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Nothing says summer like colorful heirloom tomatoes right from the garden! Caprese Salad, layered with fresh Buffalo mozzarella and perfect basil leaves, all drizzled with a Balsamic Vinaigrette. What’s not to love?
How-To Chiffonade Basil
What’s a chiffonade? Sounds like a bathrobe if you ask me! Chiffonade (pronounced chef-fon-nahd), is a super easy technique I use to shred and slice herbs and leafy vegetables into long thin strips. Basil, sage, lettuce, cabbage and any other large leaves that can be stacked and rolled are perfect. Prepared the “chiffonade” way, your herb garnishes will have that professional finished look you often see at fancy restaurants. Here’s a great How-To Chiffonade Basil tutorial by Vegan Yum Yum, and another by Fine Cooking. Don’t miss the YouTube video by chef Jenny Slafkosky!
Heirloom Tomatoes & Purple Basil
I love using Heirloom tomatoes during the summer. There’s so many varieties today that it boggles my mind. The colors are so vibrant, and most times they’re organic, so you know you’re eating something that’s good for you, and not just going for a pretty face! I also like to use different varieties of basil. Not only are they colorful, but each one has a unique flavor. In this recipe, I used a few leaves of purple basil which tastes a little like licorice – not too weird, it just gave the salad a little more zing!
Assemble the salad any way you like. In the photo above, I quartered the tomatoes and arranged them in a Bento-style take-out container for a picnic we were going to.
Caprese Salad Recipe
- 4 large Heirloom tomatoes
- 1/2 – 3/4 pound ball buffalo mozzarella
- 20 large fresh clean basil leaves
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 1 garlic clove, minced fine
- 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning, optional
- Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
How to Make a Caprese Salad
- Slice tomatoes and mozzarella 1/4″ thick. Lay tomatoes on paper towel to blot dry. Pick out 15 perfect, similar sized basil leaves for layering in the salad. Chiffonade the remaining basil leaves (see link above and YouTube video below), and set aside.
- Arrange tomatoes, mozzarella and basil on your favorite serving platter. The best way to do this is to lay down one tomato slice, then layer a slice of mozzarella on top, and add a perfect basil leaf on top of the mozzarella. Continue until all the tomato and mozzarella slices are layered with basil leaves sandwiched in between. you can fan them out on the platter, or stack them in towers with a long bamboo skewer placed through the middle.
- Whisk together in a small bowl, or shake in a glass jar, the vinegars, olive oil, honey, minced garlic and optional Italian seasoning until well blended. When ready to serve the Caprese Salad, drizzle the dressing over the tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.
- Season with Kosher salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately. Refrigerate leftovers.
- Serves 4-6.
