A Bounty of Summer Stone Fruit in a Salad

I think there’s just about nothing as perfect as biting into a fragrantly ripe, excessively juicy nectarine, where the juices just run down your face and drip off your chin. Or possibly lying on a picnic blanket under a big sprawling tree in the summer sun, popping cherries into my mouth. Or maybe biting into a tart-sweet plum that both makes your lips pucker and your mouth water for the push-pull balance of tangy and syrupy.

I look forward with great anticipation to summer’s fruit every spring, and mourn it’s departure come late fall. If I had to choose one perfect season, it would, without a shadow of a doubt, be the summer.

And while I love each of these stone fruits on their own, I also love tossing them together in this perfectly simple salad. It’s a great finish to a big barbecue, a foolproof addition to a summer brunch, and excellent for a picnic.

Make the orange-vanilla syrup up to 3 days in advance, but cut and toss the fruit the same day you serve it.

Recipe: Summer Stone Fruit Salad

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Juice and zest of 1 orange
• 1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and seeds scraped out
• 4 ripe nectarines or peeled peaches, pitted and cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 4 ripe apricots, pitted and cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 4 ripe plums, pitted and cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 2 cups pitted, halved sweet cherries (I used a mix of Bing and Rainier)
• 2 tbsp finely chopped pistachios

Instructions:
1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir together the sugar and orange zest and juice. Add the vanilla bean pod and seeds. Bring to a boil and cook until the mixture becomes syrupy, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until chilled.
2. In a large serving bowl, toss together the fruit. Strain the chilled syrup into a liquid measuring jug and drizzle the fruit with the syrup. Toss gently, garnish with the pistachios, and serve.