Butter Grilled Peach Salad

You know Summer has me on my salad craze. I want juicy, I want fresh, I want flavor explosion that keeps me awake in the muggy haze of windless days. And this salad is an explosion of all of that. You guys… it’s so good, I can’t even. I. Can’t. Even.

This is super easy to make, the hardest part is actually having all the ingredients on hand. Cotija cheese is a Mexican cheese that is usually in the cheese section of a grocery store, near the more ethnic cheeses. It’s a dryer, saltier version of feta, but the flavor profile is different enough to warrant looking for this if you can find it. If you can’t, feta is a fine substitute.

The other ingredient for this salad that takes it to a whole other level of heavenly is the truffle balsamic glaze. This will be a bit harder to find, and if you can’t balsamic glaze will do, but I recommend buying some of this and keeping it in your pantry for when you want to make a salad extra special. The company that makes the glaze is called Acetum and you can find the truffle here, and the original plain balsamic glaze here.

You should just get both to have on hand, seriously they’re that good. In my pantry right now, I have the original balsamic, the truffle, a raspberry and a strawberry.

The other thing of note in this recipe is that I use salted butter. You want the salty with the sweet of the fruit. Both mix together with the smokey flavor of the cast iron grill in a magical alchemical way.

This is best served right off the grill. The peaches continue to ooze juice and flavor for a while and it’s the perfect accompaniment to the balsamic and the butter. Together it all blends and creates this beautiful dressing for the lettuce and arugula. You have salty, sweat, tart, astringent and bitter all in one dish. I can’t say enough about this combination.

Make it and let me know what you think!

Butter Grilled Peach Salad

• 2 ripe peaches cut in half with stones removed
• 1 1/2 Tbsp melted salted butter
• 1/4 cup of crumbled Cotija cheese
• 2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
• 2 cups arugula
• Balsamic truffle glaze

serves 4

1. Heat a stove top cast iron grill to medium high heat and light brush with olive oil.

2. Brush the cut side of each peach with the melted butter and place face down on the hot grill. You want the grill marks on the peaches, so don’t move them for about 5 minutes.

3. Cast iron gets hot fast! Lower heat to medium after placing your peaches on the grill. After 5 minutes of grilling, brush the back sides of the peaches with the butter and then gently lift them off the grill and flip them over and grill for another 5 minutes.

4. While the peaches grill, mix the romaine and arugula salad and divide between 4 bowls.

5. When peaches are done, remove and place skin side down in each of the salad bowls.

6. Fill the center pit holes with the cheese crumbles and then sprinkle the remainder of the cheese around the lettuce. Drizzle the balsamic glaze across the entire bowl in stripes that cover both the peach and the lettuce.