Caprese Salad - Recipe & Blog
I got the opportunity to go to the Los Angeles location of Eataly, the not so new now, specialty market/food court brainchild of Eataly founder Oscar Farinetti along with partners/collaborators Lidia Bastianich and her son Joe and chef Mario Batali. I will tell you about the whole visit in another post. Today I want to tell you about the lovely salad that resulted from this visit.
One on the featured demonstrations at Eastaly was in the cheese department, a lady making mozzarella balls. It was fascinating watching her grab a thick strand of the cheese from a large steel bowl filled with liquid and deftly roll and pinch it into a small round of beautiful smooth white cheese. I bought 2 containers of the obviously fresh cheese and it was not exorbitantly priced.
Video by @altportal *
With cheese this fresh, I knew a Caprese Salad was in my future, but I had to get the other ingredients. More specifically I needed fresh tomatoes and fresh basil. When I got to the market I was able to pick up some nice red, yellow and orange small tomatoes on the vine but when I went to get the basil, it didn’t smell right so I was going to had to go elsewhere to finish acquiring my ingredients. I hit Trader Joes and they did not have any packaged fresh basil but they did have basil plants that where only $3.50 US. So, it looks like I am cooking with basil for the next week or so.
To put together the salad, slice tomatoes and cheese (try for a similar thickness in the slices). Some people like big pieces of basil, I prefer to chiffonade the basil which is to roll the leaf into a tube shape and then slice cut the roll into thin strips.
Lay out alternating slices of cheese, basil and tomato. Lightly drizzle the completed lay-out with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Finish off the plate with a sprinkle of salt, pepper and a little garlic powder. And there you go, you have Caprese Salad. It was absolutely delicious. The fresh mozzarella cheese blended so well with the ripe tomato and the basil and balsamic vinegar added brightness that enhanced the flavors. So good.
Do you like Caprese Salad? Do you do it differently? Let me know.
Copyright 2018 @altportal
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Okay, I could so eat that right now.
Eataly is awesome. The wine selection is first rate. I will have to try this mozza in a caprese!
That looks delicious! Do you like sushi? I just posted about a little market, we found in Sawtelle.
This looks really good. How yoooo doin', ha?
Seriously, it's a great meatless dish and ITALIAN!!
Hello greetings @altportal, how about your day ?. How delicious is this Caprese salad prepared by you, I had the opportunity to observe different caprese salad preparations and to be honest yours has a unique and special touch, I think the balsamic vinegar is perfect for the salad, since this It brings a sweet and sour flavor, which is very good with tomatoes, the perfect olive oil. There are people who prefer to place it instead of mozzarella cheese, they put ricotta cheese or goat cheese and they also look great, but personally I'm more interested in mozzarella cheese. Once I saw a video about how they make mozzarella cheese and if they did it exactly as you explain in the post, they are long and thick strips that go as alternating and from there they take out the cheese, it is incredible as they do it and the final result is fabulous. I have not had the opportunity to prepare this salad caprese, but to be honest if one day I will prepare it, get ready to prepare it as you did, it would be perfect to accompany it with some pieces of toast, perfect for a super lunch healthy. Thank you for showing us the preparation of your caprese salad, it really is fantastic and very original, and the fine photo with the salad served was very nice. Have a nice day and I hope you feel good. Greetings from Venezuela, supporting 100%.
How are you today friend? I like the way they prepare that mozzarella cheese I like to see how they prepare cheese is one of my favorites, I had the opportunity to try this salad is very tasty I do not eat it as often but this one you prepared looks very rich with a lot of cheese that it's good
I like the caprese salad prepared in the cooking school and for the moment of eating it the only thing that we put was a bit of pesto and the truth I liked a lot was very fresh, I see that everything is fresh I liked the way they put you the basil, I usually prepare meals, you can stop by my blog and see some recipes of which I prepare this week prepare something Venezuelan
Salad with tomatoes and basil I tried. I liked it. But I did not try the cheese. I'll have to try it. Thanks for the recipe.
This is a very useful salad for health. I never did this. Thank you for the recipe.
I do not eat it as often as cheese is expensive, but if I have eaten it, it seems like a salad so simple to prepare and it is very tasty. I like to accompany it with a bit of bread, certainly those ingredients are so cool @altportal
Thanks for sharing about salad food. Its very delicuous friend @altportal