Arugula Salad With Peaches, Goat Cheese and Basil

By Lidey Heuck

Arugula Salad With Peaches, Goat Cheese and Basil
Andrew Purcell for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Total Time
10 minutes
Rating
5(2,732)
Comments
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This simple, quintessential summer salad is a reminder that seasonal ingredients at their very best don’t need much fussing (or much cooking at all, in this case). Here, peppery arugula and earthy goat cheese get brightened with juicy summer peaches, but the recipe can be tweaked to suit all seasons: If you can’t find ripe peaches, you can use cherries, strawberries, plums, raspberries or even cherry tomatoes in their place.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • ¼cup pine nuts
  • ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2tablespoons champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
  • ½teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼teaspoon black pepper
  • 4 to 5ounces baby arugula
  • 2ripe peaches, pitted and cut into ¼-inch slices (about 10 ounces)
  • ½cup julienned fresh basil leaves
  • 2ounces creamy goat cheese, crumbled (about ½ cup), plus more to taste
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

276 calories; 24 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 13 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 7 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 348 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a small sauté pan, toast the pine nuts over medium heat, tossing often, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

  2. Step 2

    In a small liquid measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

  3. Step 3

    Place the arugula in a large salad bowl. Pour just enough dressing over the greens to moisten, and toss to coat. Add the peaches, basil, goat cheese and toasted pine nuts and toss to coat. Add more goat cheese and dressing if desired. Toss gently and serve immediately.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
2,732 user ratings
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Comments

Vicki Stein

I fried the goat cheese instead of crumbling it. It was crunchy on the outside and warm and velvety on the inside. I also used half the salad dressing. It was a big hit with my family.

Queen Molly

A beautiful salad and delicious. I followed the recipe exactly with one exception: I cut down the olive oil to 3 TB as I like a more vinegary dressing. I ended up not using all the dressing. For those of you on Weight Watchers, this is 3-4 points, depending on how much olive oil you end up consuming. Here's a tip for peeling peaches and not wasting any of the precious fruit: immerse peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds. The peel comes right off.

Katherine

Used walnuts instead of pine nuts. Very good!

Lauren

I made this salad for the first time a few nights ago and my husband and I were very impressed. Neither of us are really “salad for dinner” people, but we added grilled chicken on top and it was phenomenal. Based of some of the comments/suggestions in other comments I read, I decided to go with a honey goat cheese to add some sweetness to the salad and it was perfect. This will definitely be in our summer dinner rotation moving forward!

Dan

fantastic as written. topped with grilled shrimp to make a complete meal salad. Great combo all around.

Fred

I made this exactly as written, and it was incredible. Two caveats: first, the recipient calls for creamy goat cheese, so that’s what I purchased and used. Then the recipe says to crumble it, which was impossible because I interpreted creamy as soft, and the soft goat cheese can’t be crumbled. Next time I make this I’ll get a goat cheese that can be crumbled. This was delicious anyway, but I do think that a harder cheese would be better. Second, I used all of the vinaigrette in spite of the instructions to use half and add more if necessary and although it was excellent, less would have been better here. But an incredible salad anyway, and I’ll be making it again.

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