On occasion Health Nut provides a simple health conscious recipe. This is one such occasion.
Ever look at a salad and think “I love everything about this except everything green,” then eat ten croutons and throw about two heads of lettuce away? Well this blog post is for you.
By definition salad is “usually a cold dish consisting of vegetables, such as lettuce, tomatoes, and
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cucumbers, covered with a dressing and sometimes containing sea food, meat or eggs” –dictionary.com
Notice the word “usually”. Though the primary component of salad most often happens to be lettuce, it doesn’t always have to be. In fact, a salad without lettuce suffices as well a salad.
The recipe presented below contains no lettuce whatsoever. None! Yet still manages to remains a healthy (not to mention delicious) dish.
The Caprese salad consists of tomato slices, mozzarella cheese, basil, and an olive oil balsamic vinegar vinaigrette. The salad first made a début on Capri Island in Italy at the start of the 20th century. Caprese salad’s vibrant reds, greens and whites were supposed to resemble the Italian flag. Wealthy and important people began to dine upon the refreshing and patriotic mixture and the salad spiked in popularity. Today the dish remains a prominent appetizer in many Italian restaurants across the world.
This traditional dish not only captured taste buds but the attention of the calorie counters and the health conscientious.
According to Cooking Light, the Caprese Salad stands up to traditional Italian cuisine as well as meets modern standards of the appropriate caloric intake per meal.
“Mild mozzarella is the perfect counterpoint to bright tomatoes in this traditional salad. Splitting a portion gives you a satisfying 165 calories and 275mg sodium.”-Cooking Light
There exists many different ways to make Caprese Salad. Some claim to posses the “purist form” but in reality the exact mixture depends on personal preference. Below is my Dad’s recipe for Caprese salad.
What you will need:
- Two or three beef steak tomatoes depending upon the amount of people being served.
- Thick slices of mozzarella cheese
- Basil (optional)
- Balsamic Vinegar (optional)
- Olive Oil
- Salt/ Pepper
- A good sized trey (see picture)
The Process:
One of the most attractive aspects of the Caprese Salad rests in the fact that it is relatively simple to make.
- Cut up thin tomato slices and place them at the bottom of the trey.
- Cut equally thin slices of mozzarella (be careful this stuff is hard to slice!) and put directly on top of the tomatoes slices.
- Then drizzle a conservative amount of olive oil over the mixture.
- Then a conservative amount of balsamic vinegar.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Place some basil leafs on top.
- Repeat the process again for a second layer.
- Either refrigerate for an extra refreshing quality or eat as is. The salad needs to be refrigerated if kept for more than one meal and usually lasts no longer than two or three meals.
If you’re looking for a change from the regular romaine lettuce routine or simply thought this recipe sounded good, please give it a try. Remember to comment if you do. The Caprese salad brings a little bitty bit of Italy to your table along with a little itty bitty bit of calories and a great big bit of natural and refreshing flavors.
The choice is yours. Will you be nutty about health?
To read more from Health Nut, check out To detox or not to detox. Is it a question?