Hi there! I took a short break, hope you didn’t miss me too much. :-)

While this recipe has a long name – tomato, onion, fresh mozzarella and three-basil salad – this is a Caprese salad. Most recipes have variations – onions, capers, avocado… You can customize how you like it. Everything I have read says to use the freshest, most juicy tomatoes and fresh mozzarella – not the dry kind for shredding, but the wet kind for slicing. You can choose grape tomatoes, roma, whatever you like. Also, while the salad is prepared as a presentation in layers, you can easily toss it to make sure everyone gets a bit of everything.

Caprese Salad

3 pounds ripe tomatoes, room temperature, thickly sliced

1 medium red onion, very thinly sliced

1 cup fres basil leaves of any combination of sweet green, purple, lemon, cinnamon, Asian or chocolate, coarsely chopped, plus several sprigs for garnish

6 to 7 ounces fresh mozzarella, thickly sliced

1/4 to 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 to 6 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinegar

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Layer tomatoes, onion and chopped basil on a large platter. Top with mozzarella slices. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with vinegar. Season to tase with salt & pepper. Garnish with sprigs of fresh basil. Makes 4 servings.