Recipe: White Peach, Mozzarella & Pea Shoot Bruschetta

Last time I was in London I had an absolutely fantastic meal at Polpo in Notting Hill, and one of the stand out dishes for me was something that is so stupidly easy to make at home: White Peach, Mozzarella & Pea Shoot Bruschetta. This would make a fantastic special weekend lunch with a glass of wine, a starter to an end of Summer dinner, or could be scaled down into some pretty impressive canapés. 

White Peach, Mozzarella & Pea Shoot Bruschetta inspired by Polpo

Polpo White Peach, Pea Shoot & Mozzarella Bruschetta

A little note on the ingredients. For this to work at all, your white peaches need to be perfectly ripe. If you can’t get them like this from a good farmers market or greengrocer, buy the best quality you can find in the supermarket and let them sit, on a plate and out of their packaging, not touching on the kitchen table or work surface for a few days until they smell perfumed through their skin and are perfectly ripe to touch. Having the best quality extra virgin olive oil and mozzarella also make all the difference here. It is pricy, but if you are in London, I’ve never had mozzarella better than the bags they sell at Neal’s Yard. But don’t say I did not warn you about the price! As far as pea shoots are concerned, they sell them in bags in the salad section of Waitrose. 

White Peach, Mozzarella & Pea Shoot Bruschetta
London's Polpo inspired White Peach, Mozzarella & Pea Shoot Bruschetta
White Peach, Mozzarella & Pea Shoot Bruschetta inspired by London's Polpo

I’ve made this to serve two because you need one peach and one mozzarella ball per person, but you can honestly chop and change to suit whatever numbers. The bread I’ve used here is actually the No-Knead Rosemary Loaf I’ve developed for my Borough Market column next month, and the flavour works brilliantly. Look out for the recipe, but in lieu of this a plain white country loaf will work perfectly. 

  • 2 Thick Slices Bread
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 Small Garlic Clove, crushed 
  • Sea Salt
  • Freshly Ground Black Pepper
  • 1 Ripe White Peach
  • 1 Ball Mozzarella
  • 2 Handfuls Pea Shoots

Brush the bread with olive oil, rub with the crushed garlic and season with salt and pepper before grilling under a hot grill until golden. Allow to cool to touch and pile with half the pea shoots. Pile over the mozzarella, torn into bite size pieces and the peach, stoned, peeled and cut into sizeable chunks, about the same size as the mozzarella pieces. Finish with the rest of the pea shoots, a little salt and pepper, and a light drizzle of oil. 

Polpo Inspired White Peach, Mozzarella & Pea Shoot Bruschetta

What has everyone got planned for the Bank Holiday today? I don’t really have anything specific planned, but I’m going to try and take things a bit more relaxed today while I work on upcoming articles and recipes; more like how I work on a Saturday or a Sunday, than a weekday! 

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