Madhouse recipe : Grilled nectarine and goat's cheese salad

When it's sweltering outside, salads are always the way to go - by adding a few hot ingredients (melted goat's cheese, grilled nectarine slices, chopped bacon ...), it makes it seem more like a proper meal. The gooey cheese and sweet fruit flavours meant that I didn't even feel the need to add salad dressing, but you could if you wanted to.

 Grilled nectarine and goat's cheese salad

 ingredients (per person) :

a few lettuce leaves

a few slices of cucumber

3 cherry tomatoes

3 slices of goat's cheese

1/2 a nectarine

1-2 bacon rashers or a couple of slices of Parma ham

Rip the salad leaves into pieces and put them on a plate then arrange slices of cucumber on top and dot slices of cherry tomatoes around the edges.

Put the slices of goat's cheese under the grill for a couple of minutes to melt - I used a muffin tin to stop it running everywhere and making a mess in the oven.

Chop the nectarine into 8 wedges and grill until soft - I used the Optigrill but you could pop them on the barbecue or under the grill with the goat's cheese.

Chop the bacon into pieces and spoon on top of the salad - you might spot a few mushroom and onion slices in mine too because it was pinched from some creamy bacon and mushroom pasta sauce that I was making for the kids ! I originally meant to use Parma ham but I forgot to put it on the shopping list - doh !

Once it's molten and lightly browned on top, take the cheese out of the oven.

Leave the nectarine wedges to grill on both sides - I pressed down on the Optigrill to speed things up but it takes a good five minutes (longer than the cheese, if you're cooking both in the oven at the same time).

Arrange the grilled nectarine slices on top.

Use a spoon to scoop the melted goat's cheese out of the muffin tin and pour on top.

Eat while it's still warm, with some crusty bread on the side if you like.

Linking up with Marathons & Motivation and Ilka's Blog