Balsamic Peach Arugula Salad really balances the sweet with the savory. Roasted peaches, asparagus, and red onion top peppery arugula along with creamy goat cheese and crunchy pistachios. A drizzle of homemade balsamic reduction makes this salad an absolute delight.
1tbspghee or butter, melted, can use a vegan butter too
Veggies + Pistachios + Cheese
15 - 20thin stalks of asparagus
3tspolive oil, extra virgin
1/2medium red onion, sliced into thin rings
4ozarugula
salt & pepper
1/4cuppistachios, shelled
2ozgoat cheese, can omit completely or use feta, blue cheese, or shaved parmesan
Balsamic Reduction
1cupbalsamic vinegar
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Spread peach slices on half of a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Leave room to add your asparagus later. Drizzle melted ghee or butter and 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar over the peaches. Place in oven and bake for 5 minutes.
Remove from oven. Carefully flip peach slices. You should see some good caramelization already starting.
Spread asparagus on remaining side of baking sheet. Lay red onion on top of the asparagus. Drizzle 1 tsp olive oil over the asparagus and red onion. Liberally salt and pepper. Bake peaches, asparagus, and red onion for 10 minutes. (I recommend using thin stalks of asparagus for this salad but if you only have thicker stalks you'll want to increase your baking time here to around 12 minutes.)
While everything is in the oven prepare your balsamic glaze. Add 1 cup balsamic vinegar to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium. You should see bubbling along the outside of your pan. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally as vinegar begins to thicken and coat the spoon. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for a few minutes. It will thicken a bit more as it sits and you'll end up with around 1/4 cup of balsamic glaze.
Let's assemble the salad! Divide your arugula into bowls. Toss with remaining 2 tsp olive oil. Salt and pepper. Add asparagus, red onion, goat cheese, and peaches to each dish. Drizzle balsamic glaze over top. Sprinkle pistachios.
Notes
Nutrition information is based on serving this to four people as a side dish. You can easily enjoy this salad as an entree for two people. Simply double the nutrition information.For this salad we're using our balsamic reduction plus a little olive oil as our salad dressing. You can always opt to add another dressing if you like but you'll find that the balsamic reduction provides a lot of flavor.