Time-Tested: Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Salad

Tonight, I finally harvested two tomatoes off my brandywine tomato plant. I’ve been blogging and taking pictures of my little garden (you can find the old posts here, here and here), but harvesting the tomatoes was such a joy! Maybe that’s why farmers do this. I felt so happy knowing we’ve grown something we’ll eat. Look at these two beauties!

I frequently make Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Salad way before I started container gardening. More so now that I have a basil plant. However, tonight’s salad is made even more special because I used two ingredients from my li’l garden – tomato and basil. Now I’d like to share my very simple recipe for Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Salad.

Here’s what you need:

• 1 large tomato – I used my Brandywine tomato.
• sliced fresh mozzarella – I used Belgioiso.
• salt and ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• basil leaves (ideally one per tomato slice)

Cut the tomatoes crosswise. Place the tomato slices on a plate.

Put a slice of mozzarella on each tomato slice. Sprinkle the tomato slices and mozzarella with a dash of salt and pepper.

On a separate bowl, whisk the balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Drizzle it over the tomato and mozzarella. Garnish each tomato slice with one basil leaf. Serve immediately.

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You can use plum tomatoes or any other type of tomatoes with this recipe. I’d substitute one Brandywine tomato with two plum tomatoes.

If you don’t have enough basil leaves, just chop it finely and sprinkle on top of the tomatoes. I know not everyone likes basil, so there’s a work-around to that.

You can always put the mozzarella slices on a plate topped with the tomato slices. Totally up to you. I just like putting the tomatoes at the bottom.

Oh, and if you’re not a fan of balsamic vineger, then you can make this salad without the balsamic vinegar so you’ll have Caprese Salad!