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Summer Peach Salad


Jakea222

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The salad I have come up with is a - Well

The Georgia Peach Melba Salad

Local garden greens tossed in a melba vinaigrette and topped with grilled Georgia Peaches and Hot and Sweet Georgia pecans.

The test fires have been very positive and working out a few methods for the peach...anyone seen a salad like this and any ideas?

We will offer grilled chix and shrimp as an add on any idean to make this better - thought about pound cake croutons!

Edited by Jakea222 (log)
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gotta be a raspberry vinaigrette, i'm thinkin'. as long as the vinaigrette is on the tart side (i hate fruit puree vins that are too sweet), i think it would be a nice summer plate. i had a salad the other day with caramelized peaches that was lovely.

"Laughter is brightest where food is best."

www.chezcherie.com

Author of The I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook ,The I Love Trader Joe's Party Cookbook and The I Love Trader Joe's Around the World Cookbook

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peach melba

As chezcherie mentioned, hope the vinaigrette is not super sweet! The spicy, salty pecans would also help provide balance with the sweetness of the peaches and the raspberry. Crumbled feta cheese might also be a nice addition. I might also experiment with some fresh herbs like parsley or tarragon as additions. (Maybe you already use some fresh herbs in the vinaigrette).

If it is a "Melba vinaigrette" to me that would seem to imply both peaches and raspberries in the vinaigrette recipe itself. If the salad has grilled peaches and is served w/a raspberry vinaigrette I think the dish would be more like a "Melba grilled peach salad". Hold the ice cream though! :raz:

edited to add: I just read the name of the dish again, "The Georgia Peach Melba Salad".

edited to also add: Regarding the addition of shrimp or chicken, see Holly Moore's recent topic here. I would tweak the recipe to work well with either chicken or shrimp, *if* you can find a good recipe with either one. One could then perhaps offer the salad with or without the one protein...

Edited by ludja (log)

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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A sweet vinaigrette in this salad doesn't appeal to me, but if you're from Georgia (sounds like it), a sweet vinaigrette with peaches and sweetened pecans might work there. I've noticed that Southerners seem to have more of a sweet tooth compared to other parts of the US.

If you put some grilled duck breast on those greens, with the grilled peaches and hot & sweet pecans, then a regular tart vinaigrette--I'll eat it! If you make the pecans salty (as ludja mentioned), you'll have that hot salty sour sweet combination that delights people in SE Asian cuisines.

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This sounds interesting. I'm also one to not enjoy too sweet a dressing on my salad though so I also vote for a little more tart than sweet here.

I was thinking a little jicama sounded good in this for a crisp crunch component in addition to the crunchy crunch (umm, does that make sense???). Its also such a neutral flavor and can balance stronger flavors.

FWIW. :smile:

edit: spelling

Edited by Genny (log)
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The salad I have come up with is a - Well

The Georgia Peach Melba Salad

Local garden greens tossed in a melba vinaigrette and topped with grilled Georgia Peaches and Hot and Sweet Georgia pecans.

The test fires have been very positive and working out a few methods for the peach...anyone seen a salad like this and any ideas?

We will offer grilled chix and shrimp as an add on  any idean to make this better - thought about pound cake croutons!

That sounds really good G. If my grandmother made it, the peaches would be pickled a bit for that southern twang. That would add the salty component and would complement shrimp add on.

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Sounds interesting. I did my peach salad ode to my time in the southeast U.S. with pickled peach but the raspberry does sound really nice. Did you do raspberry-vanilla for the vin or are you getting the vanilla from the ice cream in there in another way? Maybe a pool of vanilla cream (not sweet) under the salad or something? A creamy vanilla-rasp dressing might be good too (sorry, didn't meant to start spewing ideas... this just sounds fun). I think pound cake croutons would work if you tweaked them a bit to the savory side. I'm personally not a big fan of croutons in salad I'm eating (I know, I'm weird) but the pecans would have been a nice addition. Kinda wish I'd thought of that.

Edited by Tri2Cook (log)

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

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Sounds good.

Would sound even better with a little bit of a good ham (Serrano, Prosciutto, or even a good American Country ham to keep with the Georgia theme). The saltyness from the raw ham would balance nicely with the sweet fruit and vinaigrette methinks.

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OK - sorry I have not replied to the post - I just got the note saying it had been reworded on the title and I was looking for the wrong thing!

It is a little late so I will give you the ingredients of the vin.

I cooked down about a pint of rasberrys with some sugar until they kind of poped. cooled and then strained. So I had about 1/4 cup of very sweet syrup.

So then I cheated to test. I got raspberry preserves and red currant jelly and meled them in a pan. I could have taken a bath in it right there. I added the real stuff and the chef crap started to pick my brain. I took that mix and seperated it into 3 bowls. 1 had orange juice, one cranberry and one lemon to think it down before I wisked in oil. They were all great and the taste with the GRILLED peach were all good. BUT did not POP. SO I added a little Champagne Vinager and reworked all 3....It Popped them - the cranberry juice mix was the best. SO I wrote that one down specific....so then I added the lemon and the cranberry together to see what happened and IT ROCKED!

Here is the build

Clear Glass Bowl

Spring Mix - Romaine

The front 3:00 to 9:00 position will have grilled peaches - great cross marks (grill Pan)

The very top will have a Sugar coated Georgia Pecans - the test - well - I am not sure which one came out the best! Egg whites - sugar, cinnamon, curry powder, paprika, cayenne and red chili flakes. Now this is not as hot as you may think. The first chew is nice and sweet and then you get a little spice - not fire. the peach and vin and the nut - Holy cow! I will try to get some pics as I finalize the plate and pic and train the staff for a start next week.

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OK - cheese - I could not find one that we had in house that tasted good.

I like the pound cake crouton thing

As far as the sweet vin - it is sweet BUT does have a twang - the sugar in the first rasp mix was not for sweetness but to get them to juice up like strawberries

Pickled - not sure - can you grille them and them pickle them -

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I would think either way. She used to peel and pickle them and they still had enough firmness that putting them on the grill or pan would have stayed together.

Edit to add: you could buy some commercial pickled peaches and see how they behave. Only thing is the flavor profile tends sweet on the prepared ones unlike the salt and tang that my grandmother did to them.

Edited by Doodad (log)
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My personal favorite peach salad is a grilled peach and corn salad tossed with shallots and chilis soaked in sherry vin and a tsp of honey. The salad is served with a roasted red pepper creme fraiche and grilled shrimp.

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My personal favorite peach salad is a grilled peach and corn salad tossed with shallots and chilis soaked in sherry vin and a tsp of honey. The salad is served with a roasted red pepper creme fraiche and grilled shrimp.

Ok that is way off waht I want to do - but sounds nice

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