Our local supermarket, which will remain nameless, has perfectly ripe Spanish peaches at the moment. Absolutely perfect for a summer barbecue salad. It’s worth paying the extra for free-range chicken from a reliable source (probably not the local supermarket).
Warm Chicken & Peach Salad – to serve 4
- 500g good-quality chicken breasts
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- olive oil
- baby spinach leaves
- ripe peaches
- basil
Heat the barbecue.
Put the chicken breast in a shallow dish. Add 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper. Turn the chicken breasts in the marinade until they are well-coated.
Cook the chicken on the hot barbecue until cooked through (ours took about 6 minutes on each side). You are going to slice the chicken anyway so it’s no problem to slice open one of the fillets to check.
Scatter a good few handfuls of spinach and a small handful of basil leaves over a large serving platter.
Mix 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp olive oil, a few shredded basil leaves and some salt and pepper together to make a dressing.
Slice the chicken and peaches and toss gently with the salad leaves. Drizzle over the dressing and serve.
Drink with: either Roussanne or Marsanne with their stone-fruit flavours to complement the light peachy flavours of the salad. We had a glass of a St Joseph white from Pierre Gaillard made from Roussanne which is amazing on it’s own and a perfect match for this dish.
Jono & Jules do food & wine 
I was wondering why you didn’t mention the supermarket. It became clear with the chicken. Truly good chicken or eggs are difficult to come by.
Lovely salad,
Conor
Unfortunately it’s probably your local supermarket and everyone else’s in the uk and Ireland too. We try to buy from local traders as much as we can but it’s not always easy. J&J