This is the Peach Salad I make most often that makes an appearance all through summer! Sweet, juicy peaches go so well with peppery rocket, salty creamy pops of feta, a sprinkling of walnuts and the nutty orange Poppyseed Dressing is just the perfect finishing touch.

After a (very!) extended water break, the inaugural Holiday Salad Marathon has resumed! Today – making the most of juicy summer peaches (again):

#19: Peach Salad II with Poppyseed Dressing

Peach Salad I is my luxe peach salad which involves Prosciutto and fresh mozzarella. It’s a stunner, but it’s practically a centrepiece in itself. In fact, I’ve done single serving size portions as appetisers – it’s wonderful!

This Peach Salad II is my staple Peach Salad that makes an appearance all through summer alongside “everything”. The combination just works really well together – peppery fresh rocket with juicy sweet peaches, creamy salty pops of Danish feta (or Persian marinated feta, if you’re feeling generous) drizzled with a nutty orange infused Poppyseed Dressing.

Fresh and simple but also a little bit spesh!

What goes in Peach Salad II

Here’s what you need for Peach Salad II:

I tend to be a little heavy handed on the peaches vs the greens. I just can’t help it – they’re here for such a short time, I can’t resist making the most of them!

• Ripe peaches – if they aren’t ripe, it defeats the purpose. Don’t make this salad! And no, canned peaches are just not the same. OK for desserts. Not for salad. Sorry folks!

• Rocket/arugula – the peppery leaves and the perky shape makes it an ideal leafy green base for the juicy slices of peaches. With softer leafy greens like baby spinach, the peach slices just weigh them down / sink to the base of the bowl;

• Walnuts – for a touch of nutty warm crunch. You know I love my textures in salads!

• Feta – creamy pops of salty goodness, works so well with juicy sweet peaches.

Orange Poppyseed Dressing

And here’s what you need for the Poppyseed Dressing:

The poppyseed brings a touch of lovely nuttiness to the flavour as well as looking quite striking when you see it drizzled across the bright orange peach slices!

What to serve with Peach Salad II

Think – all things summer! Anything you throw on the BBQ, bright summery mains or as part of a salad spread, something I’ve been doing more of in recent years for casual lunch gatherings.

Here are some suggestions:

BBQ Mains

Fire up the grill!

Huli Huli Chicken (Hawaiian Tropical Chicken)

Greek Butterflied Lamb Leg

Crispy Grilled Shrimp (Prawns) with Lemon Garlic Butter

Marinated Grilled Salmon

Sticky Grilled Chicken

Lemon Garlic Marinated Grilled Pork Chops

Incredible BBQ Grilled Vegetables – marinated!

BBQ Recipes

Summery Main Dishes

Quick cook, summery mains.

Acqua Pazza – Italian Poached Fish

Chicken Burger!

Garlic Prawns (Shrimp)

Lime Chicken (marinade – great for grilling!)

Crispy Pan Fried Fish

Rosemary Garlic Grilled Lamb Chops

Beef Steak Marinade

Salad Spread

For 4 – 6 people, I usually do 3 salads, choosing a variety of colours, textures and flavours. I usually opt for one with a starch in it, then I also add a side of bread, wraps or something along those lines.

Pomegranate Salad & Holiday Salad Marathon!

Prawn Mango Avocado Summer Salad

Wild Rice Salad

Lentil and Roasted Eggplant Salad

Mediterranean Brown Rice Salad

Greek Marinated Chickpea Salad

Celebration Salmon Salad

Meal-size salads

Peach season is so short. Let’s make the most of the time we have left! – Nagi x

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Peach Salad II with Orange Poppyseed Dressing

This is my go-to Peach Salad, the one that makes an appearance alongside everything all summer long! The combination of flavours in this just works so well together – juicy sweet peaches, peppery rocket, creamy salty pops of feta, soft crunch of walnuts and a nutty poppyseed dressing with a hint of orange flavour.

(PS In case you are wondering, Peach Salad I is my luxe version involving fresh mozzarella and prosciutto. It's practically a centrepiece in itself!)

Course Side Salad

Cuisine Western

Keyword orange poppyseed dressing, peach salad, Summer Salad

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 6 – 6 people

Calories 232cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

Salad:

• 120g/ 4oz baby rocket/arugula
• 2 yellow peaches , ripe and juicy, halved then cut into thin slices (nectarines also work)
• 1/3 cup walnuts , lightly toasted then broken or chopped into pieces (Note 1)
• 70g / 2oz creamy Danish feta (or Persian marinated feta or goats cheese)

Dressing:

• 2 tbsp apple cider or white wine vinegar
• 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or a nut oil)
• 1 tsp orange zest , finely grated (optional)
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt

Cups – Metric

Instructions

• Dressing: Shake ingredients in a jar.
• Place rocket in a bowl. Drizzle with just a little bit of dressing, then toss to coat.
• Transfer 1/3 of the salad to serving bowl, scatter over 1/3 peaches, walnuts and feta, drizzle with dressing. Repeat twice more. Serve!

Notes

1. Other nut options: pecans would also be lovely. For a nut free option, pepitas or sunflower seeds.

2. Nutrition per serving, assuming 6 servings.

Nutrition

Calories: 232cal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 252mg | Potassium: 218mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 665IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 121mg | Iron: 1mg

Life of Dozer

Totally on board with peach season.

The post Peach Salad II with Poppyseed Dressing appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

This Peach Salad is a modern Italian classic that makes the best of ripe, juicy peach bounties of the summer. The spectrum of flavours and textures here is simply perfection: Sweet peaches, peppery rocket/arugula, salty prosciutto, milky mozzarella and a zesty lemon dressing to bring the this merry band of Italian ingredients together (the dressing is the drummer, I guess?😂)

Welcome back to the inaugural Holiday Salad Marathon, we’re on Day 6 and it’s PEACH Season so let’s make the most of it!

