Grilled Pluot, Red Onion and Goat Cheese Salad

Lest you all think all I can do is make sweets, here's a fresh and seasonal salad for you.  I was completely inspired to make this salad by a fellow SoCal blogger, Yummy Mummy's Marina.  Marina lives in probably what is one of my most favorite towns ever, Santa Barbara and she is equally beautiful inside and out.  Her photographs are full of light and her food, well check her out and see for yourself! 

Yesterday, Marina posted the recipe for a beautiful salad made with grilled apricots.  I've grilled pineapple before and I've heard people sing the praises of grilled peaches, but for some reason it never occurred to me to try to grill other stone fruit.  Of course, they're great roasted, so why not grilled?  Having been blessed by a plethora of stone fruit by my CSA, I decided right then and there that I was going to try it for lunch.

I was fresh out of apricots (they make fantastic smoothies with orange juice and frozen raspberries!), so I grabbed a plout from my fruit bowl and headed to the backyard grill.  A few more ingredients foraged from my refrigerator and I was sitting down to one of the best salads I have ever eaten.  The star of which was a sweet, tart grilled plout to die for.  It was salad heaven.

Grilled Plout, Red Onion and Goat Cheese Salad
Serves one.  Inspired by Yummy Mummy.
For a printable version, click here.

Don't have a plout (which is a hybrid between a plum and an apricot and my favorite stone fruit in the world)?  Grab a nectarine, a peach, an apricot, or a plain old plum and go to town.  I'm giving directions on making the salad for one, because that's what I made for myself.  But you guys are all smart enough to figure out how to make this for as many servings as you need.

1 firm ripe plout ( you don't want a plout that is too soft to the tough or it will disintegrate on the grill)
1 1/4 inch thick disk sliced from a small red onion
1 handful of leafy greens or arugula
1 slice bacon, cooked and crumbled
small handful candied pecans or walnuts
crumbled goat cheese or blue cheese
extra virgin olive oil
good quality sweet vinegar, such as orange champagne or balsamic vinegar

Core and quarter the plout.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil on the red onion.  Place both over a medium hot grill and cook until there are grill marks on both sides, about 4 minutes.  Cut the disk red onion in half.

Place the greens, bacon, grilled red onion, and candied nuts in a medium bowl.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil and vinegar over the salad and toss.  Place the salad on a plate and top with the goat cheese and grilled plout quarters.