This Mediterranean summer salad uses the best of this season's produce to create a vibrant, delicious, and refreshing salad. Serve this Zucchini and Peach Salad as an appetizer or side dish, or enjoy it as a light summer meal.
Let’s make the most of summer produce with a fantastic Grilled Zucchini and Peach Salad. For this recipe, we use homegrown zucchinis, as this year we've been harvesting them daily. Our Zucchinis may look lighter than the ones you can find in your farmer’s market or grocery store, as we use a variety from the Mediterranean. The taste is slightly sweeter, but they are very similar in texture and taste to your regular zucchini, so you can use those instead.
We personally love this salad as a main dish, but you could also serve it as an appetizer or side dish. The best part is the salad dressing, featuring tangy preserved lemons. Don't worry if you don't have preserved lemons, we can help you find the perfect substitute.
This salad was chosen as the front cover of our e-book “Mediterranean Kitchen”, I guess it just looked too gorgeous to not make it on the front page!
Ingredients
Zucchinis. We use zucchinis from our garden. These are called white zucchinis over here, but they are very similar to your regular zucchinis, so feel free to use those instead.
Peaches. Another summer produce, peaches, is at its peak during these months, and its sweetness makes it the perfect addition to salad.
Walnuts. We use walnuts to add some protein and crunch to the salad, but you can choose another type of nuts, such as hazelnuts, cashews, or macadamia nuts.
Vegan Feta. Especially during the warmer months, we like buying some blocks of vegan feta to sprinkle into our salads, summer soups, and tarts. Vegan Feta is quite similar to the classic feta, adding saltiness and a rich flavor to your meal. You can make your own Vegan Feta using tofu.
Rocket Salad. This year, we had plenty of rocket salad in our garden, so we've been using it a lot to make our salads. It pairs beautifully with the rest of the ingredients.
Fresh basil. It adds a great flavor to the dish.
Salad Dressing
Preserved Lemons. You can make your own preserved lemons (but you won't be able to use them straight away) or buy already-made preserved lemons. We make a few jars of preserved lemons every year as we have two lemon trees, and then we use them for salads, tagines, to garnish pasta dishes, and in this recipe, to make a lemony dressing. You can add some lemon juice to the dressing if you don't have preserved lemons together with some lemon zest (make sure you're using unwaxed lemon).
Mustard. For salad dressings, you want to use dijon mustard, as it's sweeter and has a richer flavor.
Apple Cider Vinegar. Feel free to use balsamic vinegar.
Olive oil. For salads, we always use extra virgin olive oil.
Maple or date syrup.
Cooking Method
Finely slice the zucchinis lengthwise and cut the peaches into wedges.
Grease a pan or griddle with some olive oil and grill the zucchini and peaches. You may need to cook it in different batches, as you don't want to overcrowd the griddle. Onced cooked through, set aside.
Wash and dry the rocket and basil. Ground the walnuts, if you prefer them, into smaller pieces, and crumble the vegan feta.
Prepare the salad dressing by adding all the ingredients into an immersion blender and blending until you have a smooth dressing. At this point, you can add extra olive oil. The dressing is quite thick, more like a sauce.
Place the rocket on the bottom of the plate, creating a green base, and add the rest of the ingredients.
Add the salad dressing before serving.
Grilled Zucchini And Peach Salad
Ingredients
- 2 zucchinis medium
- 2 peaches
- ½ cup walnuts
- ½ cup vegan feta
- 2 cups of rocket salad
- A handful of fresh basil
Salad Dressing
- ½ preserved lemon
- 5 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
Instructions
- Finely slice the zucchinis lengthwise and cut the peaches into wedges.
- Grease with olive oil a griddle or a pan and the zucchini and peaches. Cook in different batches to not overcrowd the pan. Set aside and leave to cool.
- Wash and dry the rocket and basil. Ground the walnuts, if you prefer them, into smaller pieces, and crumble the vegan feta.
- Prepare the salad dressing by adding all the ingredients into an immersion blender and blending until you have a smooth dressing. At this point, you can add extra olive oil.
- Place the rocket on the bottom of the plate, creating a green base, and add the rest of the ingredients.
- Add the salad dressing before serving, and enjoy!
Notes
- The salad dressing is more like a sauce; to drizzle it evenly on the salad, we recommend using a salad dressing dispenser.
Nutrition
Serving Suggestions
We love this salad served as a main meal, especially for lunch during those hot summer days. Having an unlimited source of zucchini during the summer months makes it very easy for us to put together this salad in no time without the need of going shopping.
Other ways we enjoy this grilled peach and zucchini salad is as an appetizer or side dish when we have people over. It makes for a refreshing and delicious side that nobody expects!
Serve with some kalamata or Marinated olives, maybe a jar of garlic confit, and enjoy those last bits of dressing with some crusty bread.
FAQ
You can totally make this recipe even if you don't have preserved lemons. Add some lemon juice, and before serving some lemon zest, make sure you're using unwaxed lemons.
We've tried this salad with other fruits, such as grilled pineapple, strawberries, cherries, and apricots. They were all great additions, so try cooking this salad with other seasonal fruits; you'll love it!
Smoked tofu makes for a great substitute for vegan feta. It adds some smokiness to the salad, and even if it doesn't taste like feta, it's a great alternative to it.
We recommend you leave the zucchini with the skin, as they will hold better their shape after being cooked. We don't peel our zucchinis as they are organic, but you may want to wash them properly if you are using store-bought zucchinis.
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