Pretending I’m Vacationing in Italy Salad
As I write this, I am desperate to be anywhere but here in the Hudson Valley. My wanderlust has peaked, and in my mind I’m in Italy with friends in a big house by the sea. It’s July. We likely have just gotten home from the beach and are rummaging through the kitchen to make a late lunch. I find some cucumbers and some local mozzarella and begin to assemble a salad so simple, it deserves the very best of ingredients. I place it on the table with some thickly cut pieces of toasted bread rubbed with garlic and perhaps a plate of sliced, still-warm-from-the-sun tomatoes, and figs too. We sit outside and drink fizzy wine and afternoon slips into evening and we laugh a lot. I’m hoping maybe we’ll be together there next summer. For now, I’ll make the salad and eat it barefoot on my front porch.
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds (910 g) heirloom cucumbers, sliced into ¼-inch-thick rounds
8 ounces (225 g) fresh mozzarella, at room temperature, torn into bite-size pieces
Kosher salt
4 ounces (115 g) prosciutto, torn into bite-size pieces
1 cup (80 g) loosely packed fresh basil leaves (torn if large)
1 teaspoon fresh marjoram leaves (optional)
Good-quality olive oil, for drizzling
Freshly ground black pepper and flaky salt
METHOD
On a medium platter, arrange the cucumbers and mozzarella and season with salt. Gently and evenly add the prosciutto and top the salad with basil and marjoram, if using. Drizzle a generous amount of aline oil over everything. Season with a few good turns of black pepper and a few pinches of flaky salt and serve.
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