I absolutely love Caprese salad.
Caprese meaning in Italian “Salad of Capri” and originated from a little island off the coast of naples. It’s a simple dish with wonderful flavors which typically is made of sliced fresh mozzarella (if you can find fresh mozzarella, especially Buffalo mozarrela, then that’s great), tomatoes, green basil and salt with olive oil.
It’s very simple but not everyone is going to find the freshest mozzarella especially Bufallo mozzarella in their area.
And this blog post, is for those who want to eat Caprese salad but work with what they have.
What you will need are the following:
- Tomatoes (Beefsteak or large ripe tomatoes, sliced) or Roasted Red Bell Peppers (sliced into strips). For those who want things quickly, do know you can purchase tomatoes or roasted red bell peppers at your local grocery store in the produce section or near the spice section.
- mozzarella – If you can’t get it fresh, nor can you find Buffalo mozzarella, then go to your cheese aisle at your supermarket and find mozzarella such as the Galbani one pictured above or another similar product.
- Fresh Green Basil (cut into strips)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Kosher Salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
First thing is start cutting your mozzarella into strips and between each strip, put a strip of tomato or roasted red bell pepper, small strips of basil, olive oil, salt and pepper and then put the next mozzarella strip on top and drizzle extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper on the top. I like to add a little oregano on top.
And some people like to layer them, some like to keep it small, but really it’s up to you.
If anything, it’s quite simple to make. And if you can’t find fresh mozzarella or Buffalo Mozzarella, don’t let that stop you. You improvise and find the next best thing at your local supermarket/grocery store. And even using Galbani or other brand of mozzarella to improvise, that you can cut into circular slices, it still will taste delicious!
Enjoy!
