My Caprese Salad
Oh how I love this salad 😀 Salads don’t have to be fancy or complicated to be tasty. Here is another simple salad that will be a hit each time!
As with all cooking, the secret is in using the best available (not necessarily most expensive) fresh ingredients, especially the cherry tomatoes. I stumbled upon these from a lady selling fresh fruit and vegetables outside a tube station. She had a few varieties of tomatoes and so I was not sure which ones to get. She pointed to ones that were sweet and vibrant, rich red in colour…….simply mouthwatering. It was like love at first sight…so I decided to give it a try. I can’t tell you how delicious they were and it made all the difference in tje salad.
Serves 2-3 (or just 1, if it’s Deepali eating :)):
125g (over 1/2 ball) fresh mozzarella, cubed; 8-10 cherry tomatoes, halved; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette; 1-2 tsp roasted pine nuts; handful of rocket leaves; generous handful of roughly chopped basil leaves :); salt and black pepper to taste (extra pepper for me, please!)
- Toss all the ingredients in a salad bowl or you can plate up for a dinner party look as pictured. To do so, start with bed of rocket leaves on a plate. Next, scatter you cheese and tomatoes. Sprinkle your basil leaves and pine nuts. Drizzle over with balsamic and olive oil and finish with salt and black pepper.
While having this amazing salad and me raving on about how delicious it is, I tell my husband wouldn’t it be awesome to have this as a canapé for a summer dinner party. I mean whose taste buds wouldn’t tickle with the all the goodness packed in the freshness of all these ingredients and the breath-taking vibrant colors!
Despite my husband’s view that it would not work too well on toothpicks, I had to see it myself to believe it. 🙂 So of course at the next opportunity I create a sample canapé style dish for this salad. It works just as great! I omitted the rocket leaves and pine nuts.
Caprese Salad Canape Sticks
If any of you use this twist for a dinner party, do share your thought on what your guests thought of it. 🙂
VegDelights 