In my dreams I want to wander round an allotment and pick at will the plants that are groaning with produce at this time of year. In my sights are plump yellow courgettes, some with late flowering golden flowers wide open as a last gasp.
Salads, crisp and fresh, ruby striped radicchio and spiky rocket leaves.
I have also spotted plump ripe figs hiding on trees climbing on south-facing walls in local gardens.
Jammed in terracotta pots
at my front door I can pick
any combination of fresh herbs, a few leaves here and there add unexpected bursts of flavour.
The mixture of warm griddled courgettes and crisp salad leaves makes this salad especially delicious.
Burrata is a rich buffalo milk cheese typical in Puglia, southern Italy. It is made with a stringy cream stracciatella wrapped in the middle of a mozzarella ball and tied at the top like a soft bulging tortellini. It needs to be used very fresh so if you see it – buy it – eat it!
ALLOTMENT SALAD
Ingredients
Honey and mustard dressing
½ red onion, finely diced
3 -4 tablespoons extra
virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar, white balsamic if possible
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons clear honey
Sea salt
4 courgettes, yellow if possible
8-10 leaves each little gem, cos, oak leaf salads
6-8 leaves radicchio…adds bitterness and colour
Handful of rocket
Leaves of fresh herbs, basil, tarragon, parsley, mint
2 ripe tomatoes, cut into eights
Handful of stoneless olives
2 burrata or mozzarella bufala
4 ripe figs, cut into quarters…or semi -dried figs
Sea salt and extra virgin olive oil for grilling
Method
First make the dressing. Dice the red onion and soak in cold water. This acts to sweeten the onion flavour.
Add the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and use a small whisk to blend into an emulsion.
Add the drained onion and check seasoning and adjust sweet, sour salt to taste.
Pre-heat a grill pan.
Wash the courgettes. (If they are from an allotment or garden, they will need a good scrub in cold water, grit can stick to the skin.)
Pat dry and slice diagonally.
Toss in a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Lay on the heated pan and grill turning until they are scored on the surface and soft inside.
Meanwhile, wash and prepare all the salad leaves and herbs.
Spin or pat dry and lay in a large bowl and toss everything with the dressing.
Add the warm griddled courgettes.
Scatter with olives and tear the burrata or mozzarella across the salad.
Finally dress with quarters of luscious, sweet figs.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here