Nectarine Salad Bowl

This fruit salad is summer in a bowl, with juicy nectarine slices, fresh raspberries, and seedless grapes piled onto shredded iceberg lettuce. The hot-weather trick is the dressing, which gets blended from softened cream cheese and the sweet, ginger-spiked syrup that drips off the macerated nectarines.

That dressing is the move. Most fruit salads get a vinaigrette or sweetened whipped cream that fights the fruit’s natural sugars. Here, the cream cheese tempered with macerated juice tastes like a tangy cheesecake glaze, and it clings to each bite of fruit and lettuce instead of pooling at the bottom of the bowl.

Kitchen Tips

• Don’t skip the hour of maceration. That resting time is when the nectarines release the syrupy juice that becomes the dressing base.
• Use ripe but still firm nectarines. Mushy fruit weeps too much liquid, while underripe fruit doesn’t release enough juice at all.
• Pour the dressing on at the table, not in the kitchen. Lettuce wilts within minutes of contact with the creamy dressing.
• Add a pinch of salt to the dressing. Cream cheese needs a little salt to wake up against all the fruit sugar.

Variations

• Swap iceberg for butter lettuce or baby spinach for a softer texture and a more salad-forward bowl.
• Add sliced peaches or blueberries along with the other fruit for more color and variety.
• Stir a tablespoon of honey or a splash of orange liqueur into the dressing for a richer, more dessert-leaning finish.