You So Caprése

For the first recipe in the blog, it feels fitting. Simple and delicious. Elegant, classic, and best of all EASY. Caprése salad is basically just a delivery vehicle for delicious mozzarella cheese. So, now that we’ve made our own delicious mozzarella cheese at home, what better recipe to test it out with? There are countless variations of this dish the world over, but this one is my standard.

You will need…

- Fresh mozzarella cheese
- Fresh (not dried) basil
- Tomatoes
- French bread
- Splash of olive oil
- Splash of balsamic vinegar

Though tomatoes and basil are both currently out of season in this area, it is not terribly hard to find them indoor grown and local. The Alexandria farmer’s market, which runs year-round, has a farmer who supplies some great indoor vine-ripened tomatoes even this early in the year. The fresh basil can be bought many places – Whole Foods brings it in locally from the Shenandoah Valley. Of course, it goes without saying, both of these products would be tastier when they are in season.

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes (can be done during prep)

Preheat oven to 350.

Slice the french bread into small round discs, putting the bread at an angle so your discs are slightly elongated. Place the bread discs on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and put in the oven for about 5 minutes. You just want them lightly toasted so they are crunchy.

As the bread is toasting in the oven, wash the tomato and cut small half-moons out of the tomatoes and the mozzarella cheese.

Wash your basil, and pick one medium-sized basil leaf for each bread disc.

Take the bread out of the oven, and start putting together your snack. Honestly the order of your stack doesn’t much matter, but I usually go bread, cheese, tomato, basil (from bottom to top).

Splash with balsamic vinegar, and EAT. These are SO FREAKING GOOD. I could eat it for days. Turned out really incredible with the fresh mozz, too.

Okay so I’m cheating a little bit here with that last picture. That last picture has roasted tomatoes in it. When I know I am going to want this snack later in the day, or if I’m preparing it for guests, I’ll often throw some tomatoes into the oven for 3-4 hours for a bit of a sweeter flavor (it also keeps the snack from being quite as messy on account of the watery tomatoes). It is also much more seasonably appropriate.

A word here about roasted vs. fresh vegetables. Fresh vegetables are great with this dish, but would be a bit out of place if you’re thinking of serving it in the dead of winter. Fresh vegetables have a much higher water content than roasted veggies, so naturally you are going to get a juicier, crisper, more Spring/Summer-esque feeling from your dish by using them. In contrast, roasted vegetables will have a much deeper, sweeter taste to them, and maybe a little crunch too depending on how long you roast them. You can use canned local tomatoes or peppers year round, and if you roast them they will be really tasty whereas if you tried them straight from a can your consistency would probably be a bit lacking.

Roasting vegetables is super easy, it just takes time. Set your oven low, between 200-250, slice up your vegetables, drizzle some olive oil on them (and maybe some herbs), and put them in for 3-4 or more hours. The lower the temperature, the longer they can go. Keep an eye on them every once in awhile so you get a good idea the first couple times you try.

As I mentioned, there are lots of variations. You can do without the bread. I’ve also had it with roasted bell peppers instead of tomatoes, which is very tasty. You can be creative with it – whatever you’ve got in the kitchen will probably work at least OKAY, if not fabulous, as long as you stick to the one cheese, one veggie, one herb formula. Don’t be afraid to try something new, even if it might not turn out to be the best thing you’ve ever had. You’ll learn from it.

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