Winter Caprese Salad

By commercecook

One of my favorite salads is insalata caprese, or a salad of fresh tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and basil. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to obtain fresh, ripe, good tasting tomatoes during the winter. Slow roasting tomatoes is the answer. You can serve this salad alone, or on top of salad grenns lightly dressed with oil and lemon.

Ingredients

• For roasted tomatoes:
• 2 large balls of Buffalo or Fresh mozzarella
• 12 roasted tomatoes
• 1/8 cup pesto sauce
• 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Whole basil leaves
• Italian black olives
• olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon or to taste Italian seasonings
• salt to taste

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from italianfoodforever.com

Preparation

Step 1

To roast tomatoes:
Cut tomatoes into quarters and lay, face down, on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or non-stick aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle on sugar, salt and Italian seasonings. Bake in a 250 degree oven for 3 hours, or until browned and shriveled.

To assemble the salad:
Cut the mozzarella into slices. Arrange the mozzarella and tomatoes on a plate. Mix together the olive oil and pesto in a bowl and drizzle over the plate. Garnish with basil leaves and black olives.