Caprese Salad

My partner and I went to Italy last November where we fell in love with the simple pleasure of bread, fresh tomatoes and cheese. In Italy, you can get Caprese salads, pizzas or sandwiches, which just means that the main constituents of these dishes are tomatoes, boconccini and fresh basil. Boconccini is fresh mozzarella, which comes in little balls and can be found at Italian grocery stores and some supermarkets. If you live in Edmonton, the best place to buy boconccini is at the Italian Centre Shop (10878 - 95 St. or 5028 - 104 A St.). In fact, all of the cheeses at the Italian Centre Shop are the freshest and tastiest cheeses you've ever had, and they are cheaper than most mainstream grocery stores. Paddy's Cheese Market (12509 - 102 Ave) stocks a wide variety of fresh and tasty cheeses, but they are not as cheap.

If you want to turn this salad into an appetizer, thinly slice and toast a baguette and arrange a tomato with boconccini, basil and dressing on each one. Serve immediately so that the toasts don't get soggy.

Caprese Salad
Serves 2 as a side. Can easily be doubled/tripled/etc. to serve more.

1 roma tomato, sliced
1/3 cup medium boconccini, sliced
6 fresh basil leaves, torn into thirds
1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Slice tomatoes and arrange on a plate.
2. Arrange basil leaves and boconccini on tomatoes.
3. Drizzle olive oil and vinegar over salad, and grind pepper directly onto salad.


P.S. Like most Italian food, this recipe is simple and relies on good fresh ingredients. Farmer's market tomatoes are highly recommended.