Yay! Summer is here …

I live in the Caribbean and technically it is pretty much always summer there but that does not mean that in the middle of Winter I get fresh juicy tomatoes all the time. But right now I am in Vancouver, B.C visiting some family and there are tomatoes everywhere and that means one thing for me … Caprese Salad.

If salads could speak, then this salad would defiantly say “Hello, I am here, Summer has arrived!” Fresh juicy tomatoes, vibrant basil and the salty mozzarella topped with a good dose of fresh healthy Olive Oil to give you that fresh Italian summer feel.

Because this dish is so simple and the fact that it has minimal ingredients, they really need to be able to shine. Substituting mushy tomatoes or rubbery mozzarella would not suffice. All of a sudden my best friends nona (grandma) might appear out of no where, grab you by the ear and curse at you in Italian about ruining this incredible dish.

The Caprese salad was made to resemble the colours of the Italian flag and it actually served as an antipasto opposed to a side salad. It is also traditionally served with only olive oil but I love balsamic vinegar and I am not the traditional type anyways

If you love the flavours of this dish you can mix if up and try more than a handful of different ways to serve this. A caprese sandwich, caprese pizza, caprese skewers or a caprese pasta. As long as you start with great ingredients and keep it simple you are bound to have a delicious meal anytime of the day. If you want to make a non vegetarian dish then add a few slices of prosciutto between the tomato slices. If you want to make it a breakfast dish then top a couple slices of tomato and mozzarella with a poached egg. If you are like me and want to even add more vegetables to a vegetable dish then try adding some marinated roasted peppers or eggplant.

Notes:

1) I have not included a number of how many tomatoes to use as it really does depend on the size of the tomato. If i said you need 4 tomatoes but I was using beefsteak and you were using roma it would not be a proper scale. Use as many as you would like to create 4 appetizer size portions