Grilled White Peach and Chicken Salad With Blueberry Basil Vinaigrette
This salad is the first of at least 3 recipes this week for my self proclaimed " White Peach, Basil and Blueberry week" on my blog
At our weekly trip to the farmer's market last week (yes, Las Vegas has farmers markets!) we spied some gorgeous white peaches at one of our favorite stands. They weren't ripe yet when we brought them home so that gave me a few days to think of what to do with them. Besides just stuff in my face of course.
I posted a picture on Instagram and my Facebook page asking what to do with them. I got some really great recipe ideas from asking: Jam, peach apple sauce, chutney, a cocktail with then (in the works),a pork dish with them ( in the works)m ice cream, salad, sorbet. All kinds of great ideas. And now that I am thinking about what I have planned, I think a fourth recipe idea just popped into my head. A dessert recipe. Oh yes, this will happen.
I also posted this picture of some gorgeous basil growing in my garden ( and yes you can have a garden in Vegas!)
Isn't that basil beautiful? I love the smell of fresh picked basil. We also bought some of the biggest blueberries I have ever seen at Whole Foods and Trader Joes so this week is all about these three: super sweet white peaches, basil picked fresh from my garden, and giant blueberries.
Right now our garden is all in pots until we can re-landscape our yard and build some raised beds. So until then its container gardening. I have a funny story about container gardening...
When my husband and I first started dating about 9 years ago we were living in Vail, Colorado. We were at home depot for something one day during the summer ( I can't remember what exactly, we rented condos and there was no need for doing home improvement) and we saw these Jack Daniels Whiskey barrels cut in half on sale to be used as planter boxes. I thought they were so cool, and he didn't believe that they were one real whiskey barrels. So we decided to buy a couple, buy dirt, top soil, fertilizer and a TON Of seeds to start a containter " salsa" garden. We bought cilantro, tomato, green onion, jalapeno, bell pepper, basil and I think that was it. There may have been more. For two barrel halves...
He got to work drilling holes in the bottom of the barrels and all of a sudden was the strongest whiskey aroma. Like someone had spilled a bottle of Jack Daniels all over the place. Me: " I told you they were real whiskey barrels, and not just stamped with the name for novelty reasons" Him: " This is so awesome. I wonder if I can get drunk off the aroma" Men.
So we filled the barrels with the dirt, top soil, planted ALL our seeds, fertilized, watered and waited. And repeated the water and wait until we had little sprout-lings. A LOT Of them. See, we bought enough seeds for a WHOLE garden. Not two whiskey barrel halves. To say we planted too much and overcrowded the containers is a huge understatement. It was hysterical. We clearly had no clue what we were doing, especially since all the tomato plants took over and then some, and the cilantro grew so high it went to seed. We ended up making several batches of salsa and salads with veggies little garden and it was awesome. We were so proud of our little overflowing garden. Unfortunately the whiskey barrels didn't make our move out of Colorado with us. We donated them to our landlord of the last condo we were renting. Whom I think refused to return our deposit because we had rearranged living room furniture and it apparently cost $1500 to move it back into place. Ahhhh landlords...
So now that we own our own home again we will definitely be growing more of a garden in the years to come. And we have learned from our ways of the past and plant seeds several inches apart, not dump a whole package into a small container at once.
This salad is amazing. If you have never grilled peaches before I suggest you do it. SOON. Make sure they are still pretty firm, super ripe peaches are too soft for grilling. I also used my OXO super thin flexible turner spatula to flip them and it worked awesome. Just be careful not to flip one between the grates and donate a peach slice to the grill gods. Like I may or may not have done.
Grilled White Peach and Chicken Salad With Blueberry Basil Vinaigrette
Ingredients
For the salad
- 2 White peaches
- Chicken 16 ounces, grilled and sliced
- 12 cups Salad mix 3 cups per salad ( I used a mix of baby lettuces, arugula and micro sprouts)
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 4 ounces goat cheese cumbled
- ½ c thinly sliced red onion
- 4 tablespoon sunflower seeds
Blueberry Basil Vinaigrette
- 1 ½ cups fresh blueberries
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot
- Zest of one lime
- Juice from half a lime
- ½ cup basil sliced thin
- ¼ c White balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoon honey
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- ½ c olive oil
Instructions
For the vinaigrette
- Combine all but the oil in a blender and blend well. Scrape down the sides and then with the blender on low add the oil in a thin stream until all is mixed in and then blend on medium. If the vinaigrette is a little thick add a tablespoon or two of water. Keep refrigerated until ready to use. Serve at room temperature and stir before pouring as it may thicken back up.
For the salad
First grill the peaches:
- Slice in half and gently twist to break into two halves. Remove the pit and slice into ½’ thick rings. You will get 6 slices a peach.
- With a grill on medium ( about 300 deg) grill the peaches about 2 min a side, using a super thin metal spatula to gently turn them once. Remove to a plate to let cool slightly.
- If you don’t already have pre-grilled chicken you can grill the chicken before grilling the peaches. Just season with a little bit of olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Grill at 450 deg heat, 4-5 min a side until done. Let rest 5 min then slice.
- On 4 plates divide the salad mix, top with 4 ounces of chicken each plate. Divide the rest of the ingredients amongst the plates. Drizzle the dressing over the salads and serve immediately.
Notes
Go on. Take a bite. You know you want to!!
**This post isn't sponsored by OXO nor do I work with them. I just like and own a lot of their products that the spatula I mentioned is really fantastic since its so thin. Its great for delicate cookies, grilling peaches and even grilling fish!!
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