Tomato Napoleon

Caprese salad is one of my favorite summer salads. It are very light and refreshing, yet simple and delicious. Perfect for a summer dinner out on the back porch. Tomato Napolean takes the classic Caprese and gives it a little twist – fresh tomato dressing. I know it sounds silly to dress a tomato salad with a tomato dressing, but it is to die for. The first time I made this recipe was one of my cooking classes I did with Andrew, Pierce, and Charlotte. The kids did a great job making the dressing and they loved the presentation.

Please note the dressing needs to made about 8 hours before you are going to serve it. (We only let it sit for a couple of hours and it turned out just fine.)

Tomato Napoleon

8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into slices
3/4 C Fresh Tomato Dressing
3 large tomatoes, each cut into 4 slices
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
24 basil leaves, shredded

Place cheese in a shallow dish. Pour Fresh Tomato Dressing over cheese; cover and chill 1 hour. Remove cheese slices, reserving Tomato Dressing marinade.

Sprinkle tomato slices evenly with salt and pepper.

Place 1 tomato slice on each of 4 salad plates; top each with 1 cheese slice and 2 shredded basil leaves. Repeat with remaining tomato slices, cheese, and basil. Drizzle evenly with reserved tomato dressing.

Yield: 4 servings
Prep: 30 mins
Chill: 1 hr

Fresh Tomato Dressing

1 C olive oil
1/2 C balsamic vinegar
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1 Tbl sugar
1 Tbl salt
1 tsp pepper
4 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 Tbl fresh thyme leaves or 2 thyme sprigs

Whisk together first 6 ingredients in a large glass bowl. Stir in tomato and fresh thyme. Cover and let stand at room temperature 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Cover and chill 8 hours.

Yield: 4 Cups
Prep: 20 mins
Stand: 1 hr
Chill: 8 hrs

Note: Dressing may be stored in refrigerator up to 1 month. Stir additional fresh chopped tomatoes into dressing after each use.

Southern Living, August 2000