Monday, March 1, 2010

Peach, Jamón ibérico & Buffalo Mozzarella Salad with Rocket & Balsamic


Sometimes the simplest is best.

Inspiration can be found anywhere.
I am particularly susceptible to inspiration's charms. I find my mind is easily tickled and spun into a carousel of ideas and thoughts by something so simple as a dandelion dancing on the breeze's toes, or in this instance, the satisfied grin of my husband after eating a salad at a restaurant. From that one meal, he discovered a new food, a new taste that tickled his tongue - Jamón ibérico.

This inspired me to find some myself so that I could create my own simple salad with it. Surprisingly, I found it on my third stop at a local Jones the Grocer store.
There are three grades, which I found out after the purchase, so I am not sure which grade it was, but suffice to say, hubby was pleasantly surprised to find it on his plate.
The original salad was comprised of Jamón ibérico, black fig, sweet rocket, hazelnut vinaigrette & balsamic jelly, but seeing as though we wanted a short break from figs (our mother in law kindly donated a bag of them from her garden), I thought I'd use some peaches before they disappear for another 9months.


Peach, Jamón ibérico & Buffalo Mozzarella salad
serves 4 as a side dish

50gm rocket, rinsed and dried
2 peaches, sliced into 8
6-8 slices of Jamón ibérico
250g buffalo mozzarella, torn (burrata would also be lovely)
1/2 lemon, juice only
balsamic reduction and olive oil to drizzle
salt and pepper to season

Slice peaches and toss with lemon, olive oil and salt and pepper. Rinse and dry rocket and scatter on plates. Arrange Jamón ibérico, peaches, mozzarella on plate and drizzle balsamic. Serve.

ease: 5/5.
prep time: 10mins.
total: 10mins.

taste: 4.5/5. Second-serving-scrumptious.

Hubby liked this so much he had a second serving of it.
This is all about quality ingredients so don't scrimp.
The peaches are luscious and add freshness to the peppery rocket and soft, creamy buffalo mozzarella whilst the balsamic adds sweet tanginess without overpowering the subtle but rich Jamón ibérico.

would I make it again: Yes, I'd definitely continue to play around with the flavours a little.

12 comments:

  1. A fresh, tasty and original salad!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  2. Jamon and Buffalo mozzarella, I'm in!

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  3. that is soooo pretty! salty, sweet, spicy, and tart--this creation has it all!! i'm truly excited by this, in case you can't tell by my abuse of exclamation points. :)

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  4. What an interesting and beautiful salad! It sounds so refreshing and healthy.

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  5. Pretty! I love all the colors!

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  6. I love the colours in this salad, and such lovely photos again, as always!

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  7. wow, the colours on that dish are just amazing. So deep and luscious! I want to eat my computer screen!!

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  8. You could credit Jamie Oliver for this one. Credit where credit is due...

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  9. Hey guys!!!
    Wow .... Congratulations to actually pan for this recipe did Peach, Iberico ham & Buffalo Mozzarella Salad with Rocket & Balsamic. I really love this too good. thanks for sharing the information.

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  10. I just ate and it was delicious. Thanks for the recipe!

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  11. I tried this today - only, with Parma instead of jamon iberico, since I live in Italy - and it was just delicious! Thank you so much!
    Big hugs from Venice,

    Mij

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