Now that summer is in full swing, you will notice peaches, plums and other stone fruits aplenty at the market.

In addition to eating these fruits on their own, there are so many wonderful ways to incorporate them into your cooking.

Desserts immediately come to mind, but why not use them in a salad?

I thought grilled peaches would be a great addition to a salad, so I fired up the grill.

I split the peaches in half, removed the pit, coated them with olive oil, salt and pepper and grilled them! I easily could have gone the dessert route at this point and topped them with ice cream, but I didn’t! I stayed on course and continued to focus on my salad.

I chose arugula as my salad green — it’s peppery and delicious.  I also wanted to incorporate balsamic vinegar.  I thought it would complement the peaches.  Lastly, I needed a crunch factor, so I topped the salad with crushed pistachios.  The combination of the warm peaches, the crisp greens, the crunchy nuts and the sweet balsamic glaze made this salad soar! It’s quite delicious if I do say so myself.  And, a testament to it’s deliciousness was the empty bowl left at the end of dinner!

So, here’s my recipe.  I hope you like this recipe as much as my family and I did!

Grilled Peach Salad with Balsamic Glaze
Serves 4 people

Grilled Peaches:
2 ripe peaches
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Balsamic glaze:
1 cup of balsamic vinegar

Salad:
4 cups of arugula
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup of chopped pistachios

Before we get started on the salad, let’s make the balsamic glaze.   Put 1 cup of balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan.  Let it come to a boil over medium-high heat.  Let it simmer until it thickens and reduces in size.  It’s ready when it coats the back of a spoon (or a spatula! see picture below).  This will take roughly 15 minutes.  The balsamic vinegar will cook down to about 1/4 cup of balsamic glaze.  Let the glaze cool and set it aside.

Now it’s time to grill the peaches. Cut the peaches in half, remove the pit and slather each side with olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Grill the peaches approximately 5 minutes on each side, on a very hot grill (mine was set to high).  The peaches are done when the skin starts to lift.  They should also have some lovely grill marks. Remove the peaches from the grill and set aside.

Add the arugula to a large serving bowl.  Add the 3 tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.  Toss the greens.  Add the peaches to the salad and sprinkle the pistachios pieces on top.  Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of balsamic glaze over salad.

Enjoy!