Bite Me!

Back in the olden days, when we had nice weather (or Sunday, if you're feeling rather less melodramatic than I am right now) I did my food shopping.  For some people, summer starts with the first swallow; others, with the first barbecue.  For me, I know it's summer when I make the first tomato, basil and mozzarella salad of the year.  It's not worth making out of season because you need ripe tomatoes; in my opinion, it's a treat worth waiting for. 

I never really got the point of mozzarella until I tried some buffalo mozzarella from Neal's Yard Dairy, which converted me on the spot with its creaminess and tangy flavour.  It's one of the things you really can't skimp on if you're putting it in a salad as inferior cheeses simply don't taste of anything at all.  However, if you're using mozzarella on a pizza, it's all about the texture rather than the flavour, which is when you can use something cheap and slightly revolting like this mozzarella sausage I found in the corner shop.  Mmm, stringy.