Day 5- Caprese salad

Day five -“The Week Of Eating In Challenge”

So, onward I plug with new recipes every day. It is defiantly harder than I initially thought at the beginning of this week.  I decided to go with a light and tasty dish for today that can also be used as a wonderful appetizer. This is officially my mom’s favorite salad. So I’d like to dedicate today’s post to my mom. She truly is the one who first and continues to “feed” my love and passion for fantastic food. Thank you mom.

For those of you who are reading my blog, let me know if there is a favorite dish from childhood that you remember and would like to share.  I find a lot of my recipes are just a more gourmet version of favorite foods from my childhood. So here is the recipe for today, the fifth day of the challenge, Caprese salad.

Caprese salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 3 vine-ripe tomatoes, 1/4-inch thick slices
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella, 1/4-inch thick slices
• 20 to 30 leaves (about 1 bunch) fresh basil
• Balsamic vinegar for drizzling (I used an orange infused vinegar)
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• Coarse salt and pepper
• A loaf of crusty French bread to serve with the salad

Directions

1.I like to reduce the balsamic vinegar in a pot till it’s thick and drizzles really nicely on the tomatoes and cheese. This is optional, you can just drizzle the vinegar as is.

2.Layer alternating slices of tomatoes and mozzarella, adding a basil leaf between each, on a large, shallow platter.

3. Drizzle the salad with extra-virgin olive oil reduced balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

4. Serve with some nice warm crusty French bread.

Optional- you can use this recipe as a nice little appetizer. I recommend putting the bread slices in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 350 to crisp them up. Then put layer the tomato, mozzarella, and basil on top of a piece of French bread.  Drizzle with the oil and vinegar and serve.

So, only two more days to go of the challenge. Keep on cooking and make some tasty food. More yummy recipes and and blogs to come.

Till then live, love and eat some fantastic food.