grilled tomato caprese salad

8.28.2016


Man oh man. Everyone should immediately grill some tomatoes. Immediately.

During the weekends, I repeatedly check on the tomato plants like they are children. I check for new ripe fruit, things to be trimmed, weeds, etc. Then the work week comes... and I only see the babes for a few minutes in the morning and evening. I mainly just make sure that everyone is getting some water and no animals or bugs are taking over. So when I finally got a good garden inspection in on Friday, there were tomatoes everywhere... specifically the cherries. So many bright red little winners.

Each year I try to come up with new ways to enjoy the harvest, and grilling them will absolutely make the list again and again. The flavors just intensify in a gentle way. If you go for grilled slices, a few notes. (1) They most likely won't get beautiful grill marks on them. It's fine. (2) Slice them pretty thick. This will help them stay together better and be less likely to fall through the grates. I lost one tie dye slice this way.

Can't wait to give this technique another shot with some deliciously creamy burrata - provided my suburban grocery store can keep it in-stock.

(Step 1) Heat your grill to high heat. Prep and select your tomatoes. Lightly brush (or spray) them with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Place on the grill.

(Step 2) Any time on the grill is good - but I went for about 4 minutes a side on cut tomatoes. Prior to flipping them, I applied a little olive oil and salt to the un-grilled side.

(Step 3) While the tomatoes are on the grill, I cut and prepped the mozzarella, basil, and garlic. Simple slices of mozzarella and finely chopped basil. The garlic is the special part. Grate a clove of garlic with a fine hand grater (thin finely grated cheese as opposed to bigger chunks). Then take the garlic and massage it into some kosher salt until you get a paste. No real measurements here but the salt pile should be a touch bigger than the garlic. Add the paste to some olive oil and mix it up a bit.

(Step 4) Pull the tomatoes from the grill and add to the mozzarella. I removed the cherries from the vine. Then sprinkle the basil over the top and heavily drizzle the garlic olive oil mixture.

Enjoy!

Shopping List
garden tomatoes
mozzarella
olive oil
garlic
basil

Green tomatoes galore

8.12.2016

Every week I tell my friends and neighbors that I'm "going to be swimming in tomatoes" the next week. And, the dumb tomatoes have been making a liar out of me for several weeks now. I get just enough big tomatoes to make a good salad for friends and baby tomatoes for post work snacks.

Heartbreaking. It's like even Pinterest knows the garden is a bit of a struggle right now. When I took a break during lunch this is what greeted me. I wanted to know if I could trim back the onions since they were growing so tall. The answer was pretty much no.
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