What’s on your plate: January

Thistles and Kiwis,

For us in the Southern Hemisphere, January means summer, holidays and all the wonderful produce around at this time of year. Colourful salads, bowls of stone fruit and the sensation of biting into corn on the cob that is dripping with butter all sing ‘summer eating’.

A classic summer salad is of course a caprese, with lovely ripe tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, seasoning and good olive oil. Here is one I made with two different colours of tomatoes for a real summer feel.

A lovely way to use one of my favourite herbs, dill, is with cucumber, either in a mizeria or Polish cucumber salad made with sour cream and traditionally served on Christmas Eve, or this cucumber salad with a dressing of white wine vinegar, a little sugar and salt and then decorated with lots of dill. I served this with smoked salmon as an appetiser, but it is good with so many things.

I made this ‘use up what is in the fridge’ salad with sweet corn, tomato, red capsicum and garlic which I sauted in olive oil, and a dressing using balsamic vinegar. Personally, I think tomatoes and sweetcorn are a wonderful combination. Oh and no I don’t keep my tomatoes in the fridge…just in case anyone thought I did.

Of course, summer wouldn’t be summer somehow without a potato salad. At the end of the day, having tried all sorts of fancy ones, adding eggs, carrots, radishes, pickles and so on, I admit to liking something simple with mayonnaise and lots of dill.

Finally, the spectacular dish that is Burrata Salad with Courgette, Basil and Pistachios from Nigella Eats Everything. Soft and lemony courgette, crispy pine nuts and pistachios, basil and of course, the burrata, open and spread through the courgettes, and then sprinkled in this case with a few red bell pepper flakes. Heaven!

This well be entered in the What’s on Your Plate blog challenge hosted by bloggers Widow Badass and Retirement Reflections. This goes live on the first Wednesday of each month and you can join in too with a food related post, just by adding yours to their linkup.

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com or lofgren@thistlesandkiwis.com

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Published by Thistles and Kiwis

Loves summer, sunshine and cats. Beginner gardener, likes eating, cooking and reading about food

33 Comments

  6. Only one word will do: Wowsah! Those salads look oh so delicious. My mouth was watering as I looked at the pictures and read the descriptions. A beautiful way to celebrate Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere, and I will keep them in mind for when we have summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

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  10. Hi, Barb – I greatly enjoyed experiencing summer and summer eating vicariously through your post. Now I am craving potato salad and fresh tomatoes (which I do keep in the frige unless they are not yet ripe). Wishing you a wonderful 2024 ahead!

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    1. When we are in winter, and craving fresh tomatoes, I can look at your posts! I have been told that you should never keep tomatoes in the fridge – can’t remember who told me that but it was years ago. It makes them go more mushy apparently.

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  16. An even more mouth watering post than usual with all that fresh produce! That caprese salad looks amazing. When I turned 20 (20++ yers ago..) I worked at Cafe Cappuccino in Gothenburg for about a year, the Caprese salad was one of the most popular dishes then. Cheers to a fabulous 2024!

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      1. It sure is, a fine summer treat. It is -23C/-9.4F, a little chilly :)Next week is going to be a lot warmer, at least that is the current prognosis. All the best!

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  17. Fabulous series of salads! the colours, the flavours … I am drooling just thinking of them. I am partial to potato salad, although I very seldom make it at home – the rest of my family doesn’t care for potatoes done this way, but yours looks barely mayonnaised, so I might just get away with this!

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