Grilled Chicken and Peaches Salad

My version. Looks pretty good.

Con Poulos/Woman's Day

Oh, not peaches. I like peach pie (it's basically apple pie), but I've never been a fan of JUST peaches. Lila and Andy love them, so as long as I pick decent ones this one should be fine. Right? I mean, how bad could a grilled peach be? But picking peaches is hard--even people like my sister, who usually does an amazing job of picking out produce, says peaches are hit and miss. Give the job to a novice (me), and this could turn into a disaster quick. I googled, wikipediaed, and Betty Crocker-ed. I smelled, looked, and felt all the peaches in the store. I am in no way confident in my peaches, but let's proceed.

Grilled Chicken and Peaches Salad

Woman's Day Magazine Online, May 2012

Active Time: 15 minutes       Total time: 30 minutes            Level: Easy

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. Grated Ginger
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 2 medium red onions
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3 peaches
• 1 bunch spinach

Usually when I do chicken Lila and I share a breast. That's what I'm doing tonight, since chicken is like $7/pound. Also, when I bought my chicken (on Saturday, August 22), I apparently bought chicken that was best if used by August 20. I'm hoping this doesn't look or smell funny. Ok, it's 5 days past the sell-by date, time to find something else. It's already 5:15 pm Tuesday, so the plan is Woody's Pizza tonight (and groceries),  chicken salad tomorrow for supper. Reminder to everyone to look at dates before they buy, because I just threw out $7. Maybe not a lot, but it adds up I'm sure.

Directions:

1. Heat grill to medium-high. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, ginger, 1 Tbsp of the oil, and 1/8 tsp each salt and pepper; set aside.
2. Brush the onions with 1 Tbsp of the oil and season with 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper. Brush the chicken with 1 tsp of the oil, and season with 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper. In a bowl, toss the peaches with the remaining Tbsp oil.
3. Grill the chicken and onions until the chicken is cooked through and the onions are tender, 5 to 6 minutes per side. Grill the peaches (reserve the bowl) until charred, 2 minutes per side.
4. Transfer the peaches and onions to the bowl. Add the spinach and vinaigrette and toss to combine. Serve with the chicken.

So, that was almost a week ago. I did end up making 4 chicken breasts, and I'm happy I did because that was pretty much the only edible part of the meal for me. Andy thought they were delicious--then he realized that the meal was the salad part. I don't think Andy even touched his peaches, but he did eat the salad both for supper and then as lunch at work. I took a bite of peaches and spinach, got to try it right? It was gross. The combo of warm, gooey peaches, crisp spinach, and a white wine vinaigrette was not a flavor I enjoyed. I couldn't even eat the plain spinach after that because the peaches were still sort of just there. Lila and I decided to have lettuce with ranch and croutons. That was way better.

Tips: Grilled peaches would be fine, good even, on ice cream. They don't belong in salad. 

Verdict: Taste of Day FAIL.