Quick Fix: Salad Caprese

One of my favorite salads is tomato and mozzarella salad in the summer. The ingredients are so fresh and lovely and best of all.... it takes only several minutes to make. It's easy, it's yummy, and it includes cheese. What else could a gal ask for?

Originally I had so hoped to use my own, homemade mozzarella for this recipe... but alas, that ended in disaster.  So I bought some mozzarella and that worked out just fine.

This recipe serves 2-4, depending on how you want to serve it. You don't have to stack it like I did, but I wanted the pictures to look pretty and also stacking things is so much fun. Anyway, here we go!

I have to make mention of the fact that the colors of this salad are also the colors of the Italian flag. It's pretty cool huh? 

We've once again got simple ingredients that make a great dish. That is one of the things I love most about Italian cooking--simple and easy and tasty. 

Cut your two tomatoes into 5 pieces each... 

And your 8 ounces of mozzarella into 8 pieces. 

This is how we stack: 

tomato

mozzarella

basil 

REPEAT! 

Fully stacked. YUM! End with tomato. 

Now add some nice salt and pepper to the top. 

Then drizzle with oil. 

This is going to come down to preferences, really. If you prefer more oil, use more oil, if you prefer less oil, use less oil. 

Then some balsamic vinegar. This is the same, you gotta do it to taste. No rules! This is free-form drizzling at it's best! 

YUM! Check it out... good right? 

To serve: remove some from the stack and enjoy! 

Salad Caprese 

Time: 5 minutes | Serves 2-4 | Difficulty: Easy 

You Will Need:

10 leaves fresh basil 

2 ripe tomatoes (small to medium sized) 

8 ounces fresh mozzarella 

Extra virgin olive oil (to drizzle)

Balsamic vinegar (to drizzle) 

salt & pepper (to taste) 

Method: 

Cut your tomatoes into five slices each. 

Cut your ball of mozzarella into 8 slices. 

On a plate you are going to make two stacks of Caprese salad. For the first: lay one tomato slice, then one mozzarella slice on top of that, then a leaf of basil on top of the cheese (see picture above.) Repeat until you have a stack with five pieces of tomato and four pieces of cheese. 

Repeat the same process to make a second stack with the remaining cheese, tomato and basil. 

Salt and pepper both stacks. 

Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar on each stack until you get the desired consistency. I like mine heavy on the oil and lighter on the balsamic, but that is totally my personal preference. 

To serve, remove some of the stack to a plate and enjoy!