It's time for fruit salad. Make it excite, bold in color, flavor, texture. Combine raw with cooked, soft with crunchy, sweet with tart. Often apricots are eaten raw, dried, or baked into pastry. Sometimes they are stewed. So we're grilling them just until they swell full of sweet-tart juice. Mmmm-Mmmm good! Especially when paired with lightly roasted almonds and sugar snap peas. You must taste this combo. Accent with assorted leafy greens and cheese that makes a statement, such as bleu, aged cheddar, or feta. Substitute cheese with tofu, or grilled shrimp or chicken. Easily double or triple this recipe, increase/decrease quantities.
Grilled Apricot Salad with Sugar Snap Peas, Cherry Tomatoes, Almonds, and Cheese with Walnut Vinaigrette is summer fruit salad to remember. And make again. Serve as a light meal. Enjoy!
4 servings.
4 fresh apricots
4 ounces (115 g) sugar snap peas/snow peas (24), serve raw or cooked
8 fresh cherry tomatoes, split in half or quartered
Whole skinned almonds, toasted
Sunflower, almond, or grapeseed oil for grilling and stir-frying pea pods
Cheese: Dairy or vegan. Choose a cheese that is salty or sharp. Crumbles or small dice.
Bleu
Cheddar
Feta
Lettuce & Herbs: Select a range of fresh lettuce, from buttery and sweet to crisp and slightly bitter.
Red oak leaf, salad bowl, Bibb, Boston, or other soft, buttery lettuce
Sucrene, green and red, mache
Arugula (sharp wild or mild cultivated)
Frisee
Purslane
Edible culinary herbs and flowers
Walnut Vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons (30 ml) fresh tart orange or lemon juice
2 tablespoons (30 ml) almond or sunflower oil
2 tablespoons (30 ml) walnut oil
Salt to taste
Garnish:
Sea salt flakes
Coarsely ground black pepper
1. Preparation: Split the apricots in half, remove pits. Leave their colorful skins on to hold their shape during cooking. Preheat the grill, grill pan, or broiler. Lightly brush cut sides with oil. Cook 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Leave skins on or slip off. Reserve.
Sugar Snap Peas/Snow Peas: Into a hot pan or wok over high heat, pour oil and stir-fry pea pods for several seconds. Turn off heat and transfer pods to a plate. Reserve.
Lettuce & Herbs: Rinse thoroughly under cold running water, drain well. Reserve.
Vinaigrette: Whisk the fresh juice and oils together until thickened and emulsified. Season to taste with salt.
2. Plating: Arrange lettuce and herbs on the serving platter. Add grilled apricots, cooked sugar snap peas/snow peas, tomatoes, and almonds in a decorative pattern. Sprinkle cheese, then drizzle vinaigrette over all. Season with sea salt flakes, grind black pepper over.
Nutritious & Delicious
Apricots: This stone fruit is very low in calories, about 17 calories in one small apricot. Apricots are high in vitamins A and C, potassium, and dietary fiber.
Sugar Snap Peas: Sugar Snap Peas and Snow Peas are almost identical in nutrition. Both are low in calories, about 60 to 70 per cup. Both provide plant protein, fiber, vitamins A, C, K, iron, folate, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and manganese.
Cherry Tomatoes: Powerhouses of nutrition, cherry tomatoes are a great source of lycopene, as well as vitamins C and K, potassium, and folate. 10 cherry tomatoes, about 1 cup, have only about 30 calories, and a good source of dietary fiber.
Almonds: Considered a drupe, not a tree nut, almonds contain high levels of vitamins B2, magnesium, manganese, copper, phosphorus, zinc, protein, and fiber. Almonds are a source of fat, 32% monosaturated oleic acid, 13% linoleic acid, and 10% saturated fatty acid. Almond oil provides a rich supply of vitamin E. Consuming small amounts of almonds is advantageous for controlling blood sugar, weight, and cholesterol.
