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Caprese Salad Recipe

Caprese Salad
Difficulty: Easy | Makes: 2 to 4 servings

This classic salad is simplicity at its best, so the quality of each ingredient is supreme.

This recipe was featured as part of both our Tomatoes! photo gallery and our Picnic Recipes photo gallery.

INSTRUCTIONS
Slice ripe tomatoes and fresh buffalo mozzarella into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Shingle fresh basil leaves and the mozzarella and tomatoes on a platter. Drizzle with high-quality extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper if desired, and serve.
    Write a review | 11 Reviews
  • Caprese Salad Recipe
    5

    For an interesting variation, try using burrata instead of buffalo mozzarella. It's an Italian cheese with an outer shell of mozzarella filled with a mixture of mozzarella and cream (or sometimes butter, but I used the cream version).

  • Caprese Salad Recipe
    5

    Don't forget the reduced balslmi vinigar

  • Caprese Salad Recipe
    4

    The ONLY thing missing to my palate is a little crunchiness with a savory note... maybe a cracker of some kind...?

  • Generally, I prefer to use a lighter “nut” oil, such as walnut oil to that of olive oil (except of coarse for the absolute best $$ in olive oil).

  • I would be curious to know what olive oil you used to make this salad?

  • Not feeling the word "shingle" in a recipe. :)

    Ditch the basil altogether and sprinkle on some dried oregano as we do in Abruzzo.

    The mozzarella should be (must be!) water-packed and as milky as possible!

  • I think purity is good, but there are worthy variations.

    I like balsamic (a little bit will be just that). I like roasted red peppers. I like a bit of prosciutto. One at a time, or all three!

    But simple is the fresh goodness! The hardest thing is good, tasty tomatoes...., and mozzarella is hard too....

  • I like less basil, so I do a chiffonade and sprinkle it over the top.

  • I think the recipes goes a bit overboard on the basil, but otherwise it's admirably restrained, and thus correct. It's important to let the caprese sit for a few minutes to develop that wonderful tomato-mozzarella-oil liquid that you can soak up with slices of good bread.

    Balsamic is a total no-no. It is way too strong for the other ingredients. If it even occurs to you to use, it means your tomatoes probably have no taste and so you shouldn't be making caprese in the first place.

  • That wouldn't fly in Italy, they feel it would 'bruise' the cheese.

  • I like to add a drizzle of some balsamic vinegar to this too.

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