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Easy and delicious caprese salad recipe that is the perfect appetizer but filling and nourishing enough to serve as a light lunch or main meal!
One of my favorite dishes to order while traveling is a caprese salad. The picture above is one that I ordered in Amsterdam a few years ago. It was amazing!
I’ve discovered over the years that a simple caprese salad made in exactly the same way can taste quite different depending on the location!
Between the type of tomatoes arranged on the plate to the thickness, size, and taste of the mozzarella, it gives you a quick overview of the quality of food in the area like few dishes can.
For this reason, I find this particular salad to be the perfect dish to enjoy on the road as a quick gauge of the local food quality.
Tomato Quality is Key
When it comes to this particular salad, premium tomatoes are an absolute must.
You see, the tomatoes serve as the foundation and main player of any caprese salad recipe.
Using hybrid tomatoes even if organic or vine-ripened is best avoided. Hybrids are simply not flavorful enough to carry this salad.
The best heirloom tomatoes, preferably colorful and of local origin, are the best choice. This video shows the difference between heirloom and hybrid tomatoes.
Trust me on this.
It is worth the cost and time spent finding a farmers market in your area that carries these beauties.
If you can’t find heirloom tomatoes in your area, at least use locally-grown tomatoes cultivated in the soil. Hydroponic tomatoes are especially flavorless and non-satisfying in a caprese salad.
Mozzarella Cheese
Like the tomatoes, the quality of the mozzarella cheese can make or break the dish. Only the firmest and freshest mozzarella will do.
Processed mozzarella slices from the supermarket or health food store never work.
Cheese slices are also processed with aluminum salts and often separated by paper slicked with hormone-disrupting silicone!
You absolutely must slice the mozzarella yourself from a fresh ball ideally purchased that day. Health food stores usually carry fresh mozzarella. Alternatively, the gourmet section of a supermarket often have them as well.
The Netherlands, where I enjoyed the caprese salad in the picture above, is well known for its amazing cheese. For example, the town of Gouda is famous for, you guessed it, Gouda cheese.
There are also cheese shops all over Amsterdam. The Dutch don’t tolerate poor-quality cheese!
The picture below is of one such shop right near the Anne Frank House. I was fortunate to visit the week of the famous diary’s 75th-anniversary celebration.
Preparation Tips
Make only as much salad as you will eat fresh. Caprese salad is not as great as leftovers!
Substitute a dozen or so cherry tomatoes for the two larger-sized tomatoes if that is the best you have locally available (preferably heirloom varieties).
It is worth it to use the best quality balsamic vinegar you can find, preferably a brand (like this one) without any additives or diluted with wine vinegar.
Classic Caprese Salad Recipe
A simple and delicious caprese salad recipe that works as an appetizer or main course preferably drizzled with authentic balamic vinegar.
Ingredients
- 2 medium heirloom tomatoes preferably organic
- 1 large ball fresh mozzarella
- balsamic vinegar
- sea salt
- pepper
Instructions
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Slice the heirloom tomatoes so that each piece is of medium thickness. About 1/4 inch works well.
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Slice the fresh mozzarella cheese the same way. About 1/4 inch for each slice.
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Arrange the tomato and cheese slices in a straight line with an alternating pattern on two plates.
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Drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette.
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Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper if desired. You probably won’t need any if the tomatoes and mozzarella are premium quality.
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Serve immediately.
If a tomato has no taste, there’s only one reason: somebody put it in the refrigerator. Tomatoes should never be put in the refrigerator because it kills the flavor. Can sit on a counter in comfortable room temperature for days on and without degradation.
Tomatoes that have never been refrigerated OFTEN have zero taste … because they are hybridized and/or hydroponic. Stay away from these nutritionless counterfeits.
Hi Sarah,
Looks wonderful!
It looks like there is another dressing in the picture. Can you give the recipe?
The picture is of a caprese salad I was served in Amsterdam. That other dressing was some sort of avocado dressing. I don’t have the recipe but it tasted like avocados blended with lemon juice and possibly olive oil with some salt and pepper.
I assumed it had basil in that green dressing, so it was interesting to hear it was avocado. I’ve never seen it made without using basil. One of my favorites for sure.
Being Dutch, I appreciate this article :). But I have to say, there’s a lot of terrible, chewy, tasteless mozzarella to be found in supermarkets here. I try to find Italian buffalo mozzarella which is expensive… but once you’ve tasted it, you’ll want nothing else, ever. I have become a total mozzarella snob :). I hope you were able to find some raw milk Gouda cheese in Amsterdam, it’s amazing! They add spices to the cheeses as well, like cumin, cloves, mustard seeds, fenugreek, black pepper, even nettle! One of my best friends makes raw milk Gouda for a living and always brings over cheese when she visits :).
That friend is a keeper 🙂 Sad to hear about the supermarket mozzarella. All the cheese I tasted in Holland was fabulous. Glad I missed the rubbery stuff!
I live in DFW area in Texas and can but BUF brand mozzarella which is from water buffalo milk made in Colombia. It is excellent, very tender.
Wow! That’s sounds incredible!