Chargrilled peach and roasted fig salad with prosciutto, creamy blue cheese and walnuts

My chargrilled peach and roasted fig salad with prosciutto, creamy blue cheese and walnuts is a very flavoursome, textural salad that has always gone down a storm when I serve it at summery get-togethers. It’s also a very easy recipe and quick to make and packed full of sweet, salty and fruity flavours.

Chargrilled peach and roasted fig salad Credit: Katie Quinn Davies

• serves

  10

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 8 fresh figs
• 125 ml (½ cup) light agave nectar, plus extra for serving
• 200 g walnuts
• 8 ripe yellow peaches 
• light olive oil spray
• 12 slices prosciutto san Daniele
• 200 g good quality mild and creamy blue cheese
• handful of watercress leaves
• handful of mint leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Dressing

• 100 g crème fraîche
• 2 tsp agave nectar juice
• 1 small lemon
• 1 tsp dijon mustard

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan-forced. 

Cut the figs in half lengthways and place cut side up on a large non-stick baking tray. Drizzle with a little agave nectar, about 1 tablespoon, and roast in the oven for 7 minutes. Remove and set aside.

At the same time the figs are roasting, place the walnuts in a dry non-stick frying pan and toast over medium heat for 3–4 minutes, tossing often. Sprinkle with a little agave nectar, about 1 tablespoon, and toss through the nuts while in the hot pan. Remove and allow to cool, then chop very roughly.

Cut the peaches in half and remove the stones (I find using a rounded 1 teaspoon measuring spoon is brilliant for this purpose). Cut each peach half into 4 pieces lengthways (so you’ll have 8 pieces in total from each peach). Spray the flesh sides of peaches with the light olive oil.

In a small bowl, add the remaining 80 ml (⅓  cup) agave nectar and 80 ml (⅓ cup) cold water and stir to combine. Set aside.

For the peaches, you’ll need to cook them in two batches. Heat a chargrill pan until almost smoking, add half the peaches, flesh side down, on the hot surface and cook until griddle marks appear on the peaches, about 2–3 minutes. When ready, turn the peaches over and repeat. After 1 minute on the second side, spoon half the agave and water mixture over the peaches – they will sizzle and steam and possibly spit a little so take tare when doing this. Grill the peaches for another minute or so and remove from the pan when ready. Repeat the same process with the remaining peaches.

To make the dressing, whisk all the ingredients together in a small jug or bowl.

To assemble the salad, place a few peach quarters on a large serving platter, then add a few figs, a few walnuts, a few torn slices of prosciutto, crumble a little blue cheese on top and scatter over a few watercress and mint leaves. Repeat this layering until all the ingredients are used up. Drizzle the salad with a little extra agave nectar and season lightly with a little salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Serve with a little of the dressing drizzled over and serve the extra on the side.

Recipe from What Katie Ate by Katie Quinn Davies with photography by Katie Quinn Davies.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.