Caprese Salad Stacks

A few weeks ago I saw these Kumato tomatoes at the market and decided to give them a try. They are described as a “simply unique brown tomato” and are sweeter than the average tomato because of a higher sugar content. Pretty much the only thing I like about summer is having access to ultra-sweet toms so I couldn’t help but purchase these. Not bad for an impulse buy, right? At least it wasn’t a candy bar. Or a carton of ice cream. 😉

I sliced the first Kumato and ate it straight. Did I tell you I love tomatoes? 🙂 As for the others, I wanted to make something that was light, fresh, and that would highlight the quality of the tomato. And what’s one of the best preparations for a good tomato? Caprese salad of course!

Here is my take on this classic dish:

• Servings: 2
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Ingredients:

• two tomatoes, sliced 1/3″ thick
• fresh mozzarella, sliced 1/3″ thick and drained of excess moisture on paper towels
• your favorite pesto
• balsamic vinegar glaze (bring vinegar to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer until reduced by half)
• fresh basil chiffonade

**Note: Please, please try the balsamic glaze. It makes a world of difference and is so easy to make. Using balsamic vinegar straight from the bottle just isn’t the same, especially in a dish with so few ingredients. 🙂

Directions:

Stack your caprese salads in the following order:

Tomato –> Mozzarella –> Pesto –> Tomato –> Mozzarella –> Pesto –> repeat until you run out of tomato slices

Drizzle with the balsamic glaze and top with the fresh basil chiffonade.

Brown tomatoes!

My glaze hadn’t cooled enough yet so it dribbled eeeverywhere. So annoying.

Once upon a time I couldn’t eat fresh basil. It made me run for the hills.

But now I luurve it.

Bailey wants to know where the chicken wings are. 😉