Zesty Olive – Simple, Tasty, and Healthy Recipes

For a twist on a classic Italian salad, try my Roasted Heirloom Tomato Basil Mozzarella Caprese Salad.

Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

For a twist on the classic Italian Caprese salad, I use mini heirlooms and roast the salad to intensify the flavors. Mini heirloom tomatoes are readily available in grocery stores in the US these days, but this salad will, of course, work beautifully with any large heirloom tomatoes you find. I like to vary the tomato colors. In addition to the traditional red, try to find yellow, green, and even the darker shade, which looks between purple and black. The green of the basil and the white of the mozzarella cheese balls will create a gorgeous display.

This salad is so easy to put together. I drizzled a little olive oil in the bottom of a casserole dish, sliced the larger mini tomatoes and left a few of the smaller ones whole and added them to the dish. Salt them with some Himalayan sea salt. Add a few basil leaves (not all of them!) and roast  for 30 minutes or until the tomatoes begin to soften. The basil leaves will turn brown; that’s okay, you will remove them before serving and replace with fresh basil leaves.

For the last 5 minutes or so of the roasting, add the mozzarella cheese balls – not too many – and let them just begin to melt during the last few minutes in the oven. Remove from the oven, make sure the roasted basil leaves have been removed and replace with fresh basil leaves.

Admire the pretty salad! Take a photo of it if you like! At this point, you could serve the salad as is; it’s delicious! However, I like to drizzle just a wee bit more olive oil and just a touch of balsamic vinegar over it before serving.

Enjoy!
Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Roasted Heirloom Tomato Basil Mozzarella Caprese Salad

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

35 mins

 

Roasted Heirloom Tomato Basil Mozzarella Caprese Salad

Author: Zesty Olive

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

• You can customize the serving sizes depending on how much of each ingredient you choose to use, therefore, no set amount of each ingredient is given.
  
  
• Mini Heirloom tomatoes, slice larger ones; leave small ones whole
• Fresh basil leaves
• Fresh mozzarella mini cheese balls, or mozzarella, sliced
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Himalayan Sea Salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
   
   
2. Drizzled a little olive oil in the bottom of a casserole dish.
   
   
3. Sliced the larger mini tomatoes and leave the smaller ones whole. Add tomatoes to the dish.
   
   
4. Salt tomatoes.
   
   
5. Add a few basil leaves (not all of them) and roast for 30 minutes or until the tomatoes begin to soften. The basil leaves will turn brown; that’s okay, you will remove them before serving and replace with fresh basil leaves.
   
   
6. Remove from oven and add mozzarella cheese balls.
   
   
7. Return to oven for 3-5 minutes, or until cheese begins to melt.
   
   
8. Remove from the oven, and remove wilted basil leaves. Replace with fresh basil leaves.
   
   
9. Serve as is, or drizzle just a little more olive oil and just a touch of balsamic vinegar over the salad before serving.

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