Arugula Salad with Strawberries, Bacon, and Mozzarella

Menu: Tomato Bread Soup; Arugula Salad with Strawberries, Bacon, and Mozzarella

Lessons learned:

1. Sometimes it's just faster to eat soup with your hands.
2. There are occasions to fry basil leaves.

Four years ago, I marked the recipe for this soup in a Williams-Sonoma cookbook about Florentine cuisine that I got for my wedding.  I don't usually get very excited about soup, so I'm not sure why this one got my attention.  But I finally got around to making it tonight.

It was ok.  You saute onions, carrots, celery, and garlic, and then add tomato paste and tomatoes.  Then you add toasted bread and water and boil it down, and finally finish it with basil oil and fried basil.  This is what you get:

It was actually much tastier than it looks.  It kind of looks like... well, I'll just let you use your imagination if you're so inclined.  The texture was off-putting.  I think I could make it look and taste a lot better, so I'll be trying it again with better bread, some wine, a little parmesan, and possibly more fresh herbs.  The basil oil and fried basil were interesting.  I think I'll keep them around on the next attempt.

It took me several minutes to plan what I was going to make with it.  Breaded eggplant would be great, but it's not in season yet.  Anything with pesto would also work, but I just planted my basil and there isn't enough to make pesto.  I finally decided on a salad using a bunch of extra stuff I had around: arugula from my garden, some bacon, fresh mozzarella, strawberries left over from yesterday's pie, and pine nuts with balsamic vinaigrette.  Generally, my intent is to save meat for special occasions, and I know there's no way I can spin it so that tonight qualifies.  Sorry, hard-core vegetarians, but every now and then I must make an exception for bacon.  And yes, I also realize this is the third night in a row I've used strawberries.  They're not in season very long here, so I'm making the most of it.

I had some nice cross-pollination, if you will, going on between the two dishes, too.  I used bacon grease to cook the veggies for the soup, and I mixed up the balsamic vinaigrette using the basil oil from the soup.

No John again.  I got the kids' plates set up with bread and the salad components, and gave them each a teeny bowl of soup.  By the time I got my own food (and wine) ready, Sophie had already eaten and left and Ben had left his chair to see what was good on Sophie's side of the table.  He had finished off his soup, trying to use his spoon at first but having better luck with his hands.  As he walked around the table, I noticed that his shorts were completely soaked through.  Not with pee.  With poop.  Off to the bathtub we went right quick.

When we were done in the bathroom, I noticed that somebody had torn our U.S. map off the wall, which meant that the pushpin holding it in place had to be on the floor somewhere.  That's not ok with toddlers around.  So with my dinner still waiting for me on the table, I searched fruitlessly all over the carpet for said solitary pushpin, finally giving up in the hope that if I couldn't find it, neither could they.  I went back to the table to eat my dinner alone.  Well, not completely alone.  I had my wine.

The salad was actually quite good, so the recipe follows.  Please know that I am not one for exact measurements, so the amounts listed are approximations.

Arugula Salad with Strawberries, Bacon, and Mozzarella

1 cup fresh-picked arugula, no stems
1/2 pound strawberries, quartered
1/2 cup fresh mozzarella, chopped
1/2 pound bacon, cooked, drained, and torn into bite-size pieces*
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1/4 cup raspberry balsamic vinegar
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4-1/3 cup basil oil or regular extra-virgin olive oil

Combine the arugula, strawberries, mozzarella, and bacon in a serving bowl.  In a small mixing bowl, combine the vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Emulsify the oil into the vinegar by drizzling it in slowly while whisking as quick as you can.  Pour the dressing over the salad, toss, and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Makes just enough to serve two.

*I already had bacon in the house, but if I were shopping specifically for this salad, I'd spring for some pancetta or prosciutto.

Some variations I think would be good:

Replace the strawberries with cantaloupe, OR
Skip the bacon and pine nuts, and replace the mozzarella with goat cheese and parmesan.