Peach Season Salad with Black Cherries, Burrata, Pickled Fennel & Calabrian Hot Honey
SERVES: 4 as starter or light lunch
This recipe was supposed to have grilled peaches in it. I had the whole thing worked out in my head: peaches with a little char, creamy burrata, Calabrian hot honey, black cherries. It sounded delicious. Then I grilled the peaches and immediately wished I hadn’t. They were softer, smokier and somehow less peachy, and everything I love about eating a really good peach in season — that incredible fragrance, the sweetness, all that juice — had disappeared somewhere on the grill.
So I started over with fresh peaches, took a bite and thought, there it is.
I use both white and yellow because, frankly, if you’re going to make a peach salad at the height of the season, why choose? I love the way they look together, but they taste different, too. White peaches have that delicate floral sweetness, while yellow peaches are a little brighter and more assertive. Add dark cherries and torn burrata and you already have something pretty wonderful.
What keeps it from becoming simply a plate of fruit and cheese is the fennel. I quick-pickle it so it stays crisp but picks up enough acidity to cut through the burrata and all that ripe fruit. I shave some of it into those wonderful long, feathery pieces and leave a few bits a little thicker for extra crunch. Basil adds a fresh, slightly earthy note, and after trying to talk myself into pistachios, I went back to Marcona almonds. They’re better here. Their salty, buttery crunch works with the fruit without asking for too much attention.
The final touch is a little Calabrian hot honey loosened with Champagne vinegar and the juice of a few crushed cherries. Just enough to lightly dress the fruit and leave a little heat behind. I thought I might need olive oil or lemon, too, but once I tasted everything together, I didn’t. The burrata and almonds bring richness, the pickled fennel has plenty of acidity and a beautiful ripe peach really doesn’t need me meddling with it any further.
Which, I suppose, is what I should have remembered before I put the peaches on the grill in the first place.
INGREDIENTS
For the pickled fennel:
1 small fennel bulb, preferably with fronds
1/2 cup Champagne vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt or 1 teaspoon Morton kosher salt
1 wide strip lemon peel
5–6 whole black peppercorns
For the Calabrian hot honey dressing:
2 teaspoons Calabrian hot honey
2 teaspoons Champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon fresh black cherry juice
Pinch of kosher salt
For the salad:
2 large ripe but firm white peaches
2 large ripe but firm yellow peaches
1 cup ripe black cherries, plus 2–3 additional cherries for the dressing
2 (4-ounce) balls burrata
1/3 cup salted Marcona almonds
Small fresh basil leaves, for finishing
Reserved fennel fronds, for finishing
Calabrian hot honey, for finishing
Flaky sea salt
METHOD
Pickle the fennel
Trim the fennel, reserving the delicate fronds. Cut the bulb in half vertically.
Using a mandoline, shave most of the fennel very thinly from the cut side. Slicing it this way allows some of the pieces to remain connected near the core, creating long, feathery shapes. Leave these intact unless a piece is particularly large or unwieldy.
Dice a smaller portion of the fennel into slightly thicker pieces. You want two textures: the delicate, almost sculptural slices and little pieces with a bit more crunch.
Combine the Champagne vinegar, water, sugar, kosher salt, lemon peel and peppercorns in a small saucepan. Warm gently, stirring just until the sugar and salt have completely dissolved. There is no need to bring the brine to a boil.
Place the shaved and diced fennel in a heatproof bowl or jar along with a few of the reserved fennel fronds. Pour the warm brine over the fennel and let pickle for 30 to 60 minutes.
Prepare the cherries
Pit the cherries, then gently press each one with the flat side of a chef’s knife until it just begins to split. Tear them apart with your fingers, leaving some nearly whole, some in halves and others in smaller pieces. The irregular shapes make the finished salad look more natural and give you slightly different bites throughout.
Set aside while you make the dressing.
Make the Calabrian hot honey dressing
Gently smash the additional 2 to 3 cherries with the flat side of a chef’s knife. Press the fruit through a fine-mesh strainer to collect 1 teaspoon of juice.
Whisk the cherry juice with the Calabrian hot honey, Champagne vinegar and a small pinch of kosher salt.
Add the prepared cherries and gently toss until they are lightly coated. Let them sit in the dressing for a few minutes while you prepare the peaches and burrata.
Prepare the peaches and fennel
Cut the white and yellow peaches into generous wedges. Keep the pieces substantial and slightly irregular rather than cutting them into uniformly small slices. The peaches should feel like the heart of the dish.
Remove only as much pickled fennel from the brine as you want to use in the salad. Transfer those pieces to a paper towel and gently blot away the excess brine before adding them to the platter. Leave the remaining fennel submerged in its brine for another use.
You may not need all of the fennel. How much you use will depend on the size of the bulb and the peaches, as well as your own taste. The fennel should be an accent — a bright, crisp bite that appears here and there rather than an equal proportion of fennel to fruit.
Assemble the salad
Arrange the white and yellow peach wedges loosely over a serving platter. Spoon the dressed cherries among the peaches, allowing the dressing that naturally clings to them to come along with them.
Drain the burrata and tear it into generous pieces, nestling them among the fruit.
Tuck the pickled fennel throughout the platter, using a mixture of the long, feathery slices and the smaller diced pieces.
Scatter the Marcona almonds over the platter, leaving some whole and coarsely chopping the rest. Finish with small basil leaves and a restrained scattering of fresh fennel fronds.
Sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Just before serving, finish the platter with a very light drizzle of Calabrian hot honey. You aren’t looking to coat the fruit; it should simply add an occasional little hit of sweetness and heat against the peaches, cherries and burrata. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Serve immediately.
Buon Appetito!
KITCHEN NOTES
Timing the fennel: Start with the quick-pickled fennel, then prepare the rest of the salad while it sits in the brine. Thirty to 60 minutes is ideal — it will be bright and tangy but still retain its fresh crunch. You can pickle it further in advance, but keep in mind that the fennel will become more assertively pickled the longer it sits.
Leftover pickled fennel: Keep any fennel you don’t use submerged in its brine in the refrigerator. It’s great tucked into sandwiches, served alongside cheese or charcuterie, added to another salad or spooned over grilled fish.
Choosing peaches: Look for peaches that are fragrant and give slightly when gently pressed but are still firm enough to hold their shape when cut.
Marcona almonds: If you’re using fried and salted Marcona almonds, they’re ready to go — just roughly chop a few and leave the rest whole. If yours are plain, lightly toast them in a dry skillet until fragrant, then season with a little salt before adding them to the salad.
Assemble just before serving: Blot the fennel you plan to use on a paper towel, then assemble the salad close to serving so the fruit stays fresh, the fennel crisp and the burrata at its best.
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