Caprese Salad
Tomato, mozzarella and basil with good olive oil, three ingredients in perfect balance.
- Preparation
- 10 min
- Cook/bake time
- –
- Total
- 10 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Calories
Tomato, mozzarella and basil with good olive oil, three ingredients in perfect balance. With so few components, their quality alone decides the outcome, which is why pale winter tomatoes make this dish impossible. Balsamico is not part of the original recipe by the way, as it overpowers the delicate mozzarella.
Step-by-step instructions
- 1
Bring ingredients to temperature
Take the tomatoes and mozzarella out of the fridge at least thirty minutes before serving. Cold numbs flavor and texture, cold mozzarella tastes squeaky and cold tomatoes taste like almost nothing. Room temperature is not a detail in a dish with three ingredients, it is crucial.
- 2
Prepare the tomatoes
Cut the tomatoes into slices about 1 cm thick, remove the hard stem ends and place them briefly on a kitchen towel. Salt them lightly and let them rest for five minutes. The salt draws out some water and simultaneously concentrates their flavor.
- 3
Drain the mozzarella
Take the buffalo mozzarella out of the brine, cut it into slices and let it drain briefly on a towel as well. Excess whey would otherwise mix with the olive oil on the plate and form a milky puddle instead of a clear sauce.
- 4
Plate the dish
Place tomato and mozzarella slices alternately and slightly overlapping on a flat plate. Tuck the basil leaves in between instead of scattering them on top, this keeps them fresh and transfers their aroma directly to their neighbors. Basil is plucked, never cut, otherwise it turns black at the cut edges.
- 5
Season
Drizzle the olive oil generously over the entire plate, sprinkle flaky sea salt on top and grind fresh black pepper over it. Serve immediately with white bread to mop up the mixture of oil and tomato juice at the bottom of the plate. That exact mixture is the real highlight.
