Recipe: Caprese Salad/Tomato Carnage

Here’s a Fun Fact (and it’s not even Friday!) – sometimes there’s a bit of a delay between when I take photos and when I actually take a close look at them.  Case in point: I made a Caprese salad a few weeks ago with some CSA tomatoes (aren’t they gorgeous?).  I wasn’t even going to take a photo since Caprese = easy peasy.   However, at the tweeted request of a Big Apple Nosh reader, I arranged a plate and took a few quick snaps.  When I pulled these photos from my camera just tonight, the above photo totally cracked me up.  I thought it would add ambiance to put a few tomatoes as a backdrop for the caprese, front and center.  What we are actually seeing here though, is tomato carnage.   The three tomatoes in the background are looking on in horror at their former vine-mate, sliced and diced and layered between dairy and herbs.  The smaller tomato on the right is trying to make a quick and surreptitious getaway.  Poor, poor tomatoes – soon met a similar fate the very next day.  As you can see, my personification of vegetables only goes so far.

Annnnyway, Caprese salad is a great option when you’ve got your bumper crop of late-summer tomatoes.  And it’s also one of the easiest and quickest dishes to make, ever.  You will need:

• Mozarella
• Tomatoes
• Basil
• Pepper
• Olive Oil

Slice the tomatoes and mozarella, and layer with basil.  Season with pepper and drizzle olive oil on top. DUNZO.

See? I told you it was easy.  How do you make your Caprese? Any special add-ins?

P.S. I’m totally counting this as a Veggie Resolution – this is #16; only 4 more to go!

PS  This post is my contribution to Food Network’s Summer Fest!  Looking for other tomato recipes? Check out the below links!

Big Girls Small Kitchen: Seared Chicken with Cherry Tomato Pan Sauce
Haute Apple Pie: Heirloom Tomato & Three Cheese Tart
What’s Gaby Cooking: Zebra Tomato and Burrata Crostini
Zaika Zabardast: Balsamic Roasted Tomato-Basil Ice
And Love It Too: Healthy Lunchbox – Garlic Tomato Basil Pesto Bruchetta
Chez Us: Roasted Tomato Sauce
Daily*Dishin: Refreshing and Rustic – Tuscan Bread Salad
Glory Foods: Fresh Tomato Salsa
Dishin and Dishes: Tomato Tart Tatin
The Purple Cook: Eggplant Parmesan Caprese Salad
I Am Mommy: Tomato Crudite
Cooking With My Kid: Gluten-Free White Bean Chive Cakes with Heirloom Tomatoes
FN Dish: Easy Tomato Appetizers
Add a Pinch: Simple Caprese Salad Skewers
Sweet Life Bake: Salsa Cruda
Virtually Homemade: Farfalle with Roasted Tomato Sauce, Bacon and Shaved Romano
Dixie Chik Cooks: Tomato, Basil and Olive Bruschetta
The Sensitive Epicure: Yemista – Greek Stuffed Tomatoes & Peppers with Potatoes
Mooshu Jenne: Sun Burst Tomato Pasta
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Book Club, Tomatoes and a Recipe for Chicken Provençal?
Cooking With Elise: Tomato Parmesan Biscuits
From My Corner of Saratoga: Cooking from the Garden – Bruschetta Pizza
Fritos and Foie Gras: Tomato Terrine
Creative Culinary: Fresh and Savory Tomato Pie
Spices and Aroma: Quick and Easy Paneer Curry
Zaika Zabardast: Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Breakfast Rolls