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Friday, June 24, 2011

Mozzarella, Tomato, and Strawberry Salad


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.

7 comments:

  1. Beautiful! And those salmon patties sound wonderful, too! :)

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  2. Beautiful salad and I love your menu;-)

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  3. What a vibrant color in those berries and tomatoes! Your salad looks fantastic.

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  4. Salmon cakes sound perfect with this salad. I will have to keep that in mind for the next time I make it.

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  5. I 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.

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  6. Jessica,
    They 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.

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  7. 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 :).

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