We’re in the thick of tomato season here so naturally when asked to bring something for a BBQ, it had to have tomatoes in it. The goal was to use as many local ingredients as I could. I decided on a bocconcini and tomato salad.
I head over to Galati Cheese on Crawford and picked up a few bocconcini, pulled some basil from the garden and my mom just picked up tomatoes from the market. In Italy I had picked up some balsamic vinegar from Modena and have been saving it for “special occasions”. The roma tomatoes were a gorgeous red and had an intoxicating smell.
If you’re unfamiliar with bocconcini, it’s basically a small ball of soft mozzarella. Here we are used to eating mozzarella in it’s dried form, but in Italy when you ask for mozzarella, you get a ball of soft, moist cheese that just oozes with milk. It’s a beautiful thing. And tasty. On my travels to Italy each summer, my uncle will come home with a bag of fresh mozzarella that has been made literally just hours before. While there is no comparison between the mozzarella in Italy and the mozzarella here, Galatti Cheese still makes a mean bocconcini.
This salad is super easy. With a few ingredients and little effort you’ve got the makings of a great summer (or end of summer) salad.
Just chop the bocconcini in half (make sure you’ve drained them well), quarter the tomatoes and slice the red onion. I used a red onion here because it adds a better flavour than say a spanish or white onion. Place all the ingredients into a bowl and add a little bit of olive oil, enough to coat, and a bit of good quality balsamic vinegar. Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste, tear up the basil, add it to the bowl and mix all the ingredients together. Voila! A great salad!
