Arugula Grilled Peach Salad in a Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

 I'm taking fruit salad to a whole new level with this arugula grilled peach salad in a raspberry balsamic vinaigrette. 

Let's get right down to it, shall we?

 Sweet grilled peaches, cherries, blood orange, and blueberries. Crunchy, salted pistachios. Cream, tangy goat cheese crumbles. Covered up in a tangy raspberry and balsamic dressing. 

It's a lot of flavors for one salad, but they all go together perfectly.

 To balance out the sweetness from the fruit, I leveled things off with some arugula. Arugula has a peppery flavor, which is bold on its own and needs that sweet flavor. Additionally, you get a nice level of acid and tanginess from the balsamic. In fact, no sugar or sweetener is added to the dressing at all, except for what comes from the natural raspberries.   Actually, I added extra acid to the dressing, by way of lemon. 

And of course, you always want a bit of salt to add some extra dimension to any salad or dish.

 Enter some yummy, crunchy pistachios.

This salad is also super simple to make.

 As is the vinaigrette.  Seriously, in about 20 minutes, you could have the salad and the dressing ready to go! Enjoy! 

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 0 minutes

Additional Time: 0 minutes

Total Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

• 5 oz Fresh Raspberries

• 1 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar

• 1 tsp Lemon Juice

Salad Ingredients

• 1.5 Cups Baby Arugula

• 2 Small Peaches, Sliced, Grilled

• 10 Sweet Cherries, Pitted, Chopped

• 1/2 Blood Orange, Peeled, Chopped/Sliced

• 1 oz Blueberries, Optional

• 1 oz Salted Pistachios

• 1 oz Goat Cheese, Crumbled

Instructions

Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

1. Place raspberries in a pot on medium to high heat. Stir as needed for just a couple minutes so that they don't burn, until they are hot enough to mash.

2. Mash with a potato masher or fork, until all raspberries are broken up.

3. Add balsamic and lemon juice. Mix well.

4. Remove from heat.

5. For a smooth vinaigrette, place in a blender to puree and break down seeds.

Salad

1. Slice peaches in half, remove pits, and grill for a few minutes on medium to high heat to get some grill marks. You do not need to grill the peaches, but doing so will bring out extra sweetness in the fruit, which makes it extra yummy.

2. Chop, slice, and de-pit all fruit as required in ingredient list.

3. Add all ingredients (arugula, fruit, pistachios, goat cheese) to a large bowl.

4. Mix well to evenly combine.

5. Dress with cooled vinaigrette.

Notes

1. One serving of dressing is 1 TBSP. Dressing makes approximately 1/4 Cup. The dressing per serving comes out to 21.2 calories, 0.4 proteins, 4.8 carbs, and 0.2 fats.

2. Full nutritional information below is for the salad and dressing together.

3. To lower fat content, reduce amount of pistachios and/or goat cheese.