Ciliegine mozzarella are small round balls of mozzarella cheese. They are used for their visual appeal more than anything and in this recipe they're perfect for skewers. Serve these as an appetizer or use the skewer to top a salad.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Place tomatoes and drained mozzarella into a bowl
Whisk together olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Pour mixture over tomatoes and mozzarella, gently combine. Set aside or place in fridge while preparing the balsamic sauce.
Pour balsamic vinegar into a small pot and simmer on med-low heat until it’s reduced by half. Stir constantly. Do not let it come to a roaring boil. The reduction should be thicker and slightly sweet.
Skewer the tomatoes and mozzarella. There’s no particular way or right or wrong way to do this: I did tomato, cheese, basil, tomato, cheese. In the past, I’ve done: tomato, basil, cheese, tomato, basil, cheese. That’s the fun part of cooking – you can adjust to your own taste. How much basil you use is up to you. If the leaf is big I just fold the leaf in half or tear it in half and skewer it. If the leaf is small I use two leaves.
Place skewers on plate and drizzle the balsamic reduction over the skewers, using as little or much as you want.
Cooking Wiser:
Save time by making the balsamic sauce in advance. It will keep in refrigerator for several weeks.
If you don’t have time to make a reduction drizzle a little balsamic vinegar into the olive oil mixture and let the tomatoes and mozzarella marinade in it for a few hours or overnight.
To add more flavor, pierce the tomato with a toothpick in 2 or 3 places and marinade with the balsamic sauce.
Serve as an appetizer or top the skewer over a bed of salad greens. Drizzle a little more sauce over the greens.