Recipes: Stone Fruit, Tomato & Mint Salad With Chili Crisp Vinaigrette

Some of summer's tastiest offerings come together in this herby, sweet and spicy salad 😋

It’s the summertime and the fruit options are endless!

I’ve actually been tinkering around with this stone fruit and tomato salad idea since a trip to South Florida last year visiting some family. The produce looked great at the market down there and had decided to give it a go. I was immediately taken with how bright and fresh this salad could be and the chunkier shapes were very enjoyable!

At my Mom’s house we grew up eating bag salads from Publix and Walmart (they very popular in the 90s and 00s but are they now?). And truth be told, I loved those bagged salads growing up. I remember they’d often be comprised of iceburg lettuce with a bit of shaved carrot and red cabbage thrown in for health and a packet of ranch dressing to mix it all together in. At my Dad’s house, my Step Mother would make all types of different Greek and Mediterranean Salads and dips and It was there that I was first introduced to the idea of a chunkier salad. These salads were well seasoned and had bolder ingredients with different shapes and textures that were all flavorful in their own right.

This is all just a long winded way of saying that this salad would also be chunky and, in some ways, kind of reminiscent of the Greek Salads I’d grew up eating, in a structural sort of way (maybe 😅). We’re using 3 main Ingredients for the body of our salad. Instead of olives, cucumbers and tomatoes (greek salad staples) were using cherries, peaches and tomatoes. Instead of chunks of saltier Feta mixed in, we’re using a bed of fresh ricotta at the bottom of the plate for some creamy support to help balance the spice level of the dish.

For some texture and a nuttier element, I chopped up and toasted off some pistachios and also added in some fresh chopped mint leaves for a more herby accompaniment.

Dressing wise, I wanted to make sure that it was big, bold and had enough heat and acidity to balance out the natural sweetness of our fruits. I decided to use some chili crisp as a base and went with a personal favorite of mine, Super Magic Taste. This particular Chili Crisp is made by some friends of mine up in Toronto, CA. It’s a bit different than other Chili Crisps that I’ve had previously in that it has some fruity and tomatoey flavors to it which I attribute to their use of Korean Gochugaru. After the initial hit of flavors, it settles into this deep and savory tamari flavor on the back end. It’s my go to chili crisp for pizza and I figured it would go very well in this context. Here is a short video i made featuring their crisp last year if you’re interested.

In the end, this salad turned out incredibly tasty and was a happy discovery that I ended up making throughout last summer. If you’re fortunate enough to have access to ripe local stone fruits like peaches, plums and cherries, I would highly recommend giving this one a try!

Cheers,

Joey

Please consider supporting this page and content by subscribing and upgrading to a paid tier for added recipes, benefits and more!

Full Video on my Youtube

More recipes and videos on my Youtube HERE

Full Recipe Below

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 4 people as a main, 6 as a side salad

Mods: To make this vegan simply omit ricotta or sub for a similar vegan cheese

Ingredients: