Broiled Caprese Salad

This Caprese salad may not be beautiful, but it is amazing. Serve this simple and quick recipe at your next shebang the way it is prepared here, or leave out the broiling.

They aren’t all pretty. They aren’t all supposed to be. Mom’s tuna noodle casserole isn’t photogenic, but sometimes it hits the spot. Same for meatloaf. Yeah, try to gussy that up for a great food photography shot without using some hairspray. Other wise, it’s a brown lump of meat with some red smeared on top. But damn, it’s delicious.

Broiled Caprese Salad

This Caprese salad did not turn out catwalk ready like I had envisioned it. But that doesn’t matter because it was amazing. I even ate tomatoes. Strait up. And didn’t try to pick around them (mainly because it was darned impossible). So serve this simple and quick recipe at your next shebang the way it is prepared here, or leave out the broiling – so that everything remains a little more photo friendly.

Tools for the Win!

As for the GIANT beautiful red KitchenAid food processor that made the vinaigrette a breeze – it’s amazballs. I should have reviewed this eons ago. I even have a delicious recipe created, developed, photographed and devoured. But, sadly, it went on the list of not pretty enough for PtS (I’m not even going to tell you how often that happens). Add scallops to that list of things that I can’t photograph, right up next to cauliflower.

I wasn’t sure how I could speak fondly of the new food processor, since my little trusty one seemed to work so much better and the larger one just wasn’t doing it’s job of making tiny bits of everything. Then I realized it was operator error (derrr). Apparently, I needed to push the blade down until it clicked into position, instead of just popping it in. Well, here’s to reading manuals. I love the giant turbo charged engine, and the moment I assembled it properly, it worked like the champ that I knew it was destined to be.

The vinaigrette took all of 11 seconds to make.

Broiled Caprese Salad

From Steamy Kitchen

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Appetizer

American

Author: Kita

7 minutes mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 small shallot - chopped into quarters
• ▢ dash red pepper flakes - more or less depending on how you like things
• ▢ 1 1/2 cup basil leaves
• ▢ 2 tbsp water
• ▢ 2 tbsp champagne vinegar
• ▢ 1/2 tsp salt
• ▢ 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• ▢ 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ▢ 4 large tomatoes - sliced thick with any stems removed
• ▢ sliced mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Make the Vinaigrette:

• Pulse the shallot in the food processor a few times just to get things going. 
• Add the red pepper flakes, basil, water, vinegar, salt, pepper and olive oil. 
• Run the food processor until everything has come together, scraping the sides if needed.

Assemble the Caprese:

• Preheat broiler. 
• Move oven rack to second to top position (about 4 inches from broiler). 
• Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. 
• Arrange sliced tomatoes in a single layer on the baking sheet. 
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Lay a thin slice of mozzarella over all but 1/3 of the tomato slices (the tops). 
• Broil until cheese has melted.
• With a spatula, arrange the tomato slices onto a plate. 
• Drizzle with basil vinaigrette and serve immediately as the warm cheese creates a delicious oily hot mess out of this appetizer. Not exactly stunning -but good.

Nutritional informations provided as a courtesy and is only an approximatation. Values will changes based on ingredients used.

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