Caprese Bites

I have really been struggling with coming up with any ideas. This always happens to me when we begin to transition from light summery meals to warm, heartier ones. I don’t want to slip awa from my light fresh salads and grilled chicken,  and to dive into roasted root vegetables or heavy stews just yet. So at this point I spend more time wandering around the grocery store or Haymarket, where I get the majority of my fresh vegetables. However, during one visit to Haymarket I spotted pearl tomatoes and knew exactly what I wanted to make… Caprese bites!

Grabbing some mozzarella balls and fresh basil this came together easily and quickly. I decided that the simplest approach would be to make the tomato the vessel for the mozzarella and the basil. Basil is really flavorful so I would not need much so just a little piece could be layered with the cheese and tomato, possibly even hidden entirely so it would surprise the person enjoying the caprese bite.

I decided to create 2 different sizes of caprese bites allowing serving to be flexible. Halving the tomatoes makes more smaller bites which could be appealing when needing to serve a large crowd. These are perfectly bite size.

I also decided to make larger bites by only slicing part of the tomato and scooping out the inside guts creating a larger cup. This would allow the entire mozzarella ball to snuggly fit inside the tomato with the basil leaf. This makes for a larger bite for someone but I think that serving these could be a bit easier as someone would just need to snag one with a toothpick.

Caprese Bites

*Makes 20 or 40 caprese bites, depending on preparation*

Ingredients

• 20 Cherry Tomatoes
• 10 or 20 Mozzarella balls
• 10 to 20  Fresh basil leaves
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper

Process to prepare 20 bites

1. Wash tomatoes and basil leaves
2. Cut a small portion of each cherry tomatoes at one end. Scoop out the wet flesh and seeds.
3. Rip the basil leaves in 2 or 3 pieces, depending on size.
4. Lay a piece of basil leaf into the tomato cup, and then carefully add the mozzarella ball.
5. Repeat the stuffing process for the rest of the 19 tomato pieces.
6. Slice a sliver of the tomato to make a flat bottom to prevent it from rolling around.
7. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper prior to serving.

Process to prepare 40 bites

1. Wash tomatoes and basil leaves
2. Halve cherry tomatoes and clean out the wet flesh and seeds
3. Halve the 20 mozzarella balls
4. Rip the basil leaves in 2 or 3 pieces, depending on size.
5. Lay a piece of basil leaf into the halved tomato, and then add the halved mozzarella ball, curved side down.
6. Repeat the stuffing process for the rest of the 39 tomato pieces.
7. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper prior to serving.

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