinating the peaches in nutmeg and verjuice makes this salad truly sensational.
This salad features beautiful summer peaches that have been soaked in verjuice and nutmeg. The perfumed peaches are a good match for the creamy mozzarella and peppery rocket.
A salad that is so good that you will want to keep it in your salad repertoire and make it again and again. It pairs well with almost anything but especially with white meats or gamey meats such as duck. Try it with…
Some substitutions for your peach salad
This can be a versatile salad that you can make with pretty much any stone fruit, any green and any white soft cheese. I have included some ideas for substitutions for you.
Peaches
We have used sweet peaches in this salad which can easily be replaced with similar stone fruits such as nectarines or plums.
Rocket (arugula)
Rocket or arugula provides a nice peppery note to this salad, but feel free to substitute with any substantial greens such as baby spinach or cos (romaine) lettuce, even massaged kale or silverbeet would work well here.
Mozzarella
We have used one large buffalo mozzarella ball that we have cut into slices for this salad but a whole burrata would be absolutely sensational as it is wonderfully creamy.
You could also try bocconcini or baby bocconcini as they are so similar.
For some bite and tang, try a creamy goats cheese or feta.
Mint
As an alternative to your mint, you could also try some summer basil.
Verjuice
Verjuice is made from the juice of unfermented grapes. Used it as a gentle acidulent wherever you might find lemon juice or vinegar too tart.
As a replacement, I suggest rice vinegar or 2 tablespoons of either lemon juice or dry white wine vinegar with ¼ teaspoon of honey for the sweetness needed in this recipe.
How to make this salad
1To marinate the peaches…
Wash your peaches, cut them in half and remove the pit. Then slice thinly with a sharp knife. Wash your mint, pat dry, pick the leaves from the stems and roughly chop. Freshly grate your nutmeg.
Put the peaches, mint leaves, nutmeg and verjuice in a shallow dish and mix gently until combined. Let stand for 15 minutes to marinate and allow the flavours to develop.
THINLY SLICE YOUR PEACHES MARINATE YOUR PEACHES
2To make the salad…
Wash your rocket (arugula), remove any damaged or wilted leaves, shake then either pat dry with a towel or spin dry in a salad spinner to remove excess water. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
Drain your mozzarella ball and slice it into quarters.
WASH & DRY YOUR ROCKET DRAIN & SLICE YOUR MOZARELLA
3To assemble your salad
Add the peach mixture and the rocket to a mixing bowl, add the olive oil, season with salt and pepper, then toss gently.
Taste and adjust flavourings according to your taste adding more verjuice, nutmeg or salt and pepper as you feel is necessary (this will depend on how sweet or tart your peaches are).
Arrange in a salad bowl and serve immediately.
ADD INGREDIENTS TO A BOWL TOSS GENTLY UNTIL COMBINED
Explore some more of our stone fruit recipes…
ROCKET SALAD WITH RAW APRICOTS & FETA MIXED LEAF & CHERRY SALAD
Equipment
- Salad Spinner
Ingredients
For the nectarines…
- 3 peaches (approximately 400 grams)
- ¼ cup mint leaves (approximately 3 stems)
- 1 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated)
- 5 tbsps verjuice
For the salad…
- 90 grams baby rocket (arugula) (approximately 3 cups)
- 4 tbsps olive oil
- 125 grams mozzarella (1 large mozzrella ball)
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper
- Mint leaves to garnish
Instructions
- Wash your peaches, cut them in half, remove the pit and slice thinly.
- Wash your mint, pat dry, pick the leaves from the stems and roughly chop. Freshly grate your nutmeg.
- Place the peaches, mint leaves, nutmeg and verjuice in a shallow dish and mix gently until combined. Let stand for 15 minutes.
- Wash and dry your rocket (arugula), then slice your mozzarella ball.
- Put all your ingredients to a mixing bowl, season and toss gently. Taste and adjust seasonings and flavourings according to your taste.
- Arrange in a salad platter or bowl and serve immediately.
Notes
- If you can’t find verjuice you may substitute with white wine vinegar adding a little melted honey depending on how sweet or tart your nectarines are.
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