I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

caprese

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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Insalata Caprese

I will be the first to admit that I really hated tomatoes as a kid. I did not like the taste or texture and when my older brother announced he hated them I knew I would hate them too. Logical, no? I do distinctly remember once pulling off a cherry tomato from my uncle’s garden and eating it on a dare. I think the dare part hyped it all up and I made a big deal about it further.

 

But things started to change as I got older and I realized that tomatoes were not Satan’s trick on a large berry. I began to accept it in salsa and then bruschetta. Little pieces of heavily seasoned tomato… okay! Things really changed when I started to date Price. He made a big to do about not liking fish (umm communist!) and I liked to make fun of him for it. But not being able to be a hypocrite, I had to give a little back and start to eat tomatoes. Guess what… I discovered there amazing, intense, tangy taste and how I loved it.

 

I can still be picky about tomatoes, but it mostly is a texture thing and I have a lot of issues with textures so that is not surprising. Moving on… I have happily gotten to the point there I can slice tomatoes, sprinkle them with salt and eat them just like that. Taking a bite into a firm, sweet tomato melts everything else away. I can be busy in the kitchen making dinner, struggling to keep up with the timing of things, and if I just take a tiny moment to have a wedge of tomato sprinkled with salt, I start to center again and continue with dinner.

 

I think that Insalata Caprese, salad in the style from Capri, is a simple dish that makes for a great appetizer, or entree when you are too hot to cook. Because this dish it so simple it requires the best ingredients you can get your hands on. You can’t build a base with a watery tomato, or you can’t top a great tomato slice with a store brand plastic coated mozzarella log. Now is this time to skip and use a run of the mill olive oil. You really need an oil that is so golden that it is almost green. Go ahead, treat yourself… you deserve it!

 

Insalata Caprese

-serves 4-6-

Ingredients

  • 4 vine-ripe tomatoes
  • 1 pound fresh mozzarella, buffalo is preferred
  • 1 cup of pesto
  • balsamic vinegar
  • handful of basil leaves
  • Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
  • Coarse salt and pepper

Steps

  1. Cut the tomatoes and mozzarella into 1/4″ thick slices.
  2. Lay out slices of tomato on a serving platter. Cover each tomato slice with a slice of mozzarella.
  3. Put a heaving spoonful of pesto on half the slices of mozzarella.
  4. On the remaining slices, cover with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Top each slice with a piece of torn basil.
  5. Lightly, drizzle the Extra-virgin olive oil over all the slices.
  6. Season with salt and pepper.
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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.