"caprese" news and stories

Last night, a friend introduced me to a fun appetizer idea that makes a terrific edible centerpiece. When I pushed for the inspiration, she admitted that it was a concept borrowed from another friend, who always serves it at parties. It is simply white and green tortellini (the secret is to only cook it for half the time the package directs, or it will be too soft to stay on the skewer), a grape tomato and a small ball of fresh mozzarella wrapped in a basil leaf.

As you can see from the picture, she arranged them in a vase, so that they look almost like a flower arrangement. It made the table gorgeous and they were absolutely delicious to boot.

photo by Marisa McClellan

A sandwich can be the perfect solution if you are hungry, but not hungry enough to sit down and have a whole meal. They can also be a relatively healthy late-night snack if you find yourself up in the wee hours. Finger sandwiches and tea sandwiches are categories of sandwich that were created entirely for snacking. More often than not, these snackable sandwiches are meatless, since that ensures that they will need minimal preparation time. Elise, of Simply Recipes, made up a batch of Caprese Mini Sandwiches that are perfectly suited to snacking, meeting both the size and meat-free requirements. Though they are small and easy to prepare, they are surprisingly elegant, using a combination of pesto, mozzarella and tomatoes on top of a lightly toasted and seasoned pita bread. The seasoned pita bread, which uses spices and a bit of parmesan cheese, could also be used for dipping in salsa or hummus, if you're not inclined to assemble the whole thing.

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Technically, it's not Insalata Caprese, which is made with plum tomatoes and also has basil, both of which are grown in the Mezzogirorno. The original also uses olive oil that is from Sorrento. This is close enough. Instead of plum tomatoes, it has slightly sweeter, slightly less acidic orange tomatoes that alternate with mozzarella that is about the same size as the tomatoes. The entire plate is drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper.

It's also not really "light," since half its weight is cheese, but hey, it's still a salad!