Summer Salad with Grilled Peaches and Blueberries
Summer Salad with Grilled Peaches and Blueberries
adapted from Forks Over Knives
This summer salad is gorgeous and nutritious. It takes advantage of summer's peaches and blueberries and combines them with a healthy ancient grain pasta, spicy arugula greens, and a simple dressing. Grilling the peaches gives a wonderful sweetness to this dish and this can be done on a traditional grill or with a grill pan on the stove.
Serves 6
4 cups dried ancient grain penne pasta
4 firm, ripe peaches, halved and pitted
1 tsp lemon zest
½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
4 tsp Dijon mustard
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp maple syrup
¾ cup olive oil
5 oz fresh arugula
2 cups fresh blueberries
salt
pepper
Instruction:
Cook pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside to cool.
Place the peach halves cut side down on a hot traditional grill or on a stove using a greased grill pan that is very hot. Cook about 8 minutes or until desired grill marks appear. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Cut peach halves again into quarters and set aside.
In a small bowl, make the dressing by whisking together the zest, lemon juice, olive oil, mustard and garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
In a large bowl or salad platter, combine the pasta, arugula, blueberries and peaches, and toss with some of the dressing as desired. Save the remaining dressing for other salads and marinades.
*This salad holds up well for at least an hour after it is dressed so it can be made ahead if desired.
Recipe Notes
In this recipe I used ancient grain pasta, but you could use a bean pasta or your personal favorite instead. Typically, I don't use a wheat pasta in that the ancient grain ones have a higher nutritional value and are not GMO or bleached.
Although this salad is delicious with the peppery flavor of the arugula, you could easily substitute any of your favorite greens instead. Heads up though that some will hold up better than others after the salad is dressed. The arugula holds up for at least an hour after it is dressed, but spring mix and other fragile greens will need to be dressed right before serving.
I love having leftover homemade salad dressings to use later in the week. This one could be used on other salads or double as a quick marinade. For that reason, the recipe calls for more dressing than you will need. If you prefer to only make what you will need for this salad, you could easily cut the dressing ingredients in half.
I hope you enjoy this recipe, let me know what you think!
Blessings,
Cheryl