Plant City Strawberry Salad

📝 Notes: Also known as: Cracker Strawberry Salad · Miz Kathi's Plant City Salad The concept: Classic: strawberry spinach salad. Vector: Terroir swap (Plant City strawberries, grown 45 minutes down the road and genuinely in season Dec–March, name the specific regional source) + Sauce translation (buttermilk poppyseed dressing instead of a balsamic vinaigrette, keeping the dressing Southern rather than steakhouse-Italian). Hero ingredient: Plant City strawberries, hulled and quartered, and named specifically on the menu description since the provenance is real and local. Components: Buttermilk Poppyseed Dressing (whisk buttermilk, mayo, sugar, and poppy seed until smooth). Plating: Build in a chilled bowl, strawberries and pecans arranged visibly on top, dressing on the side or lightly tossed per house standard. Pro upgrade: macerate a portion of the strawberries in a little sugar and lime juice for 10 minutes for a juicier, more dessert-adjacent contrast. Prep efficiency: dressing holds a week refrigerated; greens and berries must be cut same-day. Cross-utilization: buttermilk poppyseed dressing works as a bottled house dressing option alongside House Dressing and Champagne Citrus Vinaigrette. Failure modes: dressing the greens too far ahead wilts spring mix fast, so dress within 10 minutes of the plate going out, not at prep time. Scaling: At 4x: dressing scales linearly. At 10x: cut strawberries in smaller batches through service rather than all at once, because cut berries weep and lose visual appeal within an hour.