This week's French Fridays with Dorie posed a few challenges for me, because it is a mozarella, tomato and strawberry salad. As the name suggests, it is very summery, and I was unable to obtain one of the ingredients, basil, it being a summer herb, and it being winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
I was unenthused about making this, not being much of a salad person, but the results surprised me. But then again, how can juicy strawberries and mozarella (in my case, boccanccini) drizzled with olive oil and flavoured with salt be bad? To replace the basil, I used a few fresh thyme leaves. I left out the pink peppercorn garnish - I have pink peppercorns but couldn't find them in my crowded pantry cupboard.
I would be willing to try this again as a side dish in the summer.
To see what everyone else thought of this salad, visit the LYL section of the FFwD website.
This sounds great. Interesting combination! Like the addition of the thyme leaves. I've been meaning to try strawberries with balsamic. It's meant to be lovely.
ReplyDeleteLook delicious dear Cakelaw! gloria
ReplyDeleteYou have a disadvantage cooking with all of us in reverse seasons for sure! What you came up with looks great. I am hoping to get back on track with this group this summer...not sure when exactly, but hopefully sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteGood for you. The rhubarb was impossible for me...wrong climate here. I think we just do our best and with all the summer produce out here we should remember that you are a bit opposite of us. But, your strawberries look beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAhh yes the challenges of opposing seasons! This sounds very intriguing though! :)
ReplyDeleteThis salad looks beautiful, and I don't think the absence of basil would make much difference...not when you have thyme sitting in for it. At least you still can get hold of strawberries during your winter season, and juicy-looking ones at that!
ReplyDeleteI had a hard time finding the rhubarb last week. It's so true that good cooking can come from good seasonal ingredients. It's so interesting to know that you are so far away (a completely different season) and know we are connected through this blog.
ReplyDeleteKudos for still making this dish despite the whole salad thing and you being in the opposite season right now. Hopefully July will be easier for you to make, accessibility wise. Your salad looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteYeah, definitely a disadvantage to be in the southern hemisphere with these seasonal dishes. You did a lovely job adapting this one...I'm glad you enjoyed it, too :)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely one to save for when summer comes back your way!
ReplyDeleteGood for you for giving it a try!
It looks like you pulled it off despite being at a seasonal disadvantage! I am sure you will love this in summer when you can get fresh basil.
ReplyDeleteGreat effort on your part to produce this salad in the middle of your Winter season! I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to recreate it with fresh everything, especially the sweet basil in the Summer;-)
ReplyDeleteIt's very pretty! It's always a nice surprise to like something that you weren't enthusiastic about making.
ReplyDeleteIf you liked it now, I bet you'd love it when summer arrives to Australia. Bocconcini have to be one of my favorite things ever. I have no self control around them!
ReplyDeletehow interesting - and how frustrating to be making it is winter instead of summer - love the tomato and strawberry and basil combo
ReplyDeleteThyme sounds like a good substitute for the basil. We really liked this salad - I was surprised at how much. We'll definitely be making this again, too.
ReplyDeleteYou're a good sport to make the highly seasonal dishes along with the Northern hemisphere. I know I'd be a little uninspired to make something with strawberries and tomatoes if it were the end of December here... Your salad looks great and seems to have given you enough of a tease to try out the recipe when the world up North is under snow :)
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting--I never would have come up with the combination. I want to see what you do with it in the summer.
ReplyDelete