Thursday, February 25, 2010

Caprese Salad & Roasted Garlic FTW

Ah, the Caprese salad. This just tastes like...fresh. It's clean flavors all lined up to create joy in your system. Served with bread, this is the perfect lunch time meal. Not too filling but just filling enough, crisp flavors that make your taste buds burst into Italian sonnets... it's all just very lovely.

Toss it together and give it a whirl. 

Caprese Salad
-Tomatoes (I use grape but, some like bigger slices, choose your favorite tomatoes, mixing types if you like, you can't really go wrong with any ripe tomatoes)
-Fresh mozzarella balls
-Fresh basil
-2 tablespoons lemon juice
-Salt/Pepper
-Balsamic
-Olive Oil

Chop the tomatoes, set aside in a small bowl. Add lemon juice, drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper. I love a LOT of both, salted tomatoes and pepper being something I am partial to but, use your preferences to guide your hand. Chop up basil and mozzarella and add to bowl, stir gently. Dish out and drizzle with balsamic to seal the deal. Divine ;)

Roasted Garlic. Yummm. 

Just let that roll around in your mind for a moment, let your memory recall and savor.

Roasted. Garlic.

The picture just looks like the bread has ridges but, that my friends, is smooshed garlic, the fork marks making it look jagged. Once you have roasted the garlic, that is how you should eat it. Smeared and smooshed onto toasted slices of bread. To do that, you use a butter knife to pull the cloves free of the skin and then smear them on to bread as they will be all roasted and soft and delicious. Add olive oil or butter as well if you're feeling particularly lustful. So simple and so very divine.

Roasted Garlic
-4 heads of garlic
-2 oz. Olive Oil
-12 oz. Water

Using a sharp knife, remove the top of the garlic head to expose the cloves. Drizzle or brush the heads with the olive oil and place in a shallow casserole dish. (Or au gratin dish if you're fancy). Fill the dish with 1" of water and cover. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes or until the garlic is soft and a golden, light, brown.

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