Caprese Salad Made With Homemade Mozzarella

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Caprese Salad

A caprese salad is an Italian dish that consists of fresh mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes of your choice and garden fresh basil seasoned with salt and drizzled with olive oil.

There is an exception with this recipe as I do not add salt nor olive oil. Instead I kick it up a notch and use freshly ground pepper and drizzle with a balsamic reduction glaze.

Fresh Mozzarella

For this recipe I made homemade mozzarella. Although it’s not necessary to make your own mozzarella for this caprese salad but let me tell you it sure was fun and exciting!

Note: This recipe can be thrown together in 15 minutes but if you make your own mozzarella please allow at least 1 hour or so.

I had my first experience with fresh mozzarella when my husband took me to one of my favorite Italian restaurants.

Everyone around us was ordering an appetizer of fresh mozzarella which was made right at tableside by the Master Chef himself and I wanted to try it too!

The cheese was sliced and served with heirloom tomato wedges and fresh basil. This was a dish I knew I wanted to recreate at home!

So, since I had never made cheese before I thought I would start out with a cheese kit.

I went with this cheese kit by New England Cheese Making Supply Co which I highly recommend, especially if you have never made homemade cheese.

Everything you need is in the kit except for the milk!

Just follow the instructions and you will have made fresh mozzarella cheese!

Recipe for Caprese Salad

Making a caprese salad is simple and makes a great appetizer! I like enhancing this salad with my recipe for homemade balsamic reduction glaze and a twist of fresh ground pepper.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Mozzarella cheese sliced
• 1-2 large Heirloom tomatoes sliced or wedged (or tomato of your choice)
• Balsamic reduction glaze (I use this balsamic vinegar for the reduction)
• Fresh basil leaves
• Freshly cracked pepper (there really is something about fresh cracked pepper)

Homemade mozzarella cheese made with the Cheese Making Kit!

Tomatoes

You can grow your own heirloom tomatoes, purchase them at the Farmers Market and if you are making a caprese salad during the winter months you may be lucky enough to find heirloom tomatoes at your local grocery store. I found these gorgeous heirloom tomatoes in January at our local Sprouts Farmers Market.

Grow your own heirloom tomatoes!

Directions:

Place sliced mozzarella on a serving platter alternating sliced tomatoes with cheese.

Pinch off leaves of basil and sprinkle atop cheese and tomatoes.

Drizzle with a Balsamic Reduction

For this recipe, instead of olive oil I add a touch of balsamic vinegar reduction glaze over the tomatoes and cheese! See my recipe for the balsamic reduction here.

Instead of adding salt I use an electric gravity pepper grinder and apply a generous amount of freshly cracked pepper.

Serve caprese salad alone or with any Italian dish.

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Caprese Salad

This caprese salad is an Italian dish that consists of fresh mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes of your choice and garden fresh basil seasoned with freshly ground pepper and drizzled with a balsamic reduction glaze.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Italian

Keyword balsamic, basil, mozzarella, tomato

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 0 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author jettskitchen.com

Ingredients

• 1 pound mozzarella cheese sliced
• 1-2 large heirloom tomatoes sliced or wedged (or tomato of choice)
• balsamic reduction glaze
• fresh basil leaves
• freshly cracked pepper

Instructions

1. Note: This recipe can be thrown together in 15 minutes but if you make your own mozzarella please allow at least 1 hour or so.

2. Place sliced mozzarella on a serving platter alternating sliced tomatoes with cheese.

3. Pinch off leaves of basil and sprinkle atop cheese and tomatoes.

4. Add a touch of balsamic vinegar reduction glaze over the tomatoes and cheese! See my recipe for the balsamic reduction here.

5. Using an electric gravity pepper grinder apply a generous amount of freshly cracked pepper.

6. Enjoy!

7. Serve caprese salad alone or with any Italian dish.