Recipe
Caprese Salad - Insalata Caprese
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
Yield:
4 persons

Every time when I go to an Italian restaurant, almost without fail I will order Caprese salad, or known as insalata Caprese in Italian. Caprese salad is probably one of the most beautiful and simplest salad. The 3 main ingredients for this salad are mozzarella, tomato and basil. The colours of this dish are basically the colours of the Italian flag – green, white and red.
Buffalo mozzarella is an Italian cheese that is made from water buffalo milk. The texture is semi-soft and it has high moisture content. According to Wikipedia: Mozzarella is traditionally produced solely from the milk of the domestic water buffalo. A whey starter is added from the previous batch that contains thermophilic bacteria, and the milk is left to ripen so the bacteria can multiply. Then, rennet is added to coagulate the milk. After coagulation, the curd is cut to large, 1″-2″ pieces, and left to sit so the curds firm up in a process known as healing. After the curd heals, it is further cut to 3/8″ -1/2″ large pieces. The curds are stirred and heated to separate the curds from the whey. The whey is then drained from the curds and the curds are placed in a hoop to form a solid mass.The curd mass is left until the pH is at around 5.2-5.5, which is the point when the cheese can be stretched. The cheese is then stretched and kneaded to produce a delicate consistency—this process is generally known as pasta filata.
It is very important to use the best mozzarella and tomato you could get. Normally, the mozzarella is sliced into pieces, so as the tomato and then arrange on a plate by alternating them. The basil leave is tucked in each layer. For a change, I have decided to serve the mozzarella as a whole and place it in the centre, as if it’s the star of the dish! 😉 Now, the dressing is just extra virgin olive oil. So, get the best quality too! As we are heading into autumn soon, the day will get shorter and weather will get slightly more chilly. I just want to grab every chance I could to enjoy this sort of late summer meal – refreshing and simple salad.

Caprese Salad - Insalata Caprese
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
Yield:
4 persons
Ingredients:
For the Caprese Salad – Insalata Caprese:
4 tomatoes, sliced
4 buffalo mozzarella, sliced
a big handful of basil leaves, roughly chopped (if liked)
20 pitted black olives
3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper and sea salt
Method:
A salad I’ve always enjoyed! Yours looks fantastic and so appetizing. Lovely presentation.
Cheers,
Rosa
I love it so much that I could eat everyday! Thanks for your kind words. 🙂
Yummy! I’d seen these salads plenty online but never actually tasted it until last year at my mom’s. So refreshingly delish.
Yes, it is really simple but delish!
Hey, This is looking so Gud and Appetizing… ! A very well made post with beautiful pictures.Loved it. I’ve bookmarked this special recipe of urs and wud love to give it a shot asap. Have a wonderful week ahead. Thanks & Regards, Sonia !!!
Thank you, Sonia. Give it a go, won’t take you even 10 minutes to prepare. 🙂
Beauty…
we are heading into spring… I want to try this salad… just need to grab cheese from the supermarket… and the rest is from my vege patch 😀
Ohhh.. I am so jealous that you are heading into spring and have a vege patch… 😛 I wish I could have spring & summer all year long now..
Buffalo Mozarrella and tomatoes has to be the perfect match! Leemei, love the refreshing new look of your blog. In particular, I really like the logo!
Thank you, Shirley! Glad that you like the new look.. 😉
And yes, mozzarella and tomatoes are just perfect!!
This is one of my favorite summer salads, it’s perfect in it’s simplicity.
Thank you, Sylvie!
i like simple and delicious recipe, it makes a day of cooking much easier 🙂
mozzarella always be my babe!
Definitely a great quick meal option 😉
Just want to tell you that your ‘star’ resembles the look of a white moon. Maybe this is also a good dish to serve along side with the moon cakes for celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival (hope the chilly weather delays a bit at your side : ) ).
Oh yeah, what a great idea to serve during Mid-Autumn Festival!
LeeMei,
That is one beautiful looking caprese salad. Makes me want to hold onto summer a little longer. Not the weather, just the produce 🙂
Yeah, same here. I want to hold onto summer as long as I could as we had a horrible one this year 🙁 Not a lot of sunshine… 🙁
So So colorful- this is my fav salad too- with a BIG block of cheese 🙂
Thank you. Yes, the big block of cheese that I seriously love 😉
Oooh, this is so pretty! Love the vibrant colours, and I totally agree with trying to hang on to whats left of the summer we didn’t really have 🙁
I know.. just didn’t feel the summer.
Love ! All about flavours combination and balance.
It reminds me I should make again homemade mozza…
Thank you! It’s perfect for spring too! 🙂
Hi Leemei – recently discovered your lovely cooking hut from Rosa’s. I’m excited to see all your Malaysian recipes!
But, your caprese salad made me crave for something non-Asian today. I can have this salad all the time when I was living outside of Malaysia. Now that I am back in Penang, it seems out of the question to enjoy cheese & black olives so often since they are overly priced. I don’t mind looking at them here though:)
Hi Reese,
Thank you for dropping by! I know what you mean by how overly priced the Western ingredients are in Malaysia. I was shocked when I was a block of cheese costs more than RM50!
One of my favorite salads, can not never get tired of it. Beautiful pictures!
Hope you are having a fantastic week 🙂
Thank you Juliana. I never get tired of it too! 😉 Have a great week ahead!
Wow… so pretty!!! This summer was my very first time preparing caprese salad because I saw many bloggers were making it so I gave it a try. To my surprise, my kids even ate it. Mine wasn’t this pretty, but now I know how to present it nicely. =) Leemei, I looooooooooove your photo~~~~~!
Thank you, Nami. 🙂
I love the color of caprese salad. Always so vibrant and inviting. Love your plate!
Thanks! I also love the simplicity of it. 🙂
Always one of my favorites…looks so fresh and beautiful 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
This is one of my fave salads in summer although I use baby bocchini cheese. It is so simple to make and has all the colours of the Italian flag on it too 🙂
That picture makes me drool…
http://www.samanthabui.com
Hehe.. thanks for your comment. 😉