Caprese Tomatoes

Hello, friends! Welcome to the first of three Italian cooking posts! It will be my own little “Tour of Italy”!

I’m in a cooking club that meets every other month. Each of the women in the group takes a turn hosting and choosing the menu. We’re notified of the theme about a month in advance to allow us time to decide on our recipes. We can either select new recipes to try, or bring our signature dish for the featured menu. I enjoy sampling the dishes all the ladies contribute. It’s always an outstanding meal, and I come home with some great new recipes! Plus, we just have a lot of fun and do a lot of laughing!

Our group met earlier this week and our hostess chose an Italian theme. I took a couple of dishes, one of which was Caprese Tomatoes. Since this dish was my appetizer, I’m starting with it for my Tour of Italy.

I found this recipe on Delish and it was a breeze to prepare. I doubled it for the cooking club.

Caprese Tomatoes

Ingredients:

6 oz. fresh mozzarella, sliced 

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 tsp. sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

6 plum tomatoes (I used Campari to keep it smaller since there would be several other salads and appetizers.)

6 fresh basil leaves

Balsamic glaze 

Mix the olive oil, Italian seasoning, and salt in a small bowl. Grind some pepper into the mixture and give it a stir. Slice the mozzeralla and toss in the olive oil mixture. Since I was using smaller tomatoes, I sliced my mozzarella into smaller pieces. Let the cheese marinate while you prep the tomatoes. 

Slice the tomatoes like an accordion, making sure not to cut all the way through. If you’re using the plum tomatoes, you’ll need more slices that I have pictured here. I made only two slices in mine. Place the tomatoes on a platter and insert cheese slices and a piece of torn basil in each slice. Drizzle the tomatoes with the balsamic glaze just before serving.

I enjoyed the freshness of the tomatoes and basil and the flavor of the marinated cheese. I think several of the ladies liked it as well! I will definitely put this one in my recipe file and use it throughout the summer. It will make a fun appetizer (with the camparis) or a nice salad (with the plums) to go with Italian or grilled menus!

Even though tomorrow is Friday, I’ll be taking a week off from a “Fluff the Nest” post to continue my little Tour of Italy with two more recipes: Bolognese Pasta and Tiramisu! The Bolognese dish wasn’t one I took to cooking club (there were already going to be enough main dishes), but one I recently tried and loved! SO it’s going in the tour!