Barb Designs

Food. Life. Work.

Caprese salad any time of the year March 27, 2009

Filed under: Cooking, Food — Barb @ 6:51 pm
Tags: ,
Roasted Caprese Salad in March

Roasted Caprese Salad in March

Caprese salad isn’t a dish I normally crave in the middle of winter. Although caprese-quality Ttomatoes are usually scarce this time of year, it can be done with Romas. Yes, I said Romas—those tomatoes that are usually tasteless, gritty and unremarkable. The trick is to slow roast the tomatoes until they are sweet and concentrated.

I used Ina Garten’s recipe for Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad and was happy to taste summertime in March.

Ingredients

  • 12 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, seeds (not cores) removed
  • 1/4 cup good olive oil, plus more for drizzling
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 16 ounces fresh salted mozzarella
  • 12 fresh basil leaves, julienned

Directions

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.

Arrange the tomatoes on a sheet pan, cut sides up, in a single layer. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of olive oil and the balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with the garlic, sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Roast for 2 hours until the tomatoes are concentrated and begin to caramelize. Allow the tomatoes to cool to room temperature.

Cut the mozzarella into slices slightly less than 1/2-inch thick. If the slices of mozzarella are larger than the tomatoes, cut the mozzarella slices in half. Layer the tomatoes alternately with the mozzarella on a platter and scatter the basil on top. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Serve at room temperature.

 

Leave a Reply