Fresh Peach Caprese Salad with Honey Recipe | Foodal (2024)

The warmer months have finally brought the return of seasonal farmers markets to Nashville and along with them, the start of peach season.

I love peach season.

Is there anything sweeter or more summery than biting into a soft, juicy fruit over the kitchen sink, juices dribbling down your chin, your arms, your fingers? Is there anything harder to ignore than the innate pleasure of that sweet nectar on your tongue?

At the market downtown, a brown bag of freshly picked peaches costs about eight dollars, and when you hand over your cash, the seller urges patience.

“Wait two or three days! Leave them in the trunk of your car to make it quick!”

But with memories of previous years’ peaches dancing in my head as soon as I saw the stand by the side of the road, I was already fantasizing about fresh fruit for breakfast or lunch.

One short day of ripening on the counter later, when I reached into the bag for a peach to gently squeeze, it gave at my touch.

The moment I realized the peaches were ripe, I imagined baby Rocco’s reaction to them.

To me, the appeal of peaches is a known pleasure; to him, it is a discovery yet to be made. So when he woke from his nap, Tim and I walked out to the deck. We set down an old tablecloth and placed Rocco on top of it, and we handed him a peach.

In moments, his three small teeth were breaking the skin, taking in the ripe flesh, juices running all over his hands, his arms, his legs, the cloth.

“Mmmmm,” he kept saying while he ate it, almost as if he were letting us know it was good. As much as I love a good peach, I love seeing him love it just as much. What pleasure to give my baby something good and see him like it! What delight to get to be the one to hand him his first, ripe Georgia peach!

So often when I’m making something to eat or buying groceries at the store, I take in the smells and textures and colors in front of me, and I think about how grateful I am for these pleasures.

I’m so grateful to slice ripe peaches on a cutting board and arrange them alongside slices of mozzarella cheese and leaves of fresh basil, to drizzle balsamic vinegar and honey on top, to sprinkle fine sea salt and to crack black pepper over everything for a flavorful finishing touch.

It would be disingenuous to claim this as a recipe when truly it’s a method, one that can be applied to various ingredients (like fresh summertime tomatoes) and that I remembered when I was in the kitchen slicing the season’s first ripe peaches.

All you need to remember are the ingredients, and the proportions are truly up to you. What you wind up with is a softer, juicer, seasonally appropriate version of a classic caprese salad, where every bite of juicy fruit and satisfying cheese is something to be savored.

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Cooking By the Numbers…

Step 1 – Measure Out Ingredients

Measure out all of the ingredients on the ingredients list.

Step 2 – Slice Fruit and Cheese

Slices the peaches and mozzarella into pieces that are similar in size and thickness.

Step 3 – Assemble

Layer a slice of peach, then slice of mozzarella, and then a basil leaf on a small salad plate. Repeat this process until you’ve used half of the ingredients.

Repeat this again with remaining ingredients on a second small salad plate.

Step 4 – Dress Salad and Serve

Drizzle the salads evenly with balsamic vinegar and honey.

Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.