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Epicurious

Rebecca’s Table Caprese Salad

Every summer I have out-of-control basil growing in my garden, and it’s a serious challenge to come up with ways to use it all. It sometimes seems to grow faster than I can pick it. Then there is my garden arugula and several bountiful bushes of candy-sweet cherry tomatoes of varying colors. This salad guarantees that no cherry tomato or basil leaf goes to waste. For parties, I take a huge platter-size version of the salad, drizzle the pesto vinaigrette over the fresh mozzarella, and leave a small pitcher of the vinaigrette on the side for those who can never get enough of the deliciously pungent stuff.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    serves 10 to 12

Ingredients

Lemon-Pesto Vinaigrette

1/2 cup pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
4 ounces fresh basil, stemmed (about 4 cups lightly packed leaves)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1/2 medium lemon)

Salad

2 (8-ounce) packages baby arugula (about 4 cups lightly packed) or other baby greens
2 pounds fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced in 1/4-inch-thick rounds
2 pints cherry or pear tomatoes, halved (I use a mix of yellow, reds, and oranges, or whatever I have on hand in the garden)
6 to 8 medium-to-large, ripe tomatoes, sliced in 1/4-inch-thick rounds and lightly sprinkled with kosher or sea salt

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    TO MAKE THE PESTO VINAIGRETTE: In a large skillet set over medium heat, add the pine nuts and stir until they turn golden brown, about 4 minutes. (Don’t leave them unattended, they burn easily.) Remove from the heat and let the nuts cool. Place the garlic and 1/4 cup of the toasted nuts in the jar of a blender or work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process at medium speed until combined. Add the basil, salt, and 1/2 cup of the olive oil, and blend for a few minutes until the basil is thoroughly pureed. Add the lemon juice and the remainder of the olive oil and pulse a few times, just until combined. Set aside.

    Step 2

    TO COMPOSE THE SALAD: Using a large platter, make a generous bed of arugula in the center, and arrange a line of overlapping mozzarella slices on top of the greens. Arrange overlapping slices of tomatoes on 1 side of the mozzarella and a mound of the halved cherry tomatoes on the other side. Decorate the mozzarella with a generous drizzle of the vinaigrette and pour the rest into a pitcher for serving on the side. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of pine nuts on top of the dressed salad just before serving.

  2. tip

    Step 3

    Whether serving sliced fresh tomatoes as part of a salad or eating them solo in their natural glory, I always sprinkle them lightly with salt to bring out their flavor.

Pastry Queen Parties by Rebecca Rather and Alison Oresman. Copyright © 2009 Rebecca Rather and Alison Oresman. Published by Ten Speed Press. All Rights Reserved. A pastry chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author, native Texan Rebecca Rather has been proprietor of the Rather Sweet Bakery and Café since 1999. Open for breakfast and lunch daily, Rather Sweet has a fiercely loyal cadre of regulars who populate the café’s sunlit tables each day. In 2007, Rebecca opened her eponymous restaurant, serving dinner nightly, just a few blocks from the café.  Rebecca is the author of THE PASTRY QUEEN, and has been featured in Texas Monthly, Gourmet, Ladies Home Journal, Food & Wine, Southern Living, Chocolatier, Saveur, and O, The Oprah Magazine. When she isn’t in the bakery or on horseback, Rebecca enjoys the sweet life in Fredericksburg, where she tends to her beloved backyard garden and menagerie, and eagerly awaits visits from her college-age daughter, Frances. Alison Oresman has worked as a journalist for more than twenty years. She has written and edited for newspapers in Wyoming, Florida, and Washington State. As an entertainment editor for the Miami Herald, she oversaw the paper’s restaurant coverage and wrote a weekly column as a restaurant critic. After settling in Washington State, she also covered restaurants in the greater Seattle area as a critic with a weekly column. A dedicated home baker, Alison is often in the kitchen when she isn't writing. Alison lives in Bellevue, Washington, with her husband, Warren, and their children, Danny and Callie.
TagsSaladItalianEuropeanPine NutNutBasilHerbs & SpicesArugulaLeafy GreensVegetableCherry TomatoTomatoMozzarellaCheeseDairySideLunchDinnerGluten FreeNut FreeVegetarianQuickEasyWeeknight MealsBlenderFood ProcessorSummerCookbooks
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