We recently had dinner with dear friends and the hostess, my friend Meredith, made a salad that left me positively moaning. After her husband had picked up 2 flats of gorgeous ripe peaches that week, Mer did some research on what to do with them and stumbled upon a recipe from Australia.

You know me – I love any dish that elevates the simple goodness of the core ingredients. Well, this salad does that in spades.

I would have linked to the original recipe, but a) I couldn’t find it and b) Mer modified it anyway, so let’s just call this her version of a combination of flavours that seems to have been married with one another by many-a brilliant chef around the globe. {You’ll find if you google it that finding the “original author” is near impossible.}

Starting with gorgeous, ripe peaches, wash and halve them {one per person} and sauté {flesh side down} in 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil and 2 Tbsp maple syrup. You have to watch that the maple syrup doesn’t caramelize too much and turn into hard candy. If it does, you can simply scrape it up and discard it {aka eat it} and add more syrup to your dressing at the end.

Next, plate the arugula. Mer plated this gorgeous salad farm-style on one big platter, but when I made it here at home I just plated it individually. Either way works beautifully.

Next, zest the rind of one well-washed lemon.

Using one ball of buffalo mozzarella for every 2 people, split the soft and gentle cheese into pulled chunks. This might be my favourite part, and I love how the pulled pieces resemble poached eggs. For someone who is allergic to eggs and misses them dearly, it’s a perfect visual substitute, and the cheese’s softness contributes a similar texture {though a different flavour} as would a poached egg.

Next, using 3-4 slices of good Italian prosciutto per person, plate the prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella on top of the bed of arugula and then garnish the mozzarella with the lemon zest, good salt {I used Maldon} and pepper.

Once the peaches are nicely braised, cut them in half again and plate them on top of the salad.

Here’s where the Meredith-magic to this recipe comes in: once you’ve removed the peaches from the pan you’ll have a gorgeous, peach-infused syrup of maple and olive oil. Pour this reduction into a small pitcher and combine it with the juice of 1/2 or more of your lemon. Season with salt and pepper and adjust your quantities of maple syrup and olive oil if necessary until the dressing essentially tastes like a warm lemonade sweetened with maple syrup. Oh. My. Goodness.

Drizzle the dressing over the salad and keep the pitcher at the table for additional drizzling {an inevitability, trust me}.

Here’s the delicious recap:

THE INGREDIENTS

1 5oz container of organic baby arugula
2 balls Buffalo Mozzarella
12-16 slices of good Italian prosciutto
1 lemon
4 peaches
3-4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2-3 Tbsp maple syrup
Salt + pepper

THE METHOD

Wash and halve peaches and sauté {flesh side down} in 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil and 2 Tbsp maple syrup. Watch that the maple syrup doesn’t caramelize too much and turn into hard candy. If it does,  scrape it up and discard it {aka eat it} and add more syrup to your dressing at the end.

Next, plate the arugula and zest the rind of your lemon. Split the buffalo mozzarella into pulled chunks and garnish with the lemon zest, salt and pepper.

Plate the sliced prosciutto and juice your zested lemon into a small serving pitcher. Remove braised peaches from the pan and cut in half, plating on top of the salad.

Pour the reduction of olive oil and maple syrup into your small serving pitcher and whisk together with the lemon juice. Adjust to taste and season with salt + pepper. Drizzle over your salad and enjoy!