Caprese Salad with Pesto and Mozzarella

Simple ingredients and bright appearance! Classic caprese is a combination of ripe tomatoes, tender cheese and aromatic sauce. This is a calling card of Italy, because the colors of this salad completely repeat the colors of the national flag of the famous peninsula.
cook time: 10 min
Lucas Halstead
Caprese Salad with Pesto and Mozzarella

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

302
Calories
29g
Fat
3g
Carbs
13g
Protein

Ingredients (2 portions)

Basic:

Tomatoes (large or 2 medium) 1 pc
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Salt (pinch) 1 g
Mozzarella (one large ball) 120 g
Basil (1 sprig) 5 g
Pesto 2 tbsp

Recipe instructions

Step 1

Step 1
How to make Caprese tomatoes with pesto and mozzarella? First, prepare the necessary ingredients. The color scheme of caprese completely coincides with the flag of Italy — green-white-red — therefore it is considered a gastronomic symbol of this country. For this reason, basil in classic caprese can only be green.

Step 2

Step 2
It is better to use store-bought pesto sauce; if possible, make it in Italy. Italian pesto has a completely different taste than ours. I have made pesto many times with the same set of ingredients, but the taste of the sauce is still different from the original. However, if you want to make your own pesto, I will leave a link to this sauce under the recipe.

Step 3

Step 3
Wash the tomatoes, dry and cut into thin slices. If the tomato is large, one is enough; if it is medium, then you will need two.

Step 4

Step 4
Remove the mozzarella from the brine, dry and cut into thin slices. The larger the mozzarella ball, the better: it is easier to cut. Mozzarella comes in two types; yellowish semi-hard for pizza and brine soft, white. We will need brine mozzarella.

Step 5

Step 5
Rinse and dry the basil. You can remove the leaves from the branches in advance. If there are few leaves on the branch, take 2 sprigs of greenery.

Step 6

Step 6
Place tomatoes and mozzarella on the dish, slightly overlapping, alternating. Lightly salt the tomatoes and cheese. However, before you add salt to your salad, taste your pesto. Usually it is moderately salty, but there are also jars with a slight excess of salt. If the pesto is already salty, then there is no need to add additional salt to the salad.

Step 7

Step 7
Place basil leaves on top. Spread pesto sauce over top.

Step 8

Step 8
Drizzle the salad with olive oil and serve. Bon appetit!

Additional rubrics

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