Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Classy Caprese


I love italian food. It would have to be tied with Indian as my favorite cuisine. One of the many reasons I love italian is because it's kind to vegetarians. Yes, Italians do love their meat, but there are plenty of pastas and salads without. 

The other night I got to go over to a friend's for her goodbye dinner. She had a room and board situation and her landlady is an Italian who loves to cook. My friend got to eat amazing Italian food for the year she was here. After tasting it first hand the other night, I am jealous. The menu featured pasta with fresh pesto, and gnocchi with borgonzola cheese sauce. I was in heaven.
The appetizers were caprese salad and prosciutto wrapped asparagus. Obviously I slid the prosciutto over to my friends plate and dived in to the caprese. One of my favorites. 
I love tomatoes, and cheese is the one reason I will never be 100% vegan for the rest of my life. So this salad is like heaven to me. And so easy to make. It's literally three ingridients.
Tomatoes.
Basil

Done. Instant deliciousness.
What really impressed me with this appetizer was it's presentation. The taste was something I knew and loved, but the way it was presented was something else. So on my weekly grocery trip this week I picked up some bocconcini and basil to accompany the tomatoes in my basket. 
What I love is that it looks so impressive but is really so easy. Perfect appetizer for a dinner party like I attended. But also perfect for a Wednesday afternoon lunch for just yourself. Because you deserve to eat pretty things even if you're all on your own and there is no one to impress but yourself. Why not work just as hard to impress yourself as you work to impress others? 
I personally spare no effort on my meals because I feel that I am worth it. It makes me sad to think that not everyone puts the care into a meal just for themself. 
But then again not everyone is a foodie with a food blog, who has to take a picture of something before they eat it. 


So if you want to make yourself feel special, all you do is slice the tomato across leaving some room at the bottom. Then stuff cheese in between those slices, top with some shredded basil, and a bit of olive oil. Balsamic is also a welcome addition in my books.  


5 comments:

F said...

Hi!
I love your blog! I recently turned vegetarian and I'm the only one in my family so often enough I have to make my own food, I was searching for recipes when I found your blog :) I think it's awsome! thank youu!

Unknown said...

This is beautiful. I've never seen caprese done this way, but I'm going to try it next time!

Annie said...

I am a vego but my family eats meat which I cook for them. Hubby will happily eat a full on vego meal as will kids sometimes (they like different kinds of vege burgers and lasagne/pasta and such). However they love meat. I sometimes cook a vego option for me like soup or something with lentils because I love lentils with a passion unsurpassed. However working full time and a bunch of other stuff means as much as I love cooking, I cook for the majority and not me. You meals are fabulous and simple and I can happily cook or make them alongside the meaty dishes and not feel as though all I do is stand on my feet all day.
Thanks.

Erin said...

This looks AMAZING and so beautiful! Totally going to make this, perhaps tonight :D

Erin {Plus Sized Pretty} said...

Thanks everyone!

F - I'm the only veg in my family too. Pretty much why I started cooking. :)

Annie -Glad my recipes can help! I went through a similar thing when I lived at home, I would make meals for my family all the time. You sound a bit nicer then me though, I refused to prepare them meat!