Caprese Salad

Caprese salad, the Italian flag on a plate and one of the top 10 Italian dishes globally. I’m not arguing with that! A caprese salad is made up of the freshest, sweetest tomatoes you can find, aromatic basil and of course, luscious slices of mozzarella cheese all drizzled with the finest extra virgin olive oil. It is SOOO simple but there are a few important steps to follow which make all the difference when combining these three key ingredients. 

Photo via: Vincenzo’s Plate

Ingredients:

2 Fresh Buffalo mozzarella 

4 Tomatoes Organic

1 bunch Basil

1 pinch Salt

1 pinch Pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Plan to visit a farmers' market or a quality fruit and vegetable produce store. This is your prep work! There is hardly anything to getting this Caprese Salad right so you need to think ahead, and you can rest assured your dish will turn out incredibly well so long as the ingredients you source are of the best quality you can find.

If you can find fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella, these will give your Italian Caprese Salad the most authentic flavor possible. Try to stay away from Bocconcini (unless that is all you can find) because aside from them being quite small they just do not taste the same.

The basil has the most beautiful aroma and is a key ingredient don’t chop it up! Instead, keep the leaves whole. They will look beautiful and taste divine. 

While I recommend using salt and pepper, keep in mind just how important each ingredient is and that they have such strong flavors on their own. This means you definitely don’t want to over-season your Caprese salad as it will destroy the flavors. You will however want to choose a great quality Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil. For this, you can use as much or as little as you like as it will enhance the combination of flavors.

Caprese salad can be served in a round or long plate in the middle of your table.