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23 Ways to Indulge in Caprese Salads This Summer

June 14, 2019 by Marie 10 Comments

If it’s one thing I look forward to in the warm summer months, it’s caprese salads! What’s not to love? Ripe juicy tomatoes of all different varieties and sizes, dreamy creamy cheese, fragrant garden basil and the best olive oil you can buy to finish it all off.

There’s so many variations of caprese salads this is just the tip of the iceberg, I could go on and on but this post would be extremely long!

Here’s a few of my favorites, some made for parties, get togethers, an appetizer, a lunch, even as an entree with good crusty bread is just enough on a hot summer day.

Mixing the colored green heirlooms with vine ripened red tomatoes makes for a pretty colorful looking platter, break open some burrata, add a drizzle of balsamic glaze, your best olive oil and whole leaves of basil.

I have this huge round platter and I always make this for parties, and you know what? None is ever leftover, everyone is crazy about caprese!

Use different colored heirlooms, not only for flavor but for a nice visual combination as well.

Stack your caprese salads for individual sides or appetizers, this one was also layered with freshly made basil pesto.

Roast some tomatoes, tear open a ball of creamy burrata and grab some bread, this is lunch for me!

Pass out these crostini to your guests and they will go bonkers, they’re crispy, creamy and dreamy topped with slow roasted tomatoes.

Fresh mozzarella or creamy burrata, it’s all good!

Sometimes I might add some avocado into the mix, why not!

Here it is in all it’s glory, just sweet and simple.

Fun to bring to a party, layers of bocconcini, sliced cherry tomatoes all in a row on top of a bed of spinach and arugula, dress it when you get to the party.

Can we talk about this for a minute? If you can find fresh, hand tied, homemade bocconcini like I can, don’t hesitate to buy a big container so you can make this caprese salad, one of my favorites! The flavors are out of this world!

Sometimes I’ll add in some olives, why not?

I’m in love with those pretty colored heirlooms.

No words needed…

Throw a caprese salad on top of nicely grilled eggplant, a wonderful appetizer to munch on.

Look close, there’s a caprese salad in that stack of vegetables, lunch anyone?

Switch up your tomatoes for citrus sometimes, it’s bright and unexpected and especially good in the winter months.

Have you ever had a mango caprese? This one is layered with avocado and mint instead of basil, topped off with chopped pistachios, quite delicious and unique!

And finally, peaches are now in season, so grill some up, add a little prosciutto and enjoy this as your next caprese salad, it’s a meal in itself.

I could go on and on but these are some of my favorites, enjoy the best of summer eating with simple and delicious caprese salads!

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10 Comments Filed Under: Party Foods, Salads, Side Dishes, Summer, Uncategorized, Vegetables Tagged: caprese salad, citrus capreseo, mango caprese, peach caprese, vegetable caprese

Spaghetti with Blistered Tomatoes, Burrata and Corn

August 10, 2018 by Marie 8 Comments

This recipe is summer freshness at it’s best, and the great thing about it is that the preparation is nice and simple but yields the most amazing results!

What you’re looking at are strands of spaghetti intertwined with juicy, cherry tomatoes that have burst and blistered in the oven to create the most luxurious tomato and garlic flavored sauce with the special addition of sweet, fresh corn kernels and burrata cheese.

Fresh summer flavors are what makes this dish such a hit, there’s no special skills you need in making it because the ingredients speak for themselves.

Do a search and you’ll see roasted tomatoes and pasta all over the place, but I make this every summer and this is my way of doing it and what works for me. So rather than a recipe at the bottom of the post I’ll just walk you through the steps now.

I use a quarter sheet pan that has a rim on it. Heat the oven to 425F and line the pan with foil. Lining it with foil helps to gather and hold on to those precious, silky juices, plus it helps prevents the juices from burning off.

I really don’t measure the amount of tomatoes I use, I just load the pan from rim to rim, single layer with cherry or grape tomatoes, you could use all red or colored.

I leave the tomatoes whole so they can burst on their own when ready.

Add in four cloves of crushed garlic, torn basil, salt, pepper and dowse it generously all over with extra virgin olive oil.

When you start to see the tomatoes split pull the pan out of the oven and with the tip of a small paring knife pierce each tomato to let the hot juices release, word of caution, lean back because sometimes the juice will squirt out at you, then before it goes back into the oven add the fresh kernels of two ears of sweet corn, continue cooking until you see the tomatoes wrinkle and all the juices mingling together with the olive oil, garlic and corn.

