Grilled Fruit Salad with Creamy Goat Cheese Topping [and Pomegranate Agrodolce]
Now please guys, don’t start praying for snow just yet alright?
I promise to leave you alone with my grilled stuff… soon!
In fact, this would be the last one in line for the “On The Grill!” series. There are no more in my queue, I swear.
Not saying I won’t be throwing anything else on the grill for the remainder of the summer, ‘cuz that would be asking too much.
But I shall give you guys a little break.
And let me tell you this might be the last, but it’s certainly not the least!
Boy, does grilling fruits ever take a fruit salad to the next level! Seriously, I should’ve tried that WAY before. It’s like fruit salad to the 10th power!
It’s just like taking a very simple light summer dish and turning it into this super fancy extraordinary dessert And hey, you don’t even need to booze it up to it to take it to such a high level of greatness.
Couldn’t ask for much better than that! This, to me, is the ultimate summer dessert, or snack, or even breakfast.
Yeah… I did have mine for breakfast, how’d you guess?
Granted, this takes a little bit more time and preparation than a conventional fruit salad would, and you can’t really use the same kinds of fruits that we are so used to seeing in a fruit salad, but still, there are A LOT of possibilities here. So many different flavor combinations to explore…
For instance, I would’ve loved to have a pineapple on hand. Or a fresh coconut, maybe!
For a real tropical twist, plantain would’ve been delicious, I’m sure.
Or mango…
Guava? Yes please!
Hey, who ever said that a BBQ was a man thing and was meant to grill steaks and hamburgers and hot-dogs?
Certainly not me! Not buyin’ it!
In fact, mine has barely seen any meat at all this summer…
But trust me, it’s seen its fair share of fruits and veggies!
Oh, and pizza dough, too! 😉
One more thing…
Remember that delicious Pomegranate Agrodolce I made not too long ago?
Well, it works magically well with this fruit salad!
In fact, the fruit salad was mainly inspired BY the Agrodolce. If you don’t have any, it’s not an absolute necessity that you make some. But if you happen to have some on hand, or even just a simple balsamic reduction, by all means, drizzle some of that on top of this beautiful dish.
Take my word for it. Trust me, you won’t regret it!
Grilled Fruit Salad with Creamy Goat Cheese Topping [and Pomegranate Agrodolce]
Ingredients
- 2 peaches, cut in half, pit removed
- 3 plums, cut in half, pit removed
- 2 bosc pears, cut in half, core and stem removed
- 2 fresh figs, cut in half
- 1 pink grapefruit, cut in half
- Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
Goat Cheese Topping
- 30 g unripened goat cheese
- 2 tbsp fat free plain Greek yogurt
- 1 scoop vanilla flavored whey protein powder
Instructions
- Preheat your outdoor grill to very high heat; While grill is heating, prep all your fruits. Set them face up on a cutting board and sprinkle with a tiny bit of freshly cracked black pepper.
- When grill is hot enough, place your fruits face down on the grill and cook until they get nice grill marks on them, about 3-5 minutes.
- Remove from grill and set on your cutting board. Cut peaches, plums and pears into bite size pieces, (you might want to keep a few pear slices to garnish) and transfer to medium size mixing bowl.
- Using a teaspoon, remove the flesh from the grapefruit and add to the rest of the fruits. Squeeze as much of the juice as you possibly can over the fruits. Toss in basil and mint leaves and mix until well combined. Set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, add goat cheese, Greek yogurt and protein powder. Mix with a spoon until well incorporated. It might look like there is too much powder at first, but it will come together eventually. Same goes for the "lumpy" feeling. Just let the mixture rest for about a minute and give it another quick stir. It will become nice and smooth.
- When ready to serve, divide fruit salad between 4 bowls and top with goat cheese mixture. Garnish with fig halves, slices of pears and mint leaves, if desired.
- For a little bit of added yumness, pour a teaspoon of Pomegranate Agrodolce over the whole thing. This will take your fruit salad straight to the next level, I swear!
Nutrition
If you’ve tried this recipe, please take a minute to rate the recipe and let me know how things went for you in the comments below. It’s always such a pleasure to hear from you!
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8 Comments on “Grilled Fruit Salad with Creamy Goat Cheese Topping [and Pomegranate Agrodolce]”
This looks so healthy and pretty I have been scrolling up and down for a minute! However, for High Tea, yes or perchance for a very healthy lunch! Never breakfast, ’cause I simply have to have a cup of black, full strength coffee and something on dark bread with me in bed, together with papers and books, within about five minutes of waking 🙂 ! Horses for courses!!!
You and I definitely have different visions of the perfect breakast…
Although I can’t say I hate the idea of being in bed with papers and books around me. But I wouldn’t last 5 minutes. I’d just HAVE to get up and do something.
Yeah, I’m that kind of person. Not much “relaxation” going on here… 😉
Actually that time in bed is pre-planning for the day: am awfully organized 🙂 ! And the phone calls, orders,filling in of lists, ledger books etc oft takes about 1/2 hour! Love that part!! Now: re herrings – just tried to find a way to reply on the previous post but I think we had run out of space?! Cultural differences, Sonia, c’est tout 🙂 ! I don’t remember ever having smoked herrings – would avoid them because of the carcinogenic aspect already! What I buy and love are the various matjes herrings: spiced herring fillets in brine: every Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Swedish etc firm has its own taste sensation. They are quite salty and I would not have them every day: usually they are eaten with egg for breakfast or put into Russian or potato salads etc. The taste variations are enormous – it is like trying a dozen Chardonnays and finding each one different. BUT, I LOVE anchovies also, so perhaps this simply is not your thing 🙂 ! Now, don’t throw the smoked ones out: make a court-bouillon of milk/water with a handful of leek slices and all the aromatics you can find in the garden; poach until fish flakes, then have with an innocuous grain or potato or simple green salad: I have been doing that the last few days with some beautiful smoked cod I picked up at incredible prices! 🙂 !!!!!
I happen to love anchovies too, although they ARE really salty. No Ceasar Salad is complete without a few fillets of anchovy! I will not let the herrings go to waste, I will find a way to use them in some dish. I really like your idea of boiling them in milk. I think I’ll start with that principle and build from there. If I did do potatoes, I would definitely go for the potato salad. That sounds delicious! Hey, I’ll figure something out! 🙂
Came back on to say ‘good morning’ [Hmm!]: just out of interest: I think you are talking of anchovy fillets in oil [come in little oval tins here], I was speaking of the Nordic breakfast style: they come whole in big glass jars, in spicy brine like the herrings, head, guts and all. One of the first finicky things I learned to do as a small child was to behead them neatly, cut down the inside of the body, remove all the mess and bones inside and enjoy the rest 🙂 ! Very much a learned experience. And tinned herrings: well, I won’t be rude in print 🙂 ! Oh, I oft use the anchovies in oil to give a little bit of an extra tang to many dishes – they do almost dissolve but impart a lovely taste. BUT, to me that is not anchovies – with love from a Viking gal 🙂 !
Love this! I’ve switched to a vegan diet about 3 months ago and this looks good enough to tempt me to eat dairy 🙂
Keep sharing the grilled stuff. It’s my favorite way to cook 🙂
Awww, thanks so much Jill! That would be quite the compliment! Although you could very well have the fruit salad without the added dairy… 😉
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