The summer fresh bounty of fruits and vegetables in our part of the country leaves me drooling on so many fronts – the colors, the smells, the textures and most of all the possibilities for creating countless combinations of dishes that play magic on the tongue.

This week, two such ingredients created magic for me – apricots and Aleppo pepper. Here’s what I pulled together to assemble a plate of the most amazing, melt in your mouth salad.

2 small apricots, pitted and sliced

4 small tomatoes, sliced

4 balls of bocconcini, sliced,

4 basil leaves shredded

A couple of turns of freshly ground salt

A heaped tsp of Aleppo pepper

I grilled the apricots and tomatoes and arranged them on a plate along with the sliced bocconcini.  I spread the basil leaves over the assembled veggies and cheese.  The final touch was a couple of turns of really good salt and a sprinkling of my new culinary find….Aleppo pepper.