Grilled Peach Salad with Chipotle-Raspberry Vinaigrette

Regina Charboneau's Grilled Peach Salad with Chipotle-Raspberry Vinaigrette
Photo: Courtesy Regina Charboneau
Servings:
6

Chef Regina Charboneau came up with this delightfully summery salad on the fly while visiting her friend, gardening expert, and television personality P. Allen Smith's farm. Perusing his cabinets, she found canned chipotle peppers in adobo and raspberry vinegar, plus perfectly ripe peaches and farm-fresh goat cheese, which proved to be just the ticket to creating a winsome dish. "If people are grilling, it's a good salad that can go with a lot of things," she says. Charboneau loved it so much, she included it in her 2014 Mississippi Current Cookbook.

Ingredients

Salad

  • 6 ripe small-to-medium peaches, peeled, halved, and pitted

  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  • 3 cups mixed greens

  • 6 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled

Chipotle-Raspberry Vinaigrette

  • 1 chipotle pepper in adobo

  • 2 tablespoons honey

  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

  • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

  • 1 tablespoon seedless raspberry jam

  • ½ teaspoon minced fresh garlic

  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt

  • ¼ cup vegetable oil

Directions

  1. To make the vinaigrette, remove the stem from the chipotle pepper and discard; remove and discard seeds. Place the pepper and adobo in a blender or food processor and puree on medium speed. Add the honey, vinegar, lime juice, jam, garlic, and salt to the blender and process until smooth. With the motor running, slowly add the oil in a thin, steady stream and process until the vinaigrette thickens. Transfer to a clean container, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

  2. To make the salad, place the peaches in a large bowl and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Heat the grill or grill pan to medium-high or 400°F. Place the peach halves flat side down, and cook to make grill marks, about 2 minutes. Turn and cook on the other sides, about 1 minute. The peaches should remain firm enough to hold their shape. Remove to a plate.

  3. Place the greens in a large bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette. Arrange the greens on a decorative platter and place the peach halves on top, pit sides up. Divide the goat cheese among the peach halves, filling the centers, and drizzle with 2 additional tablespoons of dressing before serving.

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