You asked for more quick and easy salads, so here you go - this is a really quick and delicious one! To get some salad inspiration, Melissa made a trip to Borough Market to pick up the latest seasonal produce on offer. She came back with juicy flat peaches, peas in their pods, a big head of butter lettuce (picked the night before) and some magnificent unpasteurised goats cheese "fromage cathare" that we're yet to try.
She also picked up one of our favourite summer vegetables, the courgette - part of the summer squash family. This time she found it in an old heritage colour, bright yellow like a banana! We eat a lot of courgettes - their delicate flavour means that you can put them in just about anything, perfect for bulking out sweet and savoury baking, cut into "noodles" like our much loved ragu with courgettior added to curries and tinola, our favourite feel good soup.
The key to a satisfying salad is a combination of textures, cooked and raw. This mix of hot, caramelised, buttery courgettes with soft ripe peaches, sweet tender peas, crunchy lettuce and strong, creamy cheese aims to please. The fat from the cheese and extra virgin olive oil makes this a satiating dish and balances the sweetness of the peaches in terms of both flavour and by stabilising blood sugar.
Don't worry about trying to get these exact ingredients - good organic frozen peas, the usual green courgettes and regular tennis ball-shaped peaches will do. We are particularly fond of butter lettuce though - aka butter of bibb lettuce - but of course substitute with any salad leaves you can find.
Cathare is a goats' milk cheese, shaped into a flat disc and dusted with charcoal - an unusual and incredibly creamy cheese that's well worth showing off - add to the salad at the table if you're serving this to guests.
Any goats' cheese or creamy cheese can be used - just be sure to buy the best quality you can afford. Organic is a good starting point but as you get more clued up and ask questions you'll find that most artisanal cheeses are produced with good methodology - smaller farmers don't need to rely on routine drugs to keep their well-cared-for herds or flocks healthy. If you can't find any goats' cheese, use slivers of hard cheese like pecorino or parmesan or blend up a cashew and garlic "cream cheese", pesto or brazil nut cream and dollop that over. If you're a halloumi lover and you've got the barbecue out, grill a few slices and serve immediately with the peach salad for a twist on our papaya and halloumi salad.
A member of the rose family, which includes apricots, almonds, apples and cherries, peaches are a good source of selenium and vitamins A and C. We find this sweet summer fruit is one of those fruits, like the plum, which always tastes better from any traditional greengrocer or farmers' market rather than a supermarket - the intense and lengthy refrigeration seems to ruin the flavour so it makes sense to always serve peaches at room temperature. Peaches continue to soften and get juicier after picking, but they stop developing flavour and sweetness. By the way, the skin colour is an indicator of peach variety rather than ripeness but definitely stay away from green peaches. Scent strength is a very good guide to flavour so, as always, smell and touch your fruit and veg and use your spending power to support the sellers and growers that you like and trust. If you buy some peaches and they don't taste as good as they look or you've left them in the fridge too long then lightly grill them or caramelise in some butter or ghee to warm them up and bring out their sweet, fragrant flavour.
Ingredients
use organic/natural ingredients where possible
serves 3 people
Salad
3 large ripe peaches, we used flat ones
1 head of butter lettuce
2 medium courgettes, any colour - we used yellow
30-40g per person of unpasteurised goats cheese, we loved "fromage cathare"
120g fresh peas in their pods (or 60g frozen peas)
3 sprigs of mint, leaves torn
1 teaspoon of ghee
¼ red onion
Dressing
4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar
Sea salt
Black pepper
Instructions
- Carefully wash the leaves and allow to dry. If the leaves are large, tear them into smaller pieces.
- Shell the peas - if using frozen peas leave to defrost in some cold water then drain.
- Heat the ghee to a medium heat, then add a single layer of courgette slices. Don't let them touch otherwise they will steam rather than fry. Fry each side for 1 minute each until lightly browned. Set aside.
- Slice the peaches into eighths.
- Arrange the lettuce over the plates and distribute the courgette slices, peach wedges, peas and goats' cheese on top.
- Scatter the torn mint and red onion slithers over the salad.
- Liberally drizzle with olive oil, then a little trickle of balsamic - not too much. You might find it easier to control if you pour balsamic into a cup and use a teaspoon to distribute a little evenly over.
- Finish with a sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper to taste.
