Everyone and their mother thinks they know how to make a caprese salad, but they’re wrong.
The irony is that a caprese salad is so simple that it seems impossible to screw it up. First and foremost, I’d like to let the world know that a caprese NEVER has vinegar on it. Balsamic—or any other type—does not belong on this dish, as caprese originates from the island of Capri in the south and balsamic vinegar comes from the north: two different culinary traditions. I didn’t make up this rule. It’s an Italian culinary statute as old as mozzarella itself. Italian food laws are not to be messed with. They might not be able to run a country properly, but they can cook.
Since a caprese salad has only three ingredients, all uncooked, it’s absolutely crucial that they’re top-notch. Unfortunately, Americans don’t have the same quality ingredients as they have in Italy and often don’t know how to choose correctly from what we do have. If you’ve never been to Naples and eaten a fresh ball of buffalo mozzarella, you don’t know what you’re missing. (Mozzarella for caprese comes in water. It’s not vacuum-packed.) If you manage to find buffalo mozzarella from Italy, grab it. Sadly, there’s just no substitute in the States—but with olive oil and salt you can make almost anything delicious. So, choose the best mozzarella available, use plenty of salt, and drizzle it with your best olive oil—the bottle you’ve been saving for a special occasion.
As for tomatoes, summertime heirloom tomatoes are the best, with vine ripened tomatoes as runner up. Look for the sweetest tomatoes, but not necessarily the ripest ones. Overripe tomatoes are sweet, but too soft for salad—save them for sauces. You want tomatoes that are firm enough to cut neatly. Go ahead and gently squeeze them all in the market until you find the perfect plumpness.
This spiel is over: You’re now ready to make a caprese.
Serves 4 to 8
Ingredients
8 medium tomatoes or 4 large heirloom tomatoes, cut into 1⁄4-inch thick slices
1 pound fresh mozzarella (medium-size balls), cut into 1⁄4-inch thick slices
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1⁄2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
A small bunch of fresh basil leaves, very thinly sliced
Ciabatta or country loaf bread (See Note)
Directions
Layer the tomatoes and mozzarella neatly on a plate so they look like “dominoes” that have fallen down.
Sprinkle generously with salt
Drizzle generously with olive oil.
Sprinkle the basil on top and eat the tomatoes with good bread, performing “la scarpetta,” which means wiping your plate with the bread to soak up the juices and oil.
Note:Of course, you don’t need to eat bread with a caprese, but it is traditional to do so. To warm the bread and revive it so it tastes like it came fresh from an Italian forno (bakery), wrap a loaf (of ciabatta) in foil and put it in the oven at 350oF for about 30 minutes, until the aroma wafts from the oven.
Winter Caprese Variation:When naturally summer sweet tomatoes are still many moons away, just roast the tomatoes to get ‘em good! If you are using only cherry tomatoes, you can dress them and stick them under the broiler like we do in Burrata Crostini with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes (Page 88). If you are using larger tomatoes or a mixture of sizes, cut the bigger ones in quarters and douse with olive oil and add salt, pepper, and thyme. Place them in the middle of the oven under the broiler for a good 10 minutes or longer, until they are well cooked and soft. Slice mozzarella, add salt, surround the slices with your cooked reds, and top with basil.
Burrata Caprese Variation:A caprese salad with burrata is delicious but messy, so it’s best to rearrange the layout. Put each slice of tomato on a platter and top each with a small mound of burrata, and, of course, the salt, olive oil, and basil.
