I've made, and eaten, many salads with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil, but this is the first time I've added strawberries to the mix. The addition of the berries is a fine idea, or a bonne idee, in Dorie's words.
Once you have the ingredients out on the counter, the preparation couldn't be easier.
Slice a half-pound ball of fresh mozzarella cheese in eight slices. Dorie says that buffalo mozzarella is the best, but it wasn't at my grocery store and I didn't feel like trekking around town to locate it.
Cut strawberries and tomatoes (I used cherry) into more or less equal pieces, and mix with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Since I didn't have the suggested pink peppercorns, I used Hawaiian pink sea salt to give a little additional color.
Add some basil (now that it's summer, I can just pick some from the pots outside my back door), and there you have it.
I served this salad with salmon patties, made from a recipe in the latest Cook's Illustrated. This is also a simple recipe: put fresh salmon, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, panko breadcrumbs, lemon juice, parsley, salt, pepper, and a bit of cayenne in a food processor. Pulse a few times; shape into patties; dip both sides into more panko crumbs, and pan fry a few minutes on both sides.
I like trying new recipes so much that I usually don't get around to repeating them, even the successful ones. But this is a menu I could happily eat once a week forever.
Beautiful! And those salmon patties sound wonderful, too! :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful salad and I love your menu;-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a vibrant color in those berries and tomatoes! Your salad looks fantastic.
ReplyDeleteSalmon cakes sound perfect with this salad. I will have to keep that in mind for the next time I make it.
ReplyDeleteI used Hawaiian pink salt too, for exactly the same reason. Nice sprinkle of color. I know how you feel about liking to try new recipes and not repeating much. It's a dilemma.
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteThey were delicious!
Pachecopatty,
(Nice moniker, by the way). Thanks!
Adriana,
I'm always disappointed when I cut into strawberries, and the insides are white, not red. But I guess the outsides must have been red enough to make up for it.
Onewetfoot,
It does feel like they'll be a next time,doesn't it?
Betsy,
Great minds.... I think I could solve the dilemma if I actually cooked every night instead of going out. But that's probably not going to happen.
Marie, I have the same dilemma to about repeating recipes. Should actually come up with a rule of repeating every few weeks or something! That being said, I skipped this salad, and now I'm regretting. Perhaps I should make it next week :).
ReplyDelete