Strawberry Salad

Author Notes

Few are as blessed as we who live in Southern California, with access to strawberry sublimity almost every month of the year. For this recipe I used seascape berries, which have a complex, super strawberry flavor and are in the farmer's market now, but any intensely-berry variety you can lay your hands on will do. (No, faux gourmet superstore, I am not looking at you!) The simple greens let the strawberries steal the show, with fennel and celery in crunchy supporting roles. —Jestei

Test Kitchen Notes

Jestei took the delicious combination of strawberries, balsamic vinegar and freshly ground black pepper and expanded it into a salad with mixed greens, finely chopped celery and fennel. As we were making the salad, we realized that it's the kind of dish that should only be made with produce and fruit from a farmers market. You need flavorful and sturdy mixed greens and sweet, concentrated strawberries. We chopped the fennel and celery in 1/4-inch dice and mixed them with the greens and dressing before adding the stawberries, so the juices wouldn't weep too much. And in case you're looking for measurements for the dressing, we used 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar and plenty of salt and pepper. - A&M —The Editors