Summer on a Plate!
“Well, right now you can buy fruit and all kinds of vegetables for two bits a lug.”
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
Inspiration
We often enjoy salads for dinner. I wanted to make a salad with the fruits and colors of summer as a main dish. The chicken could easily be omitted and the salad would still evoke summer on a plate.
Essentials
Salads are best with the freshest ingredients available. For an extraordinary salad use ripe, fragrant peaches. I like to use white peaches, as they are usually tinged with pink and look delicate on top of the lettuce. Most important is that the peaches have fabulous flavor and texture; otherwise it’s just another salad. If your peaches are mushy, please find another recipe!
| Ingredients | |
| Salad | |
| 1 head | red or green leaf lettuce or 5 oz baby lettuces |
| 2 | chicken breasts, roasted and shredded (leftover or rotisserie is fine) |
| 1 | mango peeled and cut into slivers |
| 2 | white peaches, firm but ripe, peeled and sliced |
| 6 oz | fresh raspberries |
| 1/3 C | golden raisins |
| 1/3 C | toasted almond slices |
| Dressing | |
| 1 | lemon |
| 1 | lime |
| 1/2 C | canola oil |
| 3 T | honey |
| 1/2 t | salt |
| 1/4 t | pepper |
- Prepare lettuce: Gently wash, and dry the lettuce. I use a salad spinner. Tear into large bite size pieces and arrange on four individual dinner size plates.
- Compose the salads: Divide the shredded chicken equally among the four plates, placing on top of the lettuce. Arrange the peaches and mango on the plates. Then scatter the raspberries on top. Finish by sprinkling the toasted almonds and raisins on each salad.
- Dressing: Juice the lemon and lime. Wisk together with the other dressing ingredients until thoroughly mixed.
- To serve: Drizzle the dressing over the salads just prior to serving.
This salad is best eaten as soon as prepared, as the peaches will begin to discolor.
Lucky you, I love white peaches, so much more delicate. But for some reason we don’t see them as often as the standard yellow ones here. Lovely recipe idea
The salad would be just as delicious with nice juicy yellow peaches! You are certainly correct, I adore white peaches when they are in season. There is something enticing about the creamy white and rose colored flesh. At the farmers market today only one vendor had peaches and another had only nectarines and plums. I do believe the bounty of luscious summer fruit is soon to end! Thanks for stopping by Claire.
Looks like a perfect dinner. I love salads loaded with fruit.
It is quite enjoyable! Thanks for commenting.
I’ve never combined fruit and salad together (with the exception of the occassional raspberry dressing) but this looks great. Lovely recipe 😀
Salads are amazing, there are so many possible combinations using seasonal produce. Where I live in Salinas, CA we have locally grown lettuces for nine months of the year. So i enjoy trying new recipes. Thanks for commenting Jennifer.
I too am very fond of fruit in salads. Although I shouldn’t admit this as a health educationist, I am much more a veg person than a fruit person. Like admitting you prefer one child to another! One way I make sure I get plenty of fruit is to do as you have and pop it into salads. Lovely recipe Deb. 😀
Most of my salads are all veggie as well! This a special salad inspired by the season’s bounty. I found it irresistible and wanted to share my sweet summer salad. Good to hear from you Kellie!