Caprese Salad is a Mediterranean salad consisting of fresh buffalo Mozzarella cheese, Tomatoes, fresh Italian Basil and Olive Oil
Learn more about the Caprese salad and how to make it further below in the post:
Caprese Salad makes me happy.
It transforms my mood the moment I allow the tomato mozzarella basil and olive oil to gently glide off the fork onto my excited tongue.
I can feel the happiness in my cheeks with each bite and to soak up the remaining olive oil with some white crust bread is just the pinnacle of my blissful moment.
My husband was mesmerized by the flavors the moment he was introduced to it.
He describes it as: “Very refreshing and the perfect lunch during summer time”.
He also describes the tomato mozzarella and basil as a brilliant food marriage and the olive oil completes the dish. Sounds promising right?
What is the Caprese Salad?
Caprese Salad, Insalata Caprese in Italian, means salad from Capri, which is an Italian island.
The green white and red of the ingredients represent the Italian flag in the Caprese Salad.
Green for the basil, White for the buffalo mozzarella and red for the tomato.
Caprese Salad Ingredients
Mozzarella
Use only fresh Buffalo Mozzarella not the processed mozzarella cheese which is used on pizzas and which looks like cheddar.
Soft fresh buffalo mozzarella is turned into a ball and then kept in brine.
Usually, the soft mozzarella can be stored for a few days in the fridge and packets have always an expiry date.
Just earlier today, while doing my groceries, an Italian explained that the mozzarella balls are still good 3 days after expiry date if it was stored in a very cool fridge.
Basil
Basil, also known as Italian Basil, should be available wherever you are. I used to grow my own basil at home, you can do that too in your kitchen.
Don’t use Thai Basil or Holy Basil (Tulsi). The taste is different.
Tomato
Pick a juicy red tomato variety. I prefer always homegrown tomatoes because they tend to be more flavorful.
You can also get cocktail tomatoes and half them. That works great with smaller mozzarella balls of the same size.
Italian Caprese Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 Tomatoes medium
- 1 Buffalo Mozzarella
- 1 Tablespoon Italian Basil sliced
- Salt to taste
- Black Pepper to taste
- dash Olive Oil extra virgin
Instructions
- Slice your tomatoes.
- Cut open the mozzarella cheese bag, discard all the water, shake off some liquid from the cheese ball and cut first into half and then into slices.
- Arrange the mozzarella cheese slices and tomato slices in a plate, top with the sliced fresh basil leafs and sprinkle some salt and pepper.
- Finnish by adding a dash of olive oil on top.
- Best served and enjoyed cooled during the hot summer months.
Notes
Nutrition
More Salad & Dressing ideas:
Dear Reader, do you get good quality fresh Mozzarella balls in your corner of the world?
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Fresh and delicious!
Cheers,
Rosa
Great salad, and I love the presentation. We can get great mozzarella here, too. But it’s too early for tomatoes and basil from my garden. But in a few months, this will be on our table! Really nice — thanks.
Oh this speaks of summer! I can’t wait to have fresh tomatoes and make this.
So glad to found your beautiful Caprese salad , Helen! This is so funny, we all created something delicious with tomato, basil and mozzarella this weekend. How wonderful for you to be able to experience life in Goa. We have many friends form India from the Pune region and they often tell us about their vacation to the scenic coast of Goa.
J+C
This is by far one of my favourite summer salads and if I see it on a menu, I will almost always order it. Except when tomatoes are out of season and they taste like nothing, it is infuriating to see it on a menu out of season. The combinations you mention are exquisite and satisfy the emotional hunger as well as the physical hunger. It’s nice to know you can find this cheese in Goa; my friend John (from the Bartolini Kitchens) made soft mozzarella some time ago, I haven’t tried making it yet but will sometime soon.
When the ingredients are fresh, I swear there is no better salad than this. It looks beautiful on that plate, Helene.
I’m in love with how fresh it looks and such a delicious dish 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I have had something very similar to this, but not with the love put into it that you have. Beautiful presentation, and I am sure it tastes even better! Perfect summer afternoon appetizer. Thanks for sharing 🙂
so simple but so delicious and so fresh and screams spring
Delightfully refreshing combination of flavors – makes me long for summer more! 🙂
I didn’t know you could get fresh mozzarella in Goa? Is it from the Indian buffaloes?
I don’t know since I couldn’t find a way to contact the dairy I am buying from. But I know an Italian lady who was one of the first to make mozzarella here and she told me that they used the milk from Indian buffalos and also from cows.
Sorry! I should have have read your post a little closer. It waw self explanatory.
oh that’s alright, glad you asked. =)
Hey Helene!
Beautiful photos. I agree with you. Something so ordinary to us might be totally new to someone else. I am super crazy about tomatoes but I’ve never had Caprese Salad before! So, thanks for sharing this 🙂
yummy, tempting salad..
What a lovely presentation!
Ciao Helene, sono contenta che una ricetta italiana ti ha resa felice e che tu riesca a trovare la mozzarella anche in India! Un grande saluto
M.G.
I can’t wait for summer and fresh tomatoes. I’ve made mozzarella a couple of time. I’ll be honest and say I didn’t find that it was a lot better than I could buy so I haven’t made it again.
This is the salad that definitely says it’s summer to me.
I agree, this is the ultimate summer food, sadly we have a few more months to go before this delicious salad reappears in our lunch and dinner plates—tomatoes this time of year are so bland and mealy they actually gross me out. I usually serve oven dried tomatoes in this recipe during our winter. Such beautiful photos too.
Love basil, growing Sweet Basil, makes great Pesto. I have been growing basil in a pot here in State of Gujarat in India. Have been regularly fertilizing using Goat poop. Too bad can’t find fresh mozzarella in my neck of the woods!
Hi Nilesh,
really goat poop as fertilizer? That’s interesting. When do you plant your basil seeds? That’s a pity that you are not getting mozzarella in your corner of Gujarat. I think retail market will be selling those sooner or later. We have lots of cheese choice for the past 4 years now in Goa and I think the cheese market is gradually expanding in India, which is good. 🙂
This combination was made in heaven.