Summer Peach and Tomato Salad

As you all know it’s peach season, and for me, peaches always meant fruit salad, tarts, pies, cakes and maybe even ice cream. But recently I realized I was limiting myself. I mean, I love adding sweet things to savory dishes. It gives more depth to the dish and provides a delicious flavor that’s usually a nice surprise. I’ve added peaches to chicken and a few weeks ago I smothered pork chops with a delicious peach barbecue sauce. But I’ve never combined savory and sweet in a salad.

When I think of salad, I think of either mixed greens with a tangy dressing or chopped fruit with a splash of something sweet. Then I thought about all those fruit salsas that combine onions and herbs with mangoes or peaches for a spicy yet sweet topping over fish or steaks. I figured if it works so well as a salsa, why couldn’t it work as a salad?

I was not alone in my thinking. When I started searching on peach salads, so many options popped up, I didn’t know where to look first. I finally settled on a simple choice from My Recipes that not only happened to work with what I had in the fridge, it also allowed me to try out my newest OXO product: the Little Salad Dressing Shaker.

This little dressing shaker is absolutely awesome. First off I love the color! It’s so bright and happy, it’ll never get lost in the back of the fridge. But better than the color is how easy it is to use. I mean, even my two-year-old can use it (and has). All you do is pour all the dressing ingredients into the jar, screw on the lid, shake like crazy for a minute or so and pour over your salad. And if there’s any dressing left over (which if you’re anything like me there always is) simply seal the pour spout and stick it in the fridge. It won’t take up much space and depending on how much dressing you’ve made, it should keep your salads dressed for at least a week.

Even though the shaker is one of the coolest kitchen tools I own, this post is really about the salad. I enjoy the flavors so much in fact, I’ve made it several times. But while the salad is absolutely delicious on its own, it’s even better when paired with your favorite protein. Needless to say, I’m sure this side will be gracing my dinner plate again, especially since there are still a couple months left to peach season.

Summer Peach and Tomato Salad

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 pound ripe peaches, pitted and cut into wedges
• 1/4 pound of your favorite heirloom tomatoes, cut into thick wedges
• 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Combine first four ingredients (through the cheese) in a large salad bowl.
2. Mix the vinegar, oil, honey, salt and pepper together in the dressing shaker. Cap and shake vigorously for about 1 minute.
3. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately.