Weekend recipe: Heirloom tomato and grilled peach salad

My idea of perfect late summer eating revolves around food that’s at once light and satisfying—dishes that take advantage of how fresh and ripe everything is, while still being varied and filling enough to feel like a meal. This week, I tapped the brain of Matthew Downes, a prolific private chef and food consultant. Matt has an insatiable passion for food that’s both local and seasonal, as well as what he calls “health-supportive,” which I think is a really nice turn of phrase. For years, he was the pastry chef at Pure Food and Wine, a vegan raw food restaurant in New York I happen to love (and I’m neither a vegan nor much of a raw food person, so that says a whole lot right there).

Matt hardly hesitated before sending me this salad recipe, which I tried last night. What I especially liked was how just three ingredients—peaches, olives, and tomatoes—accounted for sweet, salt, and savory in one fell swoop. Matt’s take was a little more sophisticated. He pointed out that the tomatoes make a nice bridge between the sweetness of the peaches and the bite of the arugula (if you use radicchio, which I did not, he says you’ll get a little bitterness in there as well).

Before we go on ahead, here are three additional tips from Matt that I found straightforward and useful:
1) When choosing peaches, try not to squeeze. The smell is actually a better indicator. Hold the fruit up to your nose and it should make you want to take a bite.
2) You can’t really go wrong with the tomatoes that you choose, so you might as well go for color. If you’re headed down that road, Hawaiian Pineapple (yellow), Green Zebra (green striped), and Cherokee Purple (purple-black) are nice options.
3. As you chop your herbs, try to slice through them rather than just beat them down. By cutting solely in a downward motion, you’ll bruise the herbs, causing them to release moisture, oxidize, and usually turn bitter.

Heirloom Tomato and Grilled Peach Salad (Serves 4)
 

Ingredients:
*¼ cup oil-cured black olives, chopped
*4 ripe peaches
*4 heirloom tomatoes of various varieties
*zest of 1 lemon
*arugula or ¾ part arugula mixed with ¼ part radicchio
*olive oil to taste
*salt to taste
*pepper to taste
*chimichurri sauce (recipe below)

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to lowest setting. Place olives on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes to 1 ½ hours, depending on how low the oven is set. You are looking to just remove the moisture so that they are a little crisp, so keep an eye on them.
2. Preheat grill to medium.
3. Cut peaches by cutting around the pit in a square. You will have four pieces, each one getting smaller with each progressive cut. Brush the flesh side with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place on well-oiled grill and cook for 2 minutes. Rotate the peaches 90 degrees and cook 2 minutes more. Remove from grill and cool. When cool, dice peaches into ½ “ cubes.
3. Depending on the size of the tomatoes, as heirlooms vary widely, cut the tomatoes into wedges or 1” chunks.
4. To serve: Place a small handful or arugala (or arugala and radicchio) on a plate. Place the peaches and tomatoes on top of the greens. Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and some cracked black pepper. Drizzle a tablespoon (or more) of chimichurri over the salad and then sprinkle a tablespoon of olives and ¼ teaspoon of lemon zest to garnish.

Chimichurri Sauce

Ingredients:
*½ cup extra virgin olive oil
*¼ cup sherry vinegar
*2 Tbl lemon juice
*1 ½ tsp minced garlic
*6 Tbl finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
*2 Tbl finely chopped oregano
*1 Tbl finely chopped thyme
*2 tsp finely chopped tarragon
*½ tsp salt
*¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:
Combine all the ingredients except the olive oil in a bowl. Slowly whisk in olive oil. If possible, let sit least one hour before use.