Is a Caprese salad healthy?

Yes. It is healthy. Tomatoes protect from cardiovascular disease and as being antioxidant from cancer too. Cheese is full of protein and essential vitamins while olive oil can fight inflammation and also a powerful antioxidant. Basil is a good source of vitamin A that promotes good eyesight.

Why is it called Caprese salad?

Capri is an island South of the coast of Naples, Italy. Caprese salad comes from Capri hence the name Caprese Salad. It's not very creative but not many recipe names are.

How do you eat Caprese salad?

With a knife and fork as many of us in the Western world. If it's plated to bite size pieces with a toothpick then just pick them up and enjoy one bite at the time.

Caprese Salad Recipe

Name: Caprese Salad Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 slice / 30g Fresh mozzarella; 1 slice / 30g Tomato; 1 bunch / 3g Fresh basil leaf; 1 teaspoon / 15ml Extra virgin olive oil; Salt to taste

What could be better than a lovely Caprese salad? Likely there are more complicated things in life but purity triumphs when we’re short on time.

Simplicity is beauty and not just that but flavor too. Sure, complex meals made with elaborate techniques and exotic ingredients can please as well -otherwise no one would pay fortunes at fancy restaurant- but the simple pleasures of life are undeniable.

Who knows more about the simple pleasures of life than Italians? Fine clothes, fast cars and pizza.

Making fast cars takes a bit more than tossing a piece of flattened dough into the oven with some basil, tomato and cheese though. That’s why, probably most of them are sold and owned by multinational conglomerates.

Not like pizza hasn’t come to live its own life since the first Italians planted their basil in American soil and the teenage mutant turtles ingrained them into pop culture. Once pizza was on everybody’s mind, we started experimenting with it and nowadays things have gone pretty wild.

Why do we call anything that has tomato sauce with basil and cheese on it pizza?

It’s not like pizza hut got into franchise war and now we have to call every food pizza. But it seems like if we want to survive, we need to change when the world changes around us, especially if that means being frozen then thawed.

But life is about balance, right? For every action there is a reaction. This is how the fundamental forces of our world works and seep into all aspects of our life. Be it, pushing boxes from the middle of the room into a dark corner or opposing political movements.

If we don’t apply enough force at one subject, it won’t budge the same way, ideas won’t materialize if there isn’t enough support behind them. This is why we have combustible engine cars instead of electric ones.

When car productions have started at the end of 19^th century, electric cars were all the rage. At least among those who could afford them. There were reliable, easy to operate, clean and silent compared to anything else existed at that time.

Unfortunately, the lack of charging infrastructure and the discoveries of vast oil reserves that pushed oil prices down, forced them to the brink of extinction for a whole century.

Now electric cars are making a comeback, promising the same advantages they had 100 years ago which to be honest, would be much more needed than at the beginning of the 20^th century.

Will pizza make a comeback ever? The bane of the human race is its main strength. Our creativity feeds on our laziness. We always pick the solution that is easier on the short term and having difficulties thinking about our long-term actions.

This is why so many people dismiss the concept of climate change, the adverse effects of junk food, the advantages of healthy lifestyle or having a wood fire brick oven in our kitchen for making pizza.

Is there hope for the human race?

Maybe there is. There are companies developing fully robotized kitchens or rather kitchen arms. These helping hands can record our movements recreating any recipes, we or anybody once makes, freeing us up from the kitchen, yet allowing us to have freshly prepared meal anytime of the day.

We would still need to invest in a proper oven to make proper pizza dough but if we can afford a pair of robotic arms a pizza oven wouldn’t be a deal breaker.

Until then, we stuck with the simple meals that we can prepare in the nick of time, painted with the colors of culinary pleasures red, white and green.

Ingredients

1 slice / 30g Fresh mozzarella
1 slice / 30g Tomato
1 bunch / 3g Fresh basil leaf
1 teaspoon / 15ml Extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

How to make Caprese salad

Cut a slice from the fresh mozzarella cheese.
Cut a slice of tomato that is similar in size and width to the mozzarella.
Fresh basil is essential for this dish. If we haven’t got huge leaves just use more smaller ones.
A drizzle of olive oil will bind everything together. It’s as essential as the basil and as it is with good olive oil, the more expensive the better.

Enjoy!

Note: It’s not recommended to make them well ahead as the mozzarella will seep liquid out and ruin our plating. A couple of minutes will be fine but anything over half an hour is risky, especially at room temperature.

F.A.Q.

What is good to serve with Caprese salad?

Caprese salad is a starter and nothing should come with it, except the knife and fork that’s already on the table.

Star this recipe!