Caprese Salad

This is a pretty traditional caprese salad - slices of mozzarella and tomatoes layered with basil, drizzled with balsamic syrup and olive oil, sprinkled with coarse salt. I saw someone stand the slices up in a square dish and liked how that looked - I tried it using a deep dish round pie plate and love the result. I will say the only negative is that the bottom of the layers didn't get much dressing and I thought it was a little dry but everyone else gobbled it up and loved it. Next time I will separate the layers a bit so the oil and vinegar will cover more of the tomatoes. Otherwise this is delicious - perfect summer salad...and it's gorgeous!

oops, forgot to take a picture after
drizzling with oil and vinegar! 

Balsamic syrup is simple to make - put a cup of balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan, turn on medium and let it reduce until it's thick like syrup and there's about 1/3 cup reduced vinegar remaining. I drizzle this on my wedge salad too - it's SO good! Different than plain old balsamic for sure.
















one year ago today: the chocolate peanut butter dessert I made for my sissy's birthday.