Caprese Salad

Tomatoes! I just cannot get enough of them in the summertime. They speak to me in Italian, mangiare (eat), freschi (fresh) deliziosi (delicious). Why Italian, I do not know, but for me this is the language of tomatoes. I think tomatoes and I am treated to visions of Capri.

I notice that I am not the only one with these thoughts. La Bottega, has a plump ripe tomato popping out of it's window with rows of tomato sauce stacked up behind. They want you to think about tomatoes and that is exactly what happened when I walked past their store. La Bottega is a fixture in downtown Ottawa, (I will tell you more about them later in the week).

I was downtown with my family walking past the store. I saw those cans of tomatoes and suddenly wanted to have a caprese salad for lunch. My Mediterranean mother, was not sharing my appetite for a caprese salad. Apparently she has had one tomato too many and wanted a hamburger. I was most disappointed. The sun was shining, it was a beautiful summer day. All that was missing was my Vespa and the Amalfi Coast. Big requests, but a caprese salad would quell those thoughts. My husband reminded me that the visit home was for my mum, we would now be finding a hamburger joint. I could not get the images of a caprese salad out of my head. I threatened to return to La Bottega, and sit down at the hamburger joint with my salad.

That salad would have to wait until I was home. The beauty of waiting until I returned home, was picking the basil fresh from my garden for the salad. It was well worth the wait.

Caprese Salad

2 fresh ripe tomatoes
mozzarella balls ( I get mine from Trader Joes)
fresh basil
olive oil for drizzling if you like
pepper

Slice your tomatoes and layer them on a plate. Cut the mozzarella balls and place two little balls on each tomato slice. Garnish with fresh basil. I like to top it off with fresh ground pepper. You may also drizzle some olive oil.

Enjoy!