Food Lust People Love: vinaigrette

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Chili Peach Vinaigrette

Don’t let the pale peach color of this lovely chili peach vinaigrette fool you. The flavor is tart, sweet and spicy, in my opinion, the perfect combination. Use it to dress your favorite salad or as a marinade for chicken or pork.

This spicy recipe kicks off the start of a big, bold adventure. As you read this, my younger daughter and I are on Day 1 of a cross-country trip from Massachusetts to California. We left the home of dear friends in Hingham, MA today, and are on the high road to upstate New York. If all goes to plan, we’ll hit the west coast on Tuesday, August 8th.

Since it’s the height of hot summer in the northern, I decided to do something different on this blog for August. I’ll be sharing some of our favorite fresh salads and dressings, beginning with this chili peach vinaigrette.

(Of course, since it’s not actually August yet, I’ll still have a Muffin Monday post for you tomorrow.)

Our accommodations are an eclectic mix of Airbnb homes, interstate motels and even one lodge in the Grand Canyon National Park. No doubt we’ll be craving salads the whole way. My Instagram feed is always a strange place to be, but follow along to travel with us from sea to shining sea.

Chili Peach Vinaigrette

Ingredients – Yields 1 cup or 240ml
6 oz or 170g ripe, firm peaches, washed, pitted and chopped (1 large peach or 3-4 small peaches)
1/2-1 small red chili pepper
1/4 cup or 60ml natural apple cider vinegar
1/8 cup or 30ml canola or other light oil
1 tablespoon honey, or more, if needed
1 tablespoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder (like Coleman's)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Method
Blend all the ingredients together in a blender or in an appropriate vessel with a hand blender until smooth.

Taste and add more honey, if necessary. If you are lucky your peach will be sweet enough and the extra honey will not be needed.

Store in a clean jar in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Love salads and unusual dressings? Check out some of my favorites.

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Sunday, July 17, 2016

Fresh Peach Cucumber Salad

Fresh peaches that aren’t fully ripe can still be used in a fresh peach cucumber salad, adding a tart bite with a hint of sweet. An herby dressing with mint and parsley complement the peaches beautifully.

This week my Sunday Supper group are using peaches in a variety of recipes both sweet and savory. I’m in the Channel Islands right now where apparently they make no bones about the fact that the peaches are picked too young. The little plastic boxes they are sold in say quite boldly – Ripen At Home. But I think we all know how that turns out. They really don’t taste the same or ripen well at home. Never mind, though, because slightly under ripe peaches are still tasty in salad. If you are fortunate enough to have good peaches, those work too!

Fresh Peach Cucumber Salad

Aside from the mint and parsley, the dressing is a basic vinaigrette so if you have a favorite vinaigrette recipe, by all means use it and just add the herbs to the salad itself.

Ingredients
For the dressing:

1/4 cup or 60ml extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup or 30ml good quality white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon whole grain mustard
3 tablespoons finely minced fresh mint
1 tablespoon finely minced parsley
1/4 teaspoon sugar
For the salad:
1 English cucumber
4 peaches
1/4 medium purple onion
2 1/2 oz or 70g pea sprouts

Method
Put all the dressing ingredients in a jar. Close the lid tightly and give it a good shake to combine the ingredients. Set it aside at room temperature while you get on with prepping the salad.

Cut your cucumber lengthwise in half, then cut the halves again so you have four long pieces. If the seeds are too juicy, you can but them off and discard. (My dog loves them!) Chop the cucumber into smaller chunks.

Cut the peach off the pit in slices, then cut those into smaller pieces. If you have freestone peaches, you can remove the pit, then slice and cut.

Finely slice your onion.

Add the cucumber, peaches and onion to a large salad bowl. Give the herb dressing another good shake and drizzle on just as much as you need to wet the peaches and cucumbers. You might not use it all. (It’ll keep well in the refrigerator for a week or two.)

Toss to coat.

Add in the pea sprouts just as you are ready to serve and toss again.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to our Peachy Keen host, Sue of Palatable Pastime and our event manager, Renee of Renee’s Kitchen Adventures. Take a look at all the deliciousness we have for you this week!

Starters: