caprese salad

Follow dmash and switch up the tomato routine by opting for a less obvious caprese salad.

Heirloom tomatoes, goat cheese, basil, and a good balsamic vinegar = a little slice of heaven. I don't know why I never thought to ditch the mozzarella and switch up my Caprese salads!

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When the weather gets hot, Food Orleans goes no-cook with simple recipes like a peachy take on the caprese salad.
Did someone say heat wave? Can I get a witness sweatband?

Look, it's too hot to cook, but the good thing is, there's plenty of ripe fruit and veggies to gorge on. Take a simple caprese salad, for instance: tomatoes, basil, mozz, vinegar, and oil. I love it, you love it, we've all eaten plenty of them. But don't think a caprese has to stop there: use fruit, like peaches, nectarines, and avocados. Use other vegetables, like roasted eggplant, squash, and cukes. The caprese salad is one of the best Italian inventions ever, and I'm not going to let the traditional recipe stop me from going ca-ra-zay with it.

This recipe is so simple, I'm gonna lay it out for you in pics. These amounts will serve 2 non-gluttonous adults a light salad or appetizer, or 1 very sweaty girl a light lunch:

Get a nice, ripe peach and a plum. Any kind of plum will do; I got a black one. Cut 4 or 5 slices of each fruit—you'll still have 3/4 of the fruit left. Get a little basil and tear off a few big leaves and a few tiny ones.

Get 4 slices of fresh mozzarella—this is about half of an 8-ounce ball. Cut the slices in half to make half-circles.

Arrange the peach, plum, and mozzarella slices in some sort of overlapping, alternating fashion. Or just plop them all on a plate. Tuck some basil leaves in and around, and scatter smaller leaves over the top.

Read on to learn about the dressing — and to get the full recipe! — for this Summer salad.

I've already introduced you to my favorite trendy update of the classic Caprese, Italy's tried-and-true trifecta of tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. But given all the fresh offerings out there right now (grape and cherry tomatoes! Brandywines! Green Zebras! Cherokee Purples!), sometimes you just need a bit more tomato-salad variety.

These combinations, like the Caprese, don't call for more than a few ingredients. Many of them take inspiration from other traditional flavor combinations around the world. To see a few more simple tomato salad ideas, keep reading.

Here on the West Coast, we haven't been hard-hit by the year's devastating tomato blight, so I've been taking advantage of my good fortune by supporting growers of heirloom tomatoes (perhaps a little too much; the other day I bought $21 worth of them!). As a salad fanatic, I had to make my favorite type of tomato salad.

The insalata Caprese, which literally translates to "salad from Capri," is composed of three main ingredients: fresh mozzarella, vine-ripened tomatoes, and basil leaves. It's a no-brainer to prepare, and takes five seconds to make, so the key is to use top-notch components.

In addition to enjoying the basic Caprese, it's also fun to play around with the recipe. On this day, I chopped up an extra pound of heirlooms, let them sit in a fine sieve until the juice strained through, and whisked the juice with olive oil and seasonings to make a punchy vinaigrette that brought out the savory herbaceousness of tomatoes. Start experimenting when you read more

• Check out the trailer of Brian Boitano's new Food Network show. — New York Magazine
• Possible disguises for Sam Sifton, the New York Times new restaurant critic. — Eat Me Daily
• Give classic caprese salad a stone-fruit twist by making it with peaches. — Serious Eats
• Bon Appétit has named the nation's best new restaurants. — Bon Appétit
• 10 of Julia Child's most prolific quotes. — Chow
• Learn how to turn a strawberry box and strawberries into a beautiful centerpiece. — Design*Sponge
• 5 reasons that explain why Meryl Streep played Julia Child perfectly. — The Hungry Beast

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