Peach Salad

Peach season is short and sweet, so when it lands, we should get our fill with gusto! Here in Australia, in my opinion peaches can be a bit hit and miss, so when you get your hands on a good lot, buy up!

While we all love to devour them as whole fruit, there’s a whole world of other ways to use peaches to explore such as this Italian Peach Salad. Simple and classic, it makes the most of peaches when they’re at their peak while brining some Italian flair to your table!

With the prosciutto and mozzarella adding protein heft, this salad can also be substantial enough to stand in as a light lunch. Just increase the portion sizes.

What goes in Peach Salad

The one and only rule of thumb: If you can’t get juicy, ripe peaches, don’t make this salad!! It kind of defeats the purpose. This salad demands great peaches (if not to justify the expense for the prosciutto and mozzarella!)

• Peaches – Yellow are best if you can get them because the bright colour really pops against the other colours in this salad! However, white peaches are delicious as we all know, and work just as well from a flavour perspective. Nectarines are also just as good here;

• Rocket/arugula – The peppery, bitey leaves are a sensational match with super sweet juicy peaches, both flavour and visually. Green fluffage is always a good thing to add texture into salads!

• Buffalo/cow’s milk mozzarella – Nothing like the shredded yellow stuff we use on everyday pizza, fresh mozzarella is an entirely different product. This cheese is pure white in colour, and comes packed in water or whey in tubs. The taste is milky, moist and creamy. Fresh mozzarella made from buffalo milk is widely regarded as the richest and finest. But if you can’t find it cow’s milk mozzarella (called fiore di latte) is perfectly fine and also a little cheaper. Rather than cutting the cheese ball, just tear it apart gently with your fingers. If neither of these cheeses are accessible, try bocconcini (normal or cherry) as an alternative – it’ll still be great!;

• Prosciutto – Get paper-thin, freshly-shaved slices of this Italian cured meat rather than the packets if you can. They are more moist and buttery, which is exactly what we want! Yes it’s expensive by the kilo/pound, but we need only 4 thin slices here, essentially 1 per person – around 70g/2 oz in total. Alternative: Jamon serrano, which is the Spanish sister of prosciutto cured in a similar way.

Lemon Dressing

And here’s what you need for the Lemon Dressing. We don’t need much – we definitely do not want to overpower the flavours in this salad with the dressing!

The assembly is completely effortless:

1. Shake Dressing ingredients in a jar;

2. Cut peaches into quarters or into 6 wedges if they are extra large;

3. Toss the rocket/arugula in a little dressing (we want them coated with a little dressing of their own) and scatter in a platter along with hand torn chunks of mozzarella;

4. Place peaches around, nestling them into the rocket;

5. Drape the prosciutto onto the platter;

6. Drizzle with remaining dressing!

The idea with this salad is that each person gets one piece of prosciutto and you eat a bit with each forkful of peach/rocket/mozzarella. So you’ll want to offer a knife along with the fork for this salad. Really, try to get a bit of everything into your mouth – the combination is just sublime (I hate using that word but here, no other quite captures it!)

Serve this Peach Salad with any Western foods – particularly Italian of course – throughout summer. Else it has the heft to make a great appetiser, or a light meal as mentioned earlier. Whatever you choose, make the most of that short, sweet peach season. This salad is a stellar flavour combination that’s the ultimate expression of warm weather, good company and beautiful produce! – Nagi x

PS. Since posting this, I’ve created a variation of this salad with feta and a poppyseed dressing – check it out!

What is the Holiday Salad Marathon?

This is my inaugural Christmas recipe countdown where I am sharing 30 salad recipes in a row until Christmas Eve – something completely different to people’s usual baking countdowns!

These salads are in addition to my regular 3 new recipes a week. Because aren’t you bored of the usual tomato-cucumber-lettuce garden salad routine??

Click here to see all the Holiday Salad Marathon recipes to date, or sign up for instant updates and you’ll receive a free email alert whenever I publish a new salad! 🙂

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Peach Salad

This is a classic Peach Salad, simple as it is supposed to be, intended to make the most of juicy sweet peaches when they are in season! It's a magical summer salad combination – sweet peaches, salty prosciutto, creamy buffalo mozzarella and the pepper rocket/arugula.

Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature for the best eating experience.

Course Side Salad

Cuisine Italian

Keyword peach salad, Summer Salad

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Calories 230cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

Salad:

• 3 small peaches or 2 large peaches
• 4 cups loosely packed rocket/arugula
• 150g/5oz ball buffalo or cow’s milk mozzarella (1 ball, ok it slightly less or more)
• 4 slices prosciutto (or jamon serrano, about 70g/2.5 oz; for other subs see Note 1)

Dressing:

• 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 4 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

Instructions

• Cut peach: Halve peaches. Remove seed. Cut each half into half again. If your peaches are really large, cut each half into thirds.
• Dressing: Combined dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well.
• Toss rocket in ~2 tbsp of dressing.
• Mozzarella: Tear mozzarella into pieces.
• Assemble: Arrange rocket, peaches, mozzarella on a large plate or platter. Drape prosciutto around salad. Drizzle remaining oil over the salad. Serve!

Notes

1. Other cold cuts you can substitute: thinly sliced pancetta, coppa/capocollo, bresaola. For a non-meat option, sliced marinated artichokes are excellent in this salad.

Nutrition

Calories: 230cal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 256mg | Potassium: 232mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 940IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 204mg | Iron: 1mg

Life of Dozer

When a friend brought round a freshly caught lobster, and Dozer’s first though was lobster sashimi, yay!! (His second thought was new toy for me??! Yep, that lobster was still alive and wriggling around!)

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