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7.04.2006

C is for Caprese...


Dat good enough for me! Here's a summer salad even Cookie Monster could love. Or at least a Ninja Turtle if he couldn't wait for the pizza to finish cooking. It's also quick, cool, and delicious (and oh so festive) for your 4th of July picnics and bbqs today (if you are in the US and 7 or so hours behind me, as well you ought to be!).

Caprese Salad (serves 2, increase as necessary)

1 red vine ripe tomato
1 large ball of fresh mozarella (bufala if you desire)
pesto (optional)

Slice tomatoes, slice cheese. Layer in alternating lines. Garnish with pesto, drizzle with virgin olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, all, some or none of the above. Et voila! Ready to eat with a nice fresh bread or even on it's own. Buon appetito.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like a modified caprese salad: fresh mozzarella, drizzled with good olive oil, salt and pepper, and someone else can eat the tomatoes. ;-)

(One of my coworkers was appalled when I confessed this the other day. "But tomatoes brighten every dish!" she said. Maybe. Maybe one day I will get the brightness and not feel like I'm chewing on the inside of my own mouth whenever eat raw tomato. One can hope, eh?)

aka Rachel said...

Amen to that sister! Inside of your mouth, eh? Like chewing one's cud? At least you'll never go hungry ;)

Having had the same problem I recommend starting off by scooping out the goopey tomato seedy insides and just start with the more firm edges. By eating a bit of everything on some fresh bread the tomato taste is great and the texture is non-existant.

Quite frankly, the middle of cucumbers creep me out too. *Shudder*

Anonymous said...

oddly enough, I can handle the middle of cucumbers....*now.* I think it took me until I was, what, 18?

any particular tomato (I almost dared pull a Quayle there and spelled it with an 'e') you recommend?

aka Rachel said...

Macay- Good question. I hear good things about heirloom tomatoes but have yet to try one. Grape tomatoes are small enough to snack on in one bite. Generally I just look for firm red ones on the vine. If you are going to eat tomato it should have flavor, otherwise what's the point of getting past the goo and mealy-ness? :)