Torrential rain and summer salad aren’t natural companions. This afternoon, while the rain was pounding on the rooftops as loudly as hail, my mind was on quiche, soup and stew. Luckily, I’d already gotten all the ingredients for this week’s recipe, or I might have been guilty of yet another late post. I would have bought entirely different ingredients had I gone shopping today. By early evening, though, the sun was shining and salad became a reasonable dinner option.
Purchasing the ingredients is the hardest part of this recipe. The salad is thrown together quickly, just before serving. Slice the mozzarella, then plate it. Slice and mix the strawberries with the tomatoes. Shred the fresh basil. The rest is just seasoning and drizzling some good olive oil. Add some balsamic to the fruit if you think it needs it and then garnish the mozzarella with crushed pink peppercorns.
Just as goat cheese and strawberries work together, tomatoes and strawberries are naturally compatible. I didn’t need to use balsamic, as the fruit had a good balance of sweet and acid without it. This worked well with the creaminess of the mozzarella and the tang of the basil. It’s been a cool, wet summer so far and we’ve been waiting a long time for strawberries. This salad was a perfect way to use the first local berries I’ve gotten this season.
You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Mozzarella, Tomato and Strawberry Salad
One Wet Foot 
I love your photos — that looks scrumptious! Summery meal seems a good answer to today’s rain and hail.
Thanks, Tricia! It was really good. I even enjoyed the tomatoes, which are often challenging for me.
We didn’t get any hail here, but the raindrops were so large and the rain was so torrential that it seemed as if it was hailing. It was very scattered rain – just a few blocks away, a friend said it didn’t rain at all.
We have had about 3 days of heavy rain and thunder storms, but we did get some sun at lunch time as I was serving this salad. I am planing on making this again…loved the flavor combinations. Your salad looks gorgeous! Beautiful photos! Enjoy your week-end! Hope you get some sun!
Thanks, Kathy! I waited until dinner to serve this, since it would have been really incongruous at lunch time. I’m glad you had some sun to enjoy it with! I hope you have a sunny, lovely weekend, too.
Teresa, glad your got your wee bit of sunshine 🙂 Your salad looks wonderful!!!
Thanks, Liz! I was so surprised at how much I liked it.
Your salad looks great! I really enjoyed it, think I’ll add to my summer salad lists.
Thanks! Definitely try it.
You photos are fantastic!
Rain is a bit of a novelty for us in Oz so I thoroughly enjoy it!
The seasoning on your mozzarella looks so good!
Thanks so much! Rain is absolutely not a novelty in Vancouver.
I really liked the pink peppercorn with this salad.
Can I tell you how jealous I am of your cool wet summer??? So humid and hot here … the salad would be just the thing.
I don’t do well with humidity either -hope the weather breaks soon.
Your description of the rain sounds wonderful, our Summers are dry so hearing about cool wet weather this time of year is really a novelty!
The salad looks delicious, love all the colors and textures on the plate. The photos are beautiful, very appetizing- I will definitely make this again;-)
Thanks, Patty! It’s going to be warm and sunny here for a stretch, which seems like a novelty to us this year.
I loved your presentation of the salad.
I always enjoy your post. Your photos are beautiful and you are a good writer…always interesting. And even fun to hear about your weather…we are the opposite. 113^ for the past few days and no rain in our future as far as the i-net will let me look. And local strawberries are a fantasy. But we loved this salad…beautiful colors and simple beauty and taste.
Thanks, Krissy! You give me such lovely feedback.
Wow. I won’t complain about the hot weather here – I converted your temperatures to Celcius and got a shock! We’ve been having weather in the mid-70’s (Fahrenheit) this week and I’ve been wilting.
It’s a great salad – we’ll be having it a time or two more before the strawberries are done.
You might not have had much to say, but your pictures do say a lot. Your salad is beautiful. I love the sprinkle of pink peppercorns. It makes this already colorful salad that much more festive. I’ve never actually tried strawberries and goat cheese together, but I liked the creamy cheese with the strawberries in this salad, so your mention of these two things together has inspired me to try it out. Have a great weekend.
Thanks, Betsy! The pink peppercorns are lovely to look at but also have a nice, mild pepper taste. Do try strawberries with goat cheese – especially with spinach, balsamic and a little black pepper.
Love your salad, it looks so delicious. The seasoning on top looks so pretty, and you capture
everything beautifully in your photos. Tricia and I had mixed results this week, but it
is fun trying these new recipe each week.
Thanks, Nana! I haven’t loved every recipe we’ve done (though almost all of them), but I learn a lot each time. I also like the experimentation – there are recipes I would never have tried without the impetus of the group.
What a beautiful salad Teresa – I now wish I hadn’t been so lazy and had dug out the pink peppercorns, as they look so pretty.
Thanks! The pink peppercorns really make the salad, in looks and in their mild flavour.
Aren’t those first berries of the season just worth waiting for?
Lovely photos!
Thanks, Cher – those strawberries were totally worth the wait.
Your salad looks lovely and the pink peppercorns so pretty on the mozzarella. We’ve had a fair bit of rain this week in Toronto too!
It’s been a weird summer so far, hasn’t it?
Beautiful photos. I love the way the pink peppercorns look on the mozzarella. I forgot to add the pink peppercorns on mine. Did you think they made a big difference?
I liked their mild flavour with this salad, but another sort of pepper would work well, too. It just might make it slightly spicier.
I didn’t have pink peppercorns, and they look so pretty against the cheese I wish I had gotten some. Your pictures make me want this all over again.
Thanks, Adriana! I want to make it again, too – and not just for how pretty it is!
Hi! Didn’t read where your from as I thought about your late strawberries…your pictures were well-done, especially the last one. I think I’d like to try some yellow pear tomatoes as a substitute for the red variety. I think the mellow flavor of the yellow pears would marry nicely with the strawberries, and add a dash of balsamic for the acidity. Or even some Sun Gold tomatoes….
Hi Kathleen – thanks for stopping by. I’m in Vancouver, BC.
Mellow tomatoes would be nice with this salad and yellow ones would look great.
So happy to be back in the FF group! Beautiful picture.
I’m glad you’re back, too!