Uploaded September 2023 | Updated September 2026, 14 hours ago
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The Caprese salad is perhaps one of the world’s most famous salads. It is generally made from only five ingredients: perfectly ripe tomatoes and lush leafy basil from the garden, creamy hand-pulled water buffalo mozzarella, excellent extra-virgin olive oil, and flaky salt. Rather than try to have perfect slices of either tomato or cheese, we chose to use a mix of our two different-sized garden varieties this year: black cherry and Cherokee purple tomatoes in chunks. We cut the very soft, creamy cheese similarly and toss them together.
We chose to embellish the usual recipe with a lemon-pesto “vinaigrette” – of course it has no vinegar in it. But the pesto holds the emulsion together very well, resulting in a creamy, basil-lemony dressing which brightens up the round flavors of the salad.
The lemon-pesto dressing may be made in advance and stored in the fridge for 2 weeks or perhaps more. Let it come to room temperature before using it. The tomatoes may be cut an hour or two in advance and covered, but they should never be refrigerated. Cut the cheese and toss with the tomatoes right before serving.
Makes enough for 3-4 people.
Equipment:
large nonreactive salad bowl
blender or similar for making dressing
glass jar or similar to store lemon-basil dressing
Ingredients:
2 ea medium tomatoes ours were “Cherokee purple”
8-10 ea cherry tomatoes ours were “black cherry”
1 ball bufala mozzarella bocconcini will also work
1⁄4 cup basil leaves chiffonade fine for garnish
Lemon-Pesto Dressing:
1-2 Tbsp basil pesto
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice one lemon, generally
1/2 tsp salt non-iodized
Procedure:
1. Prepare the dressing as far in advance as you like, up to right before making the salad: place the pesto, oil, juice and salt into the blender and blend until the dressing is as smooth as possible. If desired, strain to remove any lumps or large flecks.
2. When preparing the salad, while the board is dry, chiffonade the basil and set aside.
3. Cut the tomatoes and add them to the nonreactive bowl.
4. Cut the cheese and add it to the bowl. Toss the tomato chunks with the cheese chunks, which will probably be somewhat creamy.
5. Portion the salad onto plates.
6. Garnish each portion of salad with drizzles of lemon-pesto dressing and pure extra-virgin olive oil.
7. Top each garnished salad with a generous nest of chiffonade basil.
8. It is nice to have this with some crusty, absorbent bread such as foccacia to soak up the salad juices.
Music: bensound.com/royalty-free-music
Check our our Patreon! patreon.com/loveyourfood
Need a kitchen thermometer? Check out ChefsTemp! Use code LoveYourFood for 15% off a meat thermometer! shareasale.com/u.cfm?d=1003201&m=111859&u=3322095&afftrack=
The Caprese salad is perhaps one of the world’s most famous salads. It is generally made from only five ingredients: perfectly ripe tomatoes and lush leafy basil from the garden, creamy hand-pulled water buffalo mozzarella, excellent extra-virgin olive oil, and flaky salt. Rather than try to have perfect slices of either tomato or cheese, we chose to use a mix of our two different-sized garden varieties this year: black cherry and Cherokee purple tomatoes in chunks. We cut the very soft, creamy cheese similarly and toss them together.
We chose to embellish the usual recipe with a lemon-pesto “vinaigrette” – of course it has no vinegar in it. But the pesto holds the emulsion together very well, resulting in a creamy, basil-lemony dressing which brightens up the round flavors of the salad.
The lemon-pesto dressing may be made in advance and stored in the fridge for 2 weeks or perhaps more. Let it come to room temperature before using it. The tomatoes may be cut an hour or two in advance and covered, but they should never be refrigerated. Cut the cheese and toss with the tomatoes right before serving.
Makes enough for 3-4 people.
Equipment:
large nonreactive salad bowl
blender or similar for making dressing
glass jar or similar to store lemon-basil dressing
Ingredients:
2 ea medium tomatoes ours were “Cherokee purple”
8-10 ea cherry tomatoes ours were “black cherry”
1 ball bufala mozzarella bocconcini will also work
1⁄4 cup basil leaves chiffonade fine for garnish
Lemon-Pesto Dressing:
1-2 Tbsp basil pesto
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice one lemon, generally
1/2 tsp salt non-iodized
Procedure:
1. Prepare the dressing as far in advance as you like, up to right before making the salad: place the pesto, oil, juice and salt into the blender and blend until the dressing is as smooth as possible. If desired, strain to remove any lumps or large flecks.
2. When preparing the salad, while the board is dry, chiffonade the basil and set aside.
3. Cut the tomatoes and add them to the nonreactive bowl.
4. Cut the cheese and add it to the bowl. Toss the tomato chunks with the cheese chunks, which will probably be somewhat creamy.
5. Portion the salad onto plates.
6. Garnish each portion of salad with drizzles of lemon-pesto dressing and pure extra-virgin olive oil.
7. Top each garnished salad with a generous nest of chiffonade basil.
8. It is nice to have this with some crusty, absorbent bread such as foccacia to soak up the salad juices.
Music: bensound.com/royalty-free-music
