Features and methods of preparing Italian salad. Classic and original caprese recipes: with pepper, eggplant, pesto, chicken, in the form of a sandwich. Video recipes.
Caprese salad is one of the signature dishes of Italian cuisine, which usually serves as a light snack and precedes the main meal. The main ingredients are tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. As you can see, the colors of the caprese correspond to the colors of the Italian flag, which is a canvas divided into three stripes - green, red and white. That is why, while preparing this salad, it is simply impossible not to remember its "homeland". By the way, if you delve into the exact origin, it must be said that the dish was invented in Naples and named after the island of Capri, which is part of this province. Light, tasty, bright caprese quickly "scattered" around the world, and now you can taste it in Italian restaurants in any country.
Features of cooking caprese salad
The classic caprese recipe is a beef heart tomato, buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil leaves and a little olive oil. Since caprese is still more an appetizer than a salad, it is traditionally served as follows: tomatoes and cheese are cut into round thin slices and placed alternately - tomato, cheese, tomato, cheese; basil leaves are distributed on top in a chaotic manner, and as a final touch, the salad is sprinkled with oil. Neither salt nor other spices are usually used, because all the products of the traditional recipe already have a deep multifaceted taste.
Classic caprese is one of those dishes in which it is the quality of the ingredients that is important, and not the skills of cooking. Even the most inexperienced housewife will put together a delicious snack from tomatoes and basil ripened under the Italian sun, from real buffalo cheese. And even a chef cannot make a worthy dish from "water" tomatoes and "rubber" mozzarella.
Of course, in Russian conditions it is not so easy to find decent ingredients, and therefore the caprese recipe undergoes many changes. Instead of bullheart tomatoes, cherry tomatoes are usually taken, since these small tomatoes have similar density and sweet notes in taste. Mozzarela from buffalo milk is replaced with ordinary from cow milk, but at the same time serious requirements are imposed on quality. Cheese must necessarily be sold in brine, and its color must be snow-white, without yellow bloom.
Basil is often replaced with arugula, pine nuts, capers, olives, avocados and other components are added as additional ingredients. Often, salad is seasoned not with olive oil, but with Italian pesto sauce, honey sauce, etc.
TOP 8 recipes for Italian caprese salad
Often they "play" with the taste of caprese salad not because there are no necessary ingredients at hand, but simply being in search of the best option for themselves - not everyone likes the slight bitterness of olive oil or the pronounced spice of basil. Below are a number of different caprese recipes, and we are sure you will find the best one for yourself.
Classic caprese
First of all, let's prepare a caprese salad according to the classic recipe. Let's take only tomatoes, mozzarela, basil, olive oil and combine them into a beautiful bright appetizer.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 200 kcal.
- Servings Per Container - 3-4
- Cooking time - 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- Mozzarella - 1 scoop, approx. 130 g
- Tomatoes - 2 pcs.
- Basil - a few fresh twigs
- Olive oil - 1 tablespoon
Step by step preparation of the classic caprese
- Rinse the tomatoes well, take a sharp knife and cut them into thin slices.
- Cut the mozzarella ball in the same way.
- Lay out on a large dish alternately - a slice of tomato, cheese, a slice of tomato, cheese.
- Separate the leaves from the basil sprigs, arrange them randomly on top, and then drizzle with olive oil.
You can add a little black pepper to taste; caprese also goes well with balsamic vinegar or sauce.
Caprese with mozzarella and arugula
Quite often, basil in a salad is replaced with arugula: the original spice of basil sounds great in pesto sauce, but many people do not like to eat fresh leaves of this greenery. In this case, we recommend preparing caprese not with basil, but with arugula.
Ingredients
- Tomatoes - 3 pcs.
- Arugula - 30 g
- Mozzarella cheese - 250 g
- Balsamic vinegar - 3 tsp
- Honey - 2 tsp
- Olive oil - 5 tablespoons
- Salt, black pepper - pinch at a time.
Cooking caprese with mozzarella and arugula step by step
- Cut the tomatoes into thin slices.
- Do the same with the cheese.
- Rinse arugula leaves, dry.
- Place arugula on a platter, in the center.
- Arrange the tomato and mozzarella wedges alternately around.
- Prepare a dressing: mix oil, balsamic vinegar, pre-melted honey, salt, pepper.
- Pour the dressing over the prepared ingredients.
You don't need to add honey to the dressing, but it will soften the taste of the salad. To soften the dish without making it sweet, you can use pine nuts instead of honey.
Caprese with pesto sauce
This pesto caprese recipe requires some preparation because it is important to add the sauce fresh, not store-bought. However, cooking it is not at all difficult:
Ingredients
- Tomatoes - 2 pcs.
- Mozzarella cheese - 150 g
- Basil - 10 g (for the sauce)
- Pine nuts - 1 tsp (for the sauce)
- Parmesan - 20 g (for the sauce)
- Garlic - 1 clove (for the sauce)
- Olive oil - 30 ml
How to prepare caprese with pesto sauce step by step
- Finely chop the basil leaves, transfer to a mortar.
- Put pine nuts there, remember together.
- Grate Parmesan, pass the garlic through a press.
- Put the cheese and garlic in a mortar, pour in the olive oil, mix all the ingredients well.
- Cut the tomatoes and cheese with a sharp knife, arrange in a circle alternately.
- Pour the sauce over the tomatoes and cheese.
In the preparation of pesto, parzmezan can be replaced with ordinary hard cheese, and instead of pine nuts, you can take hazelnuts, but you will not be able to crush it right away in a mortar, you will have to chop it first.
