Insalata caprese- tomato and mozzarella salad

This is such a quick salad to make and it’s also great if you really like it as lots of restaurants have it either as a starter or as a side dish so it’s a vegetarian low carb meal that you really can find quite often (quite a rarity). 

 

I sometimes mix it up and have goats cheese rather than mozzarella because goats cheese is my favourite cheese, and the salad works really well with any white cheese. It is so easy to whip up as if you’re like me, you’ll pretty much have the ingredients in for it most of the time. You can also make the salad in literally 5 minutes as it is so simple. 

 

One of the things I love about it is that despite it being really simple you can present it in lots of different ways to make it look really impressive.

 

I have included two methods, one of the first picture which is a lot tidier, and a second method which makes a really similar salad but is just tweaked a little bit and is a little less ‘uniform’ looking. 

 

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes/ beef tomatoes often work best but any size will do 
• Mozzarella- burrata is really nice as it is less rubbery and tears really easily, which is good if you’re making a more ‘rough salad’, but you might prefer other types if you want more clean slices- as for this dish. You can also of course swap in other cheese like feta or goats cheese. 
• Basil- I love mixing greek basil and normal, sweet basil. 
• Olive oil 

 

Method 1:

• Slice the tomatoes and the mozzarella to similar thicknesses so they are quite similar in size. It will help if you pick tomatoes and cheese that are similar in size while they are whole
• Present them on a plate- a long plate works really well as in the picture, or also placing them in a circle, alternating the tomato and cheese looks good too. 
• Tear some basil leaves and scatter them over the top*
• Drizzle with olive oil 
• Serve and enjoy! 

 

*People sometimes prefer to choose some really big basil leaves and add these while layering the cheese and tomato so you have one slice of cheese, one slice of tomato and then one leaf of basil, then repeat this.

 

Method 2:

 

• Chop or slice the tomatoes, cherry tomatoes work best for this salad, but you can use bigger ones and just chop them a few times till they’re quite small. 
• Tear chunks of a ball of burrata mozzarella 
• Add to a jam jar or sandwich box and then pour about a tablespoon of olive oil and lots of finely chopped basil, or a big tablespoon of pesto- I have a recipe for pesto here.
• Put the lid on the box or jar and shake gently until everything is covered in the oil/basil or pesto. 
• Tip gently onto a plate 
• Scatter with some more basil and serve.