Mini Caprese Salad Bites

I love taking a vegetable dish when I’m asked to take an appetizer to a party. I find that most of the dishes end up being heavy or cracker friendly, and I like to keep the carbs low while eating real food.  I’m also a fan of just taking cut-up veggies, and I’ll share a great idea for that in a few days. For now, this is basically a portable caprese salad. These are probably best served with a fork so that you can cut them in half.

• Servings: 12
• Time: 30min
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

• 1 package Campari tomatoes (larger than cherry tomatoes, smaller than regular tomatoes). Look for these at Trader Joe’s and/or Costco.
• 8-10 sticks of mozzarella string cheese or 1 container pearl sized buffalo mozzarella.
• 1 bunch of fresh basil.
• Salt and pepper.
• Wildtree Tuscan Dipping Oil, or use a combination of grapeseed oil and balsamic vinegar.

Directions:

Rinse and pat dry the tomatoes. Remove all stems. Cut off the top of the tomato. Use a sharp paring knife cut a thin slice off the bottom so that they don’t roll around. Scoop out the seeds with a melon baller or the paring knife. Discard the seedy centers. Place the tomato cut side down on a paper towel to drain liquid.

Depending on the size of your tomatoes cut the mozzarella sticks into bite size pieces that will fit nicely in to the tomato (or use the pearl-sized mozzarella balls). Rinse and gently pat dry the basil. Hand tear generous pieces to go in the middle of each tomato.

To assemble, line your scooped out tomatoes on a cutting board or cookie sheet. Line each tomato with a piece of basil, gently pushing it to the bottom of the tomato. Top off with a piece of mozzarella. Season to taste with fresh ground pepper and kosher salt. Drizzle with Wildree Tuscan Dipping Oil. Best served when cheese is at room temperature.

Enjoy!