Caprese with mozzarella, fresh and sun-dried tomatoes
In caprese, not only fresh, but also sun-dried tomatoes sound good, but especially interesting recipes are obtained when both fresh and sun-dried tomatoes are combined in a salad. Below is one such recipe.
Ingredients
- Arugula - 150 g
- Fresh cherry tomatoes - 12 pcs.
- Sun-dried tomatoes - 5 pcs.
- Mozzarella cheese in mini balls - 10 pcs.
- Olive oil - 3 tablespoons
- Balsamic vinegar - 1 tablespoon
- Lemon juice - 1 tablespoon
- Honey - 1 tablespoon
- Salt, black pepper - to taste
Step-by-step preparation of caprese with mozzarella, fresh and sun-dried tomatoes
- Melt the honey, mix with olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
- Rinse the arugula, dry it.
- Rinse fresh tomatoes, cut into halves or quarters.
- Cut the sun-dried tomatoes into several pieces.
- Remove the mozzarella balls from the brine, let the brine drain a little.
- Mix all the ingredients, pour over the dressing, mix well.
To taste, you can also add other spices to this caprese with mini mozzarella recipe, ideally add a pinch of Italian herbs.
Caprese with mozzarella and baked peppers
The classic ingredients of caprese salad have a pronounced sourness in taste, and therefore for those who are not a fan of sour taste, it is recommended to add honey or even the most common sugar to the dressing. However, if you do not feel like or cannot resort to using simple sugars, you can "sweeten" the salad by adding bell peppers to the main ingredients.
Ingredients
- Basil - a few twigs
- Tomatoes - 3 pcs.
- Sweet pepper - 1 pc.
- Cheese - 150 g
- Olive oil - 1 tablespoon
- Balsamic vinegar - 1 tablespoon
Step by step preparation of caprese with mozzarella and baked peppers
- Cut the pepper in half, remove the seeds from it.
- Place the halves on baking paper, drizzle with a little olive oil and bake in the oven until soft.
- In the meantime, cut the tomatoes and cheese into thin slices with a sharp knife.
- Remove the basil leaves from the branch.
- When the pepper has cooled down a little, remove the skin from them, cut into thin strips.
- Stir all prepared ingredients, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
If you like spice in taste, then along with bell peppers, you can bake chili and also add it to salad.
Caprese with eggplant
If you want to make caprese, which is very different from the classic one, we offer you this recipe - it uses eggplant, red onion, garlic, parmesan, etc., however, the main "trick" is still not in these additional ingredients, but in using for dressing refined truffle oil.
Ingredients
- Eggplant - 2 small
- Red onion - 100 g
- Garlic - 4 cloves
- Truffle oil - 30 ml
- Parmesan - 50 g
- Cherry - 300 g
- Mozzarella - 200 g
- Olive oil - 6 tablespoons
- Soy sauce - 50 ml
- Balsamic vinegar - 50 ml
Step by step cooking eggplant caprese
- Cut the mozzarella into thin slices.
- Combine soy sauce, half olive oil, pressed 2 cloves of garlic and pour over mozzarella circles with this mixture, leave for 20 minutes.
- Cut the eggplant into thin slices, place on a greased baking sheet, and bake until golden brown.
- Cut the cherry into halves, the onion into thin half rings, mix together, add the remaining olive oil and the remaining 2 cloves of garlic, also passed through a press.
- On a serving dish, put in a line, alternating between eggplants and mozzarella, on the sides lay cherry tomatoes with tomatoes.
- Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese on top, add basil leaves and finally truffle oil.
Note that not only the original truffle oil is suitable for the recipe, but also olive oil with its aroma - the latter is much more affordable, but also imitates the desired taste well.
Caprese with chicken and avocado
This recipe can be called a hearty variation of an Italian salad, in this case it can easily play the role of a main course, rather than an appetizer. This caprese is made with chicken breast, avocado, eggs and classic ingredients.
Ingredients
- Chicken fillet - 500 g
- Mozzarella mini balls - 200 g
- Leaf lettuce - 1 bunch
- Egg - 4 pcs.
- Avocado - 2 pcs.
- Cherry tomatoes - 20 pieces
- Universal seasoning for chicken - 1 tablespoon
- Vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon
- Balsamic vinegar - 1 tablespoon
- Honey - 1 tablespoon
- Salt, black pepper - to taste
Step by step cooking of caprese with chicken and avocado
- Mix honey with vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, beat well.
- Boil the eggs.
- Beat the chicken breast, roll in seasoning, bake in the oven.
- Cut eggs and avocado into cubes, cherry tomatoes in half, lettuce optionally.
- Cool the chicken breast slightly, cut into strips.
- Combine all prepared ingredients, add mozzarella balls, pour over the sauce, stir.
This salad can be served in the form of a bright colorful bowl, in which case all the ingredients must be laid out separately.
Caprese sandwich
Finally, let's take a look at probably the most original way of making caprese - a caprese sandwich. In it, the components are stacked on fresh bread and baked.
Ingredients
- White toast bread - 2 slices
- Tomatoes - 1 pc.
- Mozzarella - 50 g
- Basil - a few leaves
Making a caprese sandwich step by step
- Cut the tomato and cheese into thin slices.
- Lay the ingredients on the bread in layers, sprinkle with basil leaves.
- Cover with a second piece.
- Place the sandwich in the hot oven until the cheese is melted, or sauté it on both sides in a skillet.
The most convenient way, of course, is to prepare this dish if you have a special sandwich maker or grill, in which case the sandwich is simply placed between the grates and cooked without your attention in a matter of minutes.
Video recipes for caprese salad
As you can see, making caprese at home is very simple - the main thing is to find the right ingredients and your taste!
