JULIE WELLS: Caprese salads easy to make, great for summer

Ask and you shall receive — at least that worked for my husband, Kevin, when he requested Caprese salad as part of his special Father’s Day meal.

I thought this dish was going to be way more complicated than it actually turned out to be. Honestly, this recipe is so easy I don’t know that you should call it a recipe.

This salad is made up of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. As you can tell from the picture, I made it without basil because we aren’t huge fans of fresh basil.

Traditionally an Italian salad, it was made to represent the colors of the Italian flag: red, white and green. I also read that it is served as a starter dish, but we think it is good served at any point in the meal, or just by itself.

I love that this salad is so light and refreshing. I thought with all of the cheese it would be heavy, but fresh mozzarella is not a heavy-tasting cheese.

Additionally, you can just use olive oil, salt and pepper. We used a balsamic glaze and omitted the extra steps and ingredients, therefore this salad is made up of just three ingredients and it doesn’t get any simpler than that.

Speaking of balsamic glaze, did you know that you could use it on grilled meats and seafood and even on ice cream and fruit salads?

Well, there you have it. In 10 minutes or less you can have the ingredients sliced, plated and ready to eat. It is the perfect summer salad. Enjoy.

Julie Wells writes the weekly food column The Recipe Box for the Rockdale Citizen. Email her at [email protected].

CAPRESE SALAD

What you need …

Six to eight cherry tomatoes, washed and sliced

16-ounce package of pre-sliced fresh mozzarella cheese

Balsamic glaze

Basil leaves, optional

What you do …

Using a large serving platter, place a slice of mozzarella on the plate, and then a tomato slice, and repeating this step until all of the mozzarella and tomato slices have been used.

If using basil leaves, sprinkle leaves all over the dish.

Drizzle the desired amount of balsamic glaze all over the dish and serve.