You Say Tomato……..

It’s a happy KilKenney Kitchen when ripe, beautiful tomatoes start appearing at the farmer’s market and my local co-op (The Mississippi Market in St. Paul). There’s nothing like the flavor of a real, locally grown tomato; completely unrelated to the mealy, tasteless tomatoes often seen at large grocery stores.

These beauties mark the beginning of tomato overload at our house. I buy tomatoes every week and serve them at just about every meal – with eggs for breakfast, in sandwiches for lunch and in an endless parade of salads and side dishes for dinner. I usually keep at it until my family screams UNCLE sometime in mid to late August.

One of our favorite tomato dishes is this Caprese Salad with Balsamic Glaze. It’s an easy recipe that produces a beautiful and delicious salad; perfect for your dinner table and to bring to a party, picnic or potluck.

I invite you to try this salad, and I’d love to hear about your favorite tomato recipes.

* A quick note – next week’s post will be a day late (but definitely not a dollar short!) arriving in your mailbox on Tuesday, 8/3. We are taking a little vacation to enjoy a family wedding.

Caprese Salad with Balsamic Glaze

This fabulous salad is a summer classic. It showcases perfectly ripe tomatoes and the abundance of basil available at this time of the year. The balsamic glaze adds a extra special flavor to this perfect summer dish.

Servings people

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Total Time 35

Ingredients

1 cup balsamic vinegar
3 large tomatoes Ripe and tasty
4 oz fresh mozzarella cheese
8 large basil leaves
1 pinch kosher salt
1 drizzle extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Make the balsamic Glaze

Place the 1 cup of balsamic vinegar in a small, heavy sauce pan
Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the vinegar has reduced by half and becomes thick and syrupy in texture
Place into a bowl to cool - I learned this one the hard way. If the vinegar is left in the hot pan, it can thicken into a kind of sludge rather than a lovely glaze. If that happens, toss it and start over
Store in a jar or bottle. It will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. I use this glaze on chicken, steak and burgers - it adds great flavor. (The KilKenney Kitchen owl loves it too!)

Make the Caprese salad

Grab some fresh basil - I have a small pot growing outside the kitchen - easy and quick
Wash and dry the basil
Place 8 large basil leaves on top of each other
Roll them like a cigar and chop the bunch into 5 or 6 pieces
This technique is called a chiffonade and results in beautiful strips of basil to go atop the salad
Grab your fresh mozzarella. You will find this at most large grocery stores in the specialty cheese section. (Most come in 8 oz balls, so I used half for this recipe and saved half for later)
Cut the fresh mozzarella into 8 even pieces
Slice the tomatoes into 8 slices and place the mozzarella pieces on top of the tomatoes (Oops - I just realized there are only 6 slices here! I made this one for 3 people the other night!)
Sprinkle the chiffonade basil strips onto the tomatoes and mozzarella - spreading them out evenly, sprinkle with salt
Drizzle the salad with a bit of extra virgin olive oil
Add a good drizzle of the balsamic glaze
Serve with your favorite grilled meats or fish and enjoy!