Warm goat cheese, grilled peach and raspberries salad




There is never enough time for all I want to do. I am sure this is not just my problem. Too much things to do, and still days only have 24 hours, can you believe it? I have been wanting to publish this recipe for weeks, but for one thing or the other it has been going down in my to do list. It might sound a bit strange to use now nectarines. Well, I can tell you guys, they were absolutely perfect when I prepared this, very late summer, at the end of the season. 

I can say, however, that I have a great excuse for my delay in publishing over the last couple of weeks. I am planning to write a full story for that with all the details, but it will not be before next Saturday. Well, I promise this is not the teaser for my next new movie… but it will be on Saturday, 15th November when the Easy Cook Home Cook Hero awards gala will be aired on TV3 Ireland (1.40 pm). The point is that a couple of weeks ago I was told that one of my recipes had been selected to take part in the contest.
As you can imagine, for the last two weeks, I have  been testing the recipe in a more systematic way to be certain that the results would be consistent, and I have had even less time than usual. I won’t complain, though, as I can only thank the organizers for what has been one amazing experience for me as an amateur cook and food blogger.
So, as promised, I will give you all the details as soon as I can, but in the meanwhile, let me go back to this salad.

I love berries. I love their tanginess, and the sharpness that they add to savoury dishes. I had seen something like this salad in an Australian food magazine, and with that as the initial idea, I decided to mix a couple of things and give it a try. I ended up using this salad as the starter for a dinner party at home. I really enjoyed the results, and I guess my friends also liked it. 


At the end of the day, it is a salad (quite an obvious starter), but it is quite a salad. The combination of grilled nectarine with its caramelized juices, the warm, about-to-melt goat cheese and the tangy raspberry vinaigrette makes this a total winner. This mix of flavours, textures and the temperature contrast make this a truly special salad.
So, apologies for my huge delay in publishing this. Now you will be ready to try this when nectarines are on season again. 
A small trick if you want/have to avoid the oven: use a pan with wax paper instead.



Warm goat cheese, grilled nectarine and raspberries salad 

4 nectarines
Some mix crunchy salad leaves 
A handful of raspberries
Goat cheese (3-4 slices per person)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Raspberry vinegar (or light white wine vinegar) 
Salt
Black Pepper

Preparation
I could not find raspberry vinegar myself, so I squeezed some raspberries with 4 tablespoons of a light white wine vinegar and let the mix rest for a while. You can skip this step if you find the raspberry vinegar, or just skip it all together.
Put the grill in high heat and add just a little olive oil. You might want to spray or use a cooking brush for this. Once the grill is hot, put the nectarines, cut into eights, and grill them until they get golden brown. 
Put the letuce, nectarine and some raspberries in a serving plate and season. 
Prepare a vinaigrette with 3 parts olive oil and 1 part of the vinegar and add to the salad. 
Put the pan in high heat and add a bit of wax paper. Put the cheese on top, until it starts to get warm and lightly melted. Put on top of the salad and serve inmediately.