Here’s a question for you. What’s a man supposed to do if he has thousands of wonderfully sweet cherry tomatoes growing in his garden? Here’s an answer: make many wonderful dishes, including the one and only Caprese salad. For you who aren’t familiar with this type of salad, it’s basically tomato, basil and cheese seasoned with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. That’s all there is to it.
The Recipe
The trick with this type of salad is to use fresh ingredients from your very own garden. The tomatoes need to be at their peak of ripeness. That’s what’s going to make this salad memorable. Last night, as I was preparing this, I used the ingredients I described above. Some folks choose to use different types of tomatoes, such as grape or plum. They even go with the larger varieties as I did in my last Caprese salad recipe. Any way you want to put it together is fine. Just remember, tomatoes, basil and cheese. Preferably a cheese that’s soft like mozzarella. It’s an awesome dish. Trust me.
Ingredients
1 Quart Cherry Tomatoes, Halved
1/3 Cup Fresh Basil, Chopped
4 Ounces Mozzarella Cheese, Cubed
2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
Step-by-Step Instructions
Ingredient lists for this type of salad vary, but I’ll just go ahead with a very basic one that’s at the top of my head right now. A wonderful variation of what I’ll explain below is to use a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. The creaminess and flavor really adds something.
Combine Ingredients
There’s only one step to this entire recipe. It’s to combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss everything together until the tomatoes and cheese are well coated with the oil and vinegar.
Plate & Serve
Divide the salad between plates and serve. If you wanted to get fancy, you could place larger pieces of basil on the top of each salad for looks. I did that in these photos and I think they came out well. Enjoy!
The Final Caprese Salad
For such a simple recipe, this salad sure is delicious. I have lots of it in the refrigerator and I’m going to enjoy some of it later on tonight. If you decide to go ahead and make this one, please let me know your thoughts down in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!
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