Peach and Mozzarella with Sweet Chilli and Tomato Glaze
This salad is a real medley of tastes. Blending sweet peaches with pearly mozzarella, the recipe is complete with a sticky sweet chilli and tomato glaze.
Introduction
I could eat Mozzarella anytime, anywhere – no hunger needed. I just adore the stuff. Using peaches in salads is something I discovered over in Australia about eight years ago. The classic combination there is peach and prosciutto, which is also delicious. Use good-quality Mozzarella (buffalo is head and shoulders above the rest) and ripe peaches. If you’re looking for a summer lunch, knocked up in 10 minutes to have with a hunk of ciabatta and a glass of crisp white wine, this is it.
Ingredients
| 3 | ripe peaches, washed, stoned and roughly chopped |
| 150g | mozzarella ball, torn apart with your hands |
| a handful | basil, roughly torn |
| 1 tbsp | sweet Chilli and Tomato Glaze (ingredients below) or sweet chilli sauce |
| 1 tsp | olive oil |
| salt and black pepper, to taste | |
| For the sweet chilli and tomato glaze: | |
| 300ml | white wine vinegar |
| ½ tsp | salt |
| 300g | caster sugar |
| 10 | cherry tomatoes |
| 5 | red chillies |
Method
Making the glaze?
Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F / gas mark 6. Place a clean jar with its lid beside it in the oven for 10 minutes to sterilize. Allow to cool.
Gently warm 300ml white wine vinegar in a saucepan with ½ tsp salt and 300g caster sugar, stirring to dissolve.
Scoop out the centres of 10 cherry tomatoes (cut in half across the waist) and discard. Roughly chop. Add the tomatoes and 5 red chillies, halved and finely chopped (I retain the seeds of 2 for hotness), to the vinegar pan and turn up the heat. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. You will have a glossy thickened glaze. Carefully pour into the jar. The glaze will thicken as it cools. Store in a cool place.
Now for the salad…
Put the peaches and Mozzarella on a large plate. Scatter the basil over, then drizzle first the glaze (cooled) then the olive oil over everything. Season with a little salt and black pepper before serving.
Variations:
Toasted pecans, a little rocket, the famous prosciutto mentioned in the introduction. You can use Balsamic Glaze instead of the Sweet Chilli and Tomato one … I’ve made this with barbecued Halloumi before and that works well too. Sometimes I add in chunks of lightly toasted ciabatta that have been soaked in a little olive oil and salt.
330 calories per portion. 3 of your five-a-day.
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