Insalata Caprese

Feature Ingredient: Mozzarella

Mozzarella is a type of cheese originating from Italy, traditionally made with Italian buffalo milk through a method called pasta filata, which involves moulding and kneading fresh curd in hot water. This technique allows the cheese to develop unique characteristics such as their melting and stretching properties. An interesting video depicting this process is linked below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkmJP6_rLdY

Mozzarella is generally white, but its colour can vary depending on the animal's diet. Due to its high moisture content, mozzarella is also a soft cheese, and should be consumed on the day it is made. However, mozzarella that is vacuum sealed or submerged in brine can be kept for a longer period of time (around 1-1.5 weeks). Lower moisture content mozzarella, in the form of shredded/grated cheese, can last for about over 6 months, as they are less able to dry out. There are also several variants of mozzarella including Fior di latte (made with cow's milk instead), mozzarella affumicata (smoked mozzarella) and ovolini (small sized mozzarella e.g. bocconcini).

The uses of mozzarella are wide and varied; they are commonly used in Italian dishes like pizza, pasta, lasagna and Caprese salad or Insalata Caprese, as we'll be making today. Insalata Caprese is Italian for "Salad of Capri" and is a simple antipasto (starter). There are three main colours in this dish, red, white and green which are combined to resemble the Italian flag. The recipe I used to recreate this dish is from, but I tweaked the recipe to suit the number of people I was making it for:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/insalata-caprese-ii/

Recipe: Insalata Caprese

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 large ripe tomato, sliced 1.5 cm thick 

A medium ball of mozzarella, sliced 1.5 cm thick

1 small bunch of fresh basil

1 1/2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Assemble all the ingredients in your desired format (layered, stacked etc); each serving should have a slice of tomato, mozzarella and basil.
2. Season with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

Caprese is very easy and quick to make; here are some photos/videos of my process:

The main ingredients I used.

Music - Budapest by George Ezra

End result! I assembled the Insalata Caprese in two different ways; some other ways to present the dish are shown below:

NA, Emilia. 'La Bonne Bouche'. Labonnebouche.files.wordpress.com. N.p., 2011. Web. 6 Feb. 2015.

Hutchins-McNutt, Dusty. 'Cooking Mamas Tried And True Family Recipes'. Cookingmamas.com. N.p., 2013. Web. 6 Feb. 2015.

Spears, Carly. 'The Hot Plate'. Community.thehotplate.com. N.p., 2013. Web. 6 Feb. 2015.

Ratings/Comments:

Price: 4/5

Difficulty: 1/5

Taste: 4/5

Overall: 4/5

(1 being lowest/not good - 5 being highest/best)

The flavours of the dish worked well together and looked incredible on the plate! Insalata Caprese is a perfect antipasto/starter/appetiser; it is easy, quick, delicious and will definitely impress your guests. This recipe can be improved next time by using sea salt instead of table salt, as it gives a better texture. Next time, experiment with some other ways of presenting Caprese (as shown above), as they are very much decorative to your dining table as edible.

- C