Thursday, July 2, 2009

Insalata Caprese


This simple salad is one of my favorite things in all the world. I grow extra basil just so we can eat it often - like once a week in the summer.

You can really use any kind of good, flavorful tomatoes. Those ugly heirloom ones from the farmer's market are especially delicious. Tonight I used small Campari tomatoes - I thought I might not have enough because Ben was eating them as fast as I could slice them! They were so sweet.

Insalata Caprese

1 8-oz ball fresh mozzarella, sliced roughly the same size as tomato slices

bunch of basil, leaves detached and washed

2-3 large slicing tomatoes, or 6-8 small ones, sliced

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

sea or kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

You can stack or layer the ingredients in any pattern you like: tomato, basil leaf, slice of cheese. Drizzle with olive oil, then a few splashes of balsamic (not required). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Regular salt is fine, but I like the crunch of sea or kosher.

2 comments:

Alison... said...

I never heard of it called Insalata Caprese, but that sounds a lot better than buffalo mozzerella salad!

We had something similar to that in the North End when your mom was here - it was very good.

Stephanie Carnes said...

Yes, everything sounds better in Italian! I bet the North End version was great.