SMOKED CAPRESE SALAD

Growing up, I always had the pleasure of eating extravagant salads loaded with lots of toppings. I call them “everything” salads because they’re literally topped with a little bit of everything. Once I had a Caprese salad, I understood the value of a few ingredients coming together to create something really good. The first time I tried one I was in Italy, somewhere between Florence, Assisi, and Rome. I was amazed by the simple Italian dish and filed it away in my taste bud Rolodex.

On a recent trip to my local grocery store, I saw a package of smoked mozzarella that piqued my interest. My immediate thought: that would make an interesting Caprese salad. Traditionally the dish consists of mozzarella, tomatoes, sweet basil, and olive oil…but Tynette’s Caprese salad? Tynette’s Caprese salad has smoked mozzarella, a red wine balsamic dressing with a little liquid smoke, and heirloom tomatoes, baby. The Texan in me figured if I was using smoked mozzarella, I might as well turn the smoke up another notch.

Standard tomatoes are typically used in this salad. I wanted to try something different. This was my first time using heirloom tomatoes, and I love the variation of color the heirlooms gave this salad. This baby looks as good as it tastes!