Roasted Peach and Goat Cheese Salad

Ahhhh, peaches.

Back when I first began dialysis treatments eons ago, I was severely restricted in partaking of all things potassium. Beloved summer fruits were verboten. Dieticians went around the dialysis clinic spouting which foods were out of bounds. Compliance  was demanded of everyone. Most people don’t generally react well to being treated as naughty children and there was lots of complaining going on, not to mention poor lab reports. Overly high levels of potassium is just asking for a heart attack. I began tracking my monthly lab values. If half a cup of peaches was considered a high level of potassium, why couldn’t I eat a quarter cup and have it equivalent to a low or even a moderate amount potassium? And so I figured out how to work the system. Have a small peach and stay away from other high potassium fruits or veggies for the rest of the day. And that’s how I learned to adhere to what was good for me to eat.

In other words, mindful eating. Sound somewhat familiar? Something we all aspire to…

Farmers’ Market display

These days (actually these last 11 years), I have been doing my dialysis treatments at home, 4 nights a week, 7 hours a pop. My dialysis is long, frequent and very gentle on my system. In other words, it’s as close to actual kidney function as I can get, in a very broad sense. I have my days to myself, I don’t get wiped out from this type of therapy and best of all, my lab reports are thankfully, pretty darn good.

Translate all this medical mumbo-jumbo to: I can eat peaches and all kinds of wonderful fruits and veggies!! In moderation, of course… And you wonder why I’m so frickin’ giddy about terrific fresh food.

My Food Bloggers LA group had chosen summer fruits as the food theme. I envisioned lots of crisps, cobblers and pies.

Sweet along with savory

Though a crisp was my first thought, I decided to offer up a salad with roasted fruit.

This is easily done. Select fruit that’s just ripe. Very ripe fruit will still be delicious but  bit mushy. Cut in half and twist halves back and forth until they pull apart. Place flesh side down to roast.

peachy peach

That’s all there is to it. By the way, roasted peaches are insanely good with vanilla ice cream and maybe a few chocolate chips sprinkled over or a bit of Grand Marnier. But I digress. Back to our delicious salad.

I used arugula and romaine along with mache, a lettuce that’s sweet with a bit of crisp. I’ve found it at farmers’ markets and recently saw Organicgirl  at Camp Blogaway and now at my Whole Foods. (Mache is at other markets too.)

I developed this salad by free associating with peaches in mind. Peach crisps are terrific with a crunchy pecan topping. Knew I needed to toast some pecans.

I wanted a light dressing that would add a touch of sweet and a touch of savory. White balsamic vinegar, with a bit of olive oil, maple syrup and stone ground Dijon mustard to bring it all together, was just the thing.

Remember Peach Melba? Peaches, raspberries and vanilla ice cream? Now there’s an excellent combo! Thought I’d throw in a bunch of raspberries into my roasted peach salad. I’m getting excited.

Roasted Peach and Goat Cheese Salad

Ingredients:

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F. Wash and thoroughly dry peaches. Cut in half and gently twist back and forth until peach loosens from pit. Don’t squeeze the peaches too hard – you want to keep as much juice as possible inside the peaches. Roast peaches, cut side down until juices are bubbling and darkening, about 20-25 minutes. Cool and cut into bite-sized chunks.

Toast pecans in a hot dry skillet over medium heat for about 3 minutes, until fragrant. Pecans burn easily so stay right there.

Whisk together vinegar, oil, maple syrup and mustard. Add salt & pepper and red pepper flakes. Or shake dressing up in a glass jar.

Place lettuces, along with green onions and cucumbers in  salad bowl. Toss with half the dressing. Add cut up roasted peaches and raspberries and toss very gently. Add pecans, mint and crumbled goat cheese over top. Taste and pour desired amount of remaining dressing over top.

Makes 4-6 generous servings.

Note: Omit the cheese and it’s dairy-free.

Happy peachy eatin’