🍑 Tomato Peach Walnut Fresno Salsa

There’s a moment in late summer when peaches are so perfect you start dreaming up excuses to use them in every meal. They are fleeting, and they taste like the summer sunlight that will disappear in the blink of an eye. The season never lasts long enough. This Tomato Peach Walnut Fresno Salsa fits the summer feeling of spontaneous and inevitable – and an attempt to use up all the fresh Palisade peaches I’ve been buying by the case each week. It’s born from abundance, curiosity, and the desire to stretch peach season as far as it will go.

It begins with several of those fresh Palisade peaches, chopped while still warm from the sun, their juice clinging to the cutting board. Folding in fresh tomatoes, bright and juicy, balances the peaches with a gentle acidity. Then comes the surprise: walnuts, chopped and earthy, adding a grounding richness that makes the whole bowl feel more dimensional. They bring a soft crunch that plays beautifully against the fruit.

And then the Fresnos: red Fresno chiles, sweet, glossy, and not quite as fiery as I hoped this time. Their heat can be unpredictable, but their flavor is always generous. Because these chiles leaned toward the mild side, a good pour of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, and then plenty of black pepper created the spice I’d been hoping for. The pepper blooms in the oil, giving the salsa the warmth and bite the chiles didn’t deliver on their own.

The salsa is layered, textural, and deeply seasonal. Sweet, savory, nutty, lightly smoky, and kissed with heat. It’s a departure from the cilantro jalapeño peach salsa, feta tomato peach salsa, cucumber peach salsa, and plain peaches on absolutely everything I’ve been practicing for weeks on end. 

Serve it with grilled chicken, spoon it over burrata, pile it onto tortilla chips or pita bread, or just eat it straight from the bowl. When peaches are this good, there’s no wrong way.

 🍑 Tomato Peach Walnut Fresno Salsa

2 large Palisade peaches, cored and chopped
1 large tomato, cored and chopped
2 small Fresno chiles, seeded and minced
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. champagne vinegar
¼ tsp. kosher salt
¼ - ½ tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
1 Tbs. fresh tarragon, minced (optional – will imbibe a licorice flavor)

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and allow to marinate for several hours.

Spoon over anything and everything.