sweet little peaches

It was about 15 months ago that I had a new little peach tree planted. No, that is not it in the photo above. That is the peach tree from my last house that got so large and so loaded down with peaches that nearly all the branches broke off. That tree was removed when we remodeled the backyard and a new smaller tree was planted.

It was a dwarf peach and as little as it was, it was mighty. It produced the most lovely perfect peaches.

This is my newest peach tree. I stripped it clean of all the ripe peaches over the weekend.

As you can see, the peaches were very petite for this first harvest.

But there were lots of them! I decided that there was too much skin to flesh ratio to be used in desserts, so I used them in savory dishes instead.

The first dish is a salad. A twist on the classic Caprese. I threw in some apriums, also known as pluots. Apriums and pluots are hybrids of apricots and plums.

A pluot is mostly plum, it looks more like a plum than an apricot. The flesh is soft and grainy, unlike the firm flesh of a plum. The aprium, on the other hand, has skin covered with slight fuzz and tastes like a sweeter apricot with a hint of plum.

Two recipe notes: I used balsamic vinegar for my vinaigrette, but I strongly suggest using white balsamic vinegar instead. The dark dressing made the salad less attractive than it should have been. It tasted great, but the dressing covered up the beautiful colors of the fruit, tomatoes and basil. It did nothing for the mozzarella either. I also had a log of sliced fresh mozzarella on hand, so used it instead of the mozzarella balls listed in the recipe. If you have to go out and buy the cheese, get the cute little rounds.

Peach and Pluot Caprese Salad

Vinaigrette

• 1 tablespoon plus 1 ½ teaspoons white balsamic vinegar
• 4 large fresh basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Salad

• 3 large peaches, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 2 ½ cups)
• 2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup chopped pluots or apriums (or plums)
• 1/4 cup julienned fresh basil, divided plus more leaves for garnish
• 8-ounce container fresh mozzarella cheese balls, drained, dried on paper towels and quartered

Vinaigrette: Whirl the vinegar, basil leaves, honey, salt and pepper together in a blender. Once blended, with the machine running, gradually add oil in a steady stream through the feed tube.

Salad: Place the peaches, tomatoes, pluots and half of the julienned basil in a large bowl. Spoon about half of the vinaigrette over the salad and toss gently to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

About 30 minutes before serving, remove from refrigerator and add the mozzarella, the remaining julienned basil and the rest of the vinaigrette, toss gently to coat and set aside to come to temperature.  Garnish with additional basil.

Serves 6