Winter Caprese Salad with Roasted Tomatoes
Fresh-off-the-vine tomatoes are still weeks away in my neck of the woods. You know what I mean, those delicious orbs that grow right on your deck or in the garden and go straight from the vine into your favorite dish.
Forgive my fawning, but I do look so forward to tomato season. So until they are lining my windowsill and all I have to do is reach up, grab one and eat, roasting the tomatoes is all I can do. For grocery store winter tomatoes, roasting is still the best way to bring out the natural flavor normally supplied by the sun.
Enter my favorite restaurant salad: the Caprese. A layered salad of fresh sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves, I wondered how I could enjoy this salad now. So I decided to roast garlic and tomatoes one night and stack them with fresh sliced mozzarella.
I was out of fresh basil and wondered if I’d miss it. But a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and the blend of baby field greens beautifully substitutes that sweet bitter flavor the basil usually brings to the salad. There’s no need for vinaigrette, since there’s plenty of extra-virgin olive oil from roasting.
The result was a delicious, easy, entrée salad. If all you need is a satisfying side salad, then each recipe will serve two. So until the tomatoes are fresh off the vines and directly on our tables, a little roasting is all it takes for that smooth, sunshine-filled flavor we crave.
Menu:
Roasted Tomato and Garlic Mozzarella Salad
Italian rolls
Prosecco
Roasted Tomato and Garlic Mozzarella Salad
Start to Finish: 15 minutes
Serves 1 as an entrée; 2 as a side salad
1 large tomato
2 cloves fresh garlic
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup fresh baby field greens
3 slices (1 ounce each) fresh part -skim mozzarella
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Salt and black pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Slice tomato (unpeeled) and peel garlic. Place both in a ceramic, oven-safe dish. Drizzle with oil and roast uncovered 5 minutes, or until garlic is soft and golden and tomatoes begin to darken on the edges.
Meanwhile, spread greens on a small platter. Remove tomato from oven and layer carefully (tomatoes will be fragile) with the sliced mozzarella over the greens. (It’s Ok if hot tomatoes slightly melt cheese and gently wilt greens.)
Drizzle with balsamic vinegar, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Scatter garlic on the salad and serve.
Approximate Values Per Entrée Serving: 254 calories (65 % from fat), 19g fat (5 g saturated), 17 mg cholesterol, 10 g protein, 14g carbohydrates, 4 dietary fiber, 164 mg sodium
Copyright 2011, Alicia Ross.
Distributed by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
