The Perfect Caprese
How to Make the perfect Caprese Salad
A great Caprese salad starts with great ingredients. Typically, this recipe is made in the summertime, when tomatoes are at their juiciest, sweetest, and most flavorful. I love to grow as many colorful heirloom tomatoes as I can. Not only are they beautiful, but each type tastes a little bit different, and it’s fun to showcase them in this simple salad. I grow all varietals, greens, yellows, orange, dark plum and reds, and a variety of shapes – cherry tomatoes are fair game here too! Of course, if you don’t grow them you can always find them at local farmer markets and specialty markets in the summer.
In addition to peak-season tomatoes, you need these 5 simple ingredients:
Fresh mozzarella cheese. Look for soft, spongy mozzarella balls that are packed in water. Use a good sharp knife to gently cut them into thick slices. You don’t want squished mozzarella! You can also use the small 1 inch balls as well, but I would steer clear of “marinated mozzarella”.
Basil. Only fresh leaves here! Dot them over the tomatoes and mozzarella whole, or gently tear larger leaves before adding them to the salad.
Extra-virgin olive oil. It’s worth finding good-quality, 100% extra-virgin olive oil to use in this recipe, because you can really taste it here. Extra-virgin olive oil has a strong, fruity flavor that’s a great finishing touch for the juicy slices of tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil – I don’t recommend using another oil in its place. I only use a Olive Oil I want to “show off”!
Freshly ground black pepper. If you don’t already have a pepper grinder, now’s the time to get one. Grind it straight over the salad for the best flavor, there is nothing better!
Sea salt. I like to sprinkle the salad with generous pinches of flaky sea salt, such as Maldon sea salt. Regular sea salt will work too, but skip the iodized stuff here. It has a slightly bitter taste that can stick out in such a simple dish. I keep a pretty jar of Maldon in my kitchen just for recipes like this one!
Slice the Tomatoes in nice thick slices and layer every other with the cheese and basil. Place more basil oven the top and drizzle with Olive Oil, sprinkle salt and pepper and voila!
Option; you can also drizzle Balsamic Vinegar if desired. I find that sometimes it will mask the flavors of the tomatoes that your wanting to “show off”.
