Peach Salad with Romesco Dressing

After an abundance of meat after the last couple of days, I needed a light salad to balance things out. I'm a big fan of adding fruits to salads and roasting fruits adds an even better flavor. This salad makes a great summer meal with some nice crusty bread. I decided to make a romesco sauce, since I had some tomatoes that were on the verge of going bad. The romesco adds a nice richness to the salad and even better yet, tastes hella good on bread. The ricotta lightens everything up and makes it more satisfying to eat as well.

Ingredients
4 Ripe Peaches (should be slightly soft, but not mushy)
3 sweet onions sliced (mauii, vidalia)
Whole fat ricotta
Baby Spinach (mixed salad greens would be nice too)
Romesco Sauce (recipe below)
1/2 tablespoon Honey
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
2 tbsp water
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

1) Preheat oven to 400 with a baking tray. Cut the peaches in half (watch out for the pit and be very careful with the knife) and place on a baking pan cut side up. Drizzle a teaspoon of honey on each peach if the peach is not sweet enough. Salt (1/4 teaspoon) and pepper (1/4 teaspoon) the peaches. Put pan in oven.
2) Saute onions in a pan with extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Stir occasionally and after 20 minutes you should have caramelized onions. Make sure not to burn otherwise it will be bitter. It should be sweet and creamy.
3) Cook for 25 minutes. Check peaches. You should be able to stick a knife in the peach and remove with no resistance. Set peach aside and let rest for 5-10 minutes. Collect any of the peach juices that are on the pan and add to the dressing in step 4. Thinly slice peaches or you can serve them halved.
4) Combine romesco sauce, peach juice from step 3, 1 tablespoon olive oil, water, pinch salt and pepper and whisk together. Taste. If you like it sweeter add more honey. The dressing should be pretty wet. If it's too thick, add a little bit of water and whisk again. Want it more sour, add a tiny bit more vinegar. It's all about personal taste.
5) Now combining time. Combine the salad with the dressing and place on a plate. Add caramelized onions (maybe 1 tablespoon). Add some peach slices and top each with some ricotta.

Romesco Sauce
Romesco is a nice rich sauce from Spain that has an amazing nutty flavor. Perfect to top on cooked shrimp, chicken, or my favorite - using bread to dip into the sauce. It's so good, you'll want to have some on hand all the time. You can add roasted onions in the sauce, but since the salad had caramelized onions I decided to leave it out.

Ingredients
1 red pepper
2 whole large tomatoes on the vine - cut a tiny x on top to help with peeling later
6 almonds
3 cloves garlic
1 cup diced french baguette, crust removed (any crusty white bread would work)
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
1/4 cup extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

1) Preheat oven with a baking tray to 400. Toss tomatoes and red pepper with salt, pepper and olive oil. Add tomatoes, almonds, garlic, and red pepper to a baking tray.
2) After 10 minutes, turn tomatoes and red pepper over - the red pepper should be blackened.
3) After another 5 minutes remove the tray and set aside to cool. Once cooled peel both the tomatoes and red peppers - you should be able to do it with you hands. Remove the seeds from the pepper.
4) Place red pepper, tomato, almonds, bread, vinegar, oil, and pinch salt and pepper in a blender. Puree until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning. The sauce should be relatively thick, but you can thin it out with some more oil or just water.