Caprese Salad with Basil Pesto

This particular recipe is my favorite “salad” of all time. Maybe this is because it doesn’t contain any lettuce and I am not too much of a lettuce person. This variation of the caprese salad is especially fabulous with locally grown in-season tomatoes. I ate the one pictured last night, and felt like I could have licked my plate at the end. Now that is a good salad. And if you love it as much as I do you can get creative with different ways to serve it. Check out the panini I made (pictured below), which is just the salad ingredients melted inside two pieces of whole-wheat bread and served with balsamic vinegar for dipping.

Caprese Salad

Course: Lunch, Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 2

(pronounced ka-PRAY-ze)

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Ingredients

• 1 tomato ripe, any variety
• mozzarella cheese (if you can swing it the more expensive stuff is worth it…especially the balls of mozzarella floating in water)
• 1 handful basil leaves only
• balsamic vinegar
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• 1 basil pesto see link below

Instructions

1. Cut the tomatoes and mozzarella into slices about ¼ inch thick
2. Arrange the tomatoes flat on a plate, top each one with a slice of mozzarella, and then either with whole or sliced basil leaves
3. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, if desired

4. Add a dollop or two of basil pesto to the plate

5. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar
   
   Hint: If I am in a hurry I just chop everything up into pieces and throw it all together in a bowl. It tastes just the same that way!

Click here for the basil pesto recipe.