Caprese salad

Caprese salad is a classic Italian salad made with tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and balsamic vinegar. This simple but delicious salad makes for a perfect appetizer or as a side dish to a healthy summer meal.

For me, Caprese salad is a real summer dish. I love making this salad in late summer when tomatoes are at their best. It is my way of trying to keep this summer feeling for as long as possible.

Because this salad is so simple, I always like to make it for a BBQ. For an extra pop of color, it's nice to alternate the red tomatoes with yellow ones.

Ingredients

Tomatoes - use large, ripe tomatoes for this recipe! Ideally you want them to be the same size as the mozzarella.

Mozzarella - fresh mozzarella is best. Use a sharp knife when cutting this cheese to get the even slices.

Balsamic glaze - baslamic glaze is an easy dressing made by reducing balsamic vinegar until you have a thick dressing packed with flavor.

Traditionally, this dish is made without balsamic dressing, but I think the dressing goes perfect with the sweet tomatoes.

Olive oil - use the best quality olive oil you can afford for this salad. Because there aren't many favors it is important that the ingredients

Instructions

You make this Caprese salad recipe by cutting the mozzarella and tomatoes into thin slices of about half an inch and alternately laying them on a large plate. Scatter the basil leaves over the salad and drizzle on some balsamic dressing.

It is also very nice to sprinkle some pesto or pine nuts on top. Pesto is easy to make yourself by pureeing basil with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pine nuts in a food processor until you are left with a smooth sauce.

Equiptment

You don't need a lot of equipment to make this salad. All you need are a bowl to make the dressing, something to slice the tomatoes and mozzarella and a nice plate to serve the salad.

Storage

Caprese salad is best eaten immediately but can be kept covered in the refrigerator for about two days.

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