California Caprese Salad

Ingredients

7 ounces Smoked Mozzarella (double that if you are using 1 lb of tomatoes)

1 pound .5 pound to 1 pound Roma tomatoes (depending on how much salad you want to make)

10 eachs Basil leaves (you need one per salad you make so if you have 10 slices of

6 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar (this is an estimate as you are just going to drizzle it over the top of the 2 wholes Avocados

Salt and Pepper to taste (about one tablespoon of each) I used ground

Preparation

First make sure your basil is washed and trimmed so you only have the leaf. Pat dry with a paper towel and set to the side. I like to try and practice mise en place which is French for “everything in place” It might make a little more work or an extra dirty dish or two but when everything is measured out, sliced up and ready to go then you just get to have fun and create! It keeps everything organized and will make it so that your cooking experience has a nice flow to it because everything is in place! Mise en Place!!

Next thing you need to do is slice up your cheese. You want it about .5″ thick. You want something sturdy enough to hold the tomato and avocado and thick enough to taste all the wonderful smokey flavor. But this is personal preference so if you find you like it thinner then by all means slice it that way!

Now slice up your Roma tomatoes the same thickness as your cheese, about 5″ to 1″ thick. Do the same thing with your avocados.

Place the cheese on a serving platter or plate. Place a tomato slice on top of each slice of cheese. Then top each tomato slice with a slice or chunk of avocado. Once this is done you want to do a sprinkle of salt and pepper over the top of your salads!

Once you have salt and peppered the salads it is time to top with a basil leaf. For the finale you are going to drizzle on some balsamic vinegar! My bottle did not do the drizzle I had hoped for so it was more of a dumping of vinegar! But that is ok I just tipped the plate into the sink to drain out an excess vinegar so if your drizzle experience does not go as planned c’est la vie!

To serve I toasted up a couple of pieces of French bread and cut them into bite size pieces and drizzled on a little Olive Oil and put those on a plate next to the California Caprese Salads. It was lovely having that toasted crusty bread to soak up the balsamic and complimented the Caprese very well! I hope you try my version on this classic salad and let me know what you think! I promise you are going to love it! To see step by step photos go to http://www.sweetsins2share.com/?p=1072

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About

I was inspired to create my own version of the Caprese Salad! I have named it California Caprese as a throw back to my home state and because growing up there gave me an intense love for the avocado and my need to put it in everything I eat.