I was recently on Capri, the stunning island off the Amalfi Coast. It finally dawned on me that the delicious salad of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, Caprese salad, was named for the island where it was first made. I am possibly the last person to realise this.
This salad is delightfully simple. The ingredients must be perfect. The buffalo mozzarella needs to be fresh, the tomatoes ripe, but not too ripe and the basil torn, not cut. The only other ingredients are olive oil, salt and pepper.
Caprese salad first appeared on a menu in the Hotel Quissana on Capri in the early 1920s and it now recognised all over the world.
It is served as antipasto, a starter, not as a side salad.
I made one for lunch.
The olive oil I used was very special.
It was given to me by Filippo, who helps me with the garden at Casa Debbio. He tends an olive grove in Vergemoli and he picked and pressed the olives himself. I was delighted when he gave me a bottle of his precious oil. I have a little bit of Vergemoli here with me in Brisbane and it is delicious.
Did you all know that Caprese salad was named for the island where it was first made?