It should look like this. Now all you have to do is cook up your spaghetti or pasta of your choice and then toss everything together, make sure you get every bit of that juice incorporated, use a rubber spatula to make sure you scrape off all that glorious juice. For this amount of saucey goodness I used twelve ounces of pasta.

When all the silky sauce is mixed in break open your burrata cheese, (as much as you want) and spread it on top, it will start to melt slightly, then adorn it with more basil, grated Parmigiano Reggiano and a quick drizzle of olive oil to finish it off.

That’s it, dig in and enjoy summer tasting at it’s best!

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8 Comments Filed Under: Pasta, Summer, Uncategorized Tagged: blistered tomatoes, burrata, corn, spaghetti

Butternut Squash Pizza with Sage Walnut Pesto

October 27, 2016 by Marie 3 Comments

As promised I would like to announce the winner of the beautiful Lagostina Hammered Copper Pastaiola, and the winner is… DIANE KANTOR! Congratulations Diane, I will be contacting you by email to get your address so the company can ship it directly to you.

Can I just tell you something? I adore this pizza! It highlights roasted butternut squash on a bed of garlicky ricotta with touches of sage and walnut pesto floating around, the simple flavors of fall on top of crispy and crunchy pizza dough.

When making this pizza you’ll want to seek out a squash that has a long neck because that’s what you’ll be using to make those nice round slices which I think it adds so much to the presentation, don’t you?

I was immediately drawn to the looks of this pizza when I saw a photo posted on none other than Pinterest but I wanted to add my own little twist with the sage and walnut pesto, I thought it would be extra delicious with little dollops all over the warm pizza, and guess what? I was right.

I have so much sage still growing in my garden and this was another way to enjoy it, and as all fresh pesto’s it takes no time to whip it up. I also like using the sage pesto with other things like fish, chicken, pasta, root vegetables, swirled into mashed potatoes and risotto, the possibilities are endless and a little goes a long way and it just screams fall to me!

If you make your own pizza dough, I applaud you, I’m not that fond of working with yeast so I always buy my pizza dough, but fortunately for me I have an excellent source with excellent quality dough, so it makes my life easier.

Serve this with a nice green salad and you’ll have a fantastic fall dinner!

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5.0 from 1 reviews

Butternut Squash Pizza with Sage Walnut Pesto

This recipe is adapted from Alexandra's Kitchen

Author: Marie

Ingredients

SAGE AND WALNUT PESTO
1 cup sage leaves
¾ cup parsley
1 small garlic clove
¾ cup toasted walnuts
½ cup of grated Parmesan
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
and a squeeze of lemon for brightness
PIZZA
1 dough ball, homemade or store bought, enough for 1 pizza
1 butternut squash, look for a long neck so you can cut it into round slices, reserve the bulb part for something else.
ricotta
1 smashed garlic clove
shredded dry mozzarella
parmesan cheese

Instructions

FOR THE PESTO
Place everything into a food processor, except for the olive oil, I used my mini processor.
Pulse it, chopping the nuts and combining everything then start drizzling the oil down the tube until it has a loose consistency characteristic of pesto. Season with salt and pepper.
FOR THE PIZZA AND EARLIER IN THE DAY
Cut the long neck off of a butternut squash, peel it with a vegetable peeler, then cut quarter inch round slices..
Roast the slices in a hot 400 degree oven drizzled with olive oil, single layer until tender, set aside.
I like to let my dough sit out for a couple of hours so it becomes nice and pliable.
When ready to cook, heat oven to a hot 500 degrees, oil your pizza pan then sprinkle some corn meal or polenta on the bottom.
Dust your fingers with a little flour then work your dough into the pan stretching it with your finger tips until it reaches the edges, then place it into the oven for 5 minutes, no longer! Then remove it.
Dough might rise up but just punch it down.
Quickly mix up some ricotta with the smashed garlic and a little salt and pepper, enough to swipe and cover the whole bottom of the dough with just a thin layer.
Sprinkle a little mozzarella on top then add the butternut squash rounds filling the top.
Add some grated parmesan on top of the squash, then brush olive oil onto the edges of the crust then do a quick drizzle on top.
Place pizza into the oven until it reaches a deep golden brown on the crust edges and bottom.
While still warm add dollops of the sage and walnut pesto.