Thought for the Day

Griddled Peach, Mozzarella and Mint Salad

I have a confession to make.  I don't really like fruit.  I especially don't like fruit with a savoury dish...ham and pineapple pizza? Urgh!  Sweet and sour chicken?  Yuk!  So this makes the dish I voluntarily made recently even more bizarre, as it uses fruit in a salad.  You do however 'cook' the fruit so maybe somewhere in my mind that makes it ok...  I can't even remember where I saw this recipe, but as I was wandering the wonderful produce market in Antibes last week, and saw and tasted their wonderful peaches and nectarines, it came back as an incessant nag; so, once home I gave it a try.  You need to use fruit that isn't too ripe, firm but not unripe either.  I would use the griddle if you have one, as it kind of chars the slices and gives them not only a griddled effect, which looks lovely, but seems to caramelise them more effectively; it gives them a sweet almost smoky flavour which melds beautifully with the creamy mozzarella.   I ate this with some gammon, but a lovely parma ham torn up with it would make a decent and delicious lunch.

 

Ingredients:

• one firm peach
• half a packet of rocket
• one mozzarella ball
• asparagus
• olive oil
• half a lemon
• few leaves of mint, roughly torn

 

 

 

So...cut your peach into six/seven slices, remove the skin and lightly dress with olive oil.  Put your griddle pan on and get it really smoking hot.  When you put on your slices of peach they should sizzle.  Try to resist the temptation to turn them too soon either; leave them long enough so that you get those wonderful black griddled lines, then turn.  Put your asparagus on at the same time, again lightly dressed with olive oil.  When both are done, remove from the heat.  Put your rocket or salad leaves on a plate and roughly tear up the mozzarella and place over the salad.  Arrange the asparagus and finally the peaches.  Scatter with the torn up mint, drizzle with olive oil and squeeze your lemon over the whole dish.  Finally, a quick grinding of fresh black pepper.

 

This is one dish that will be making a regular appearance for the rest of this summer because it was totally delicious; fresh and full of flavour...

 

 

En Vacance

I'm off to the South of France in a couple of days and I can't wait.  I'm going with girlfriends and we have a villa just outside Antibes on the Cap.   I'm looking forward to days doing nothing except lounging around the pool or on the beach.  I'm looking forward to not having to make any decisions that are any more taxing than what cocktail I want to drink; I can't wait to browse the markets, wander through the old town and pick our suppers from the local stalls.  I can't wait to dive into that pool and whilst I swim in the early morning light, before the world has woken up, breathe in the heady aroma of pine and lavender.    I'm not planning on doing any blog posts for the next week or so as I'm going to take a well-earned breather from all things; re-group, re-charge, and, hopefully come back with renewed energy and inspiration.  

I will be keeping up my snaps on Instagram, so if you'd like to have some sneak previews of  the Cote d'Azur then follow me on sazpaz.  See you soon... x