Caprese Two Ways

If you're entertaining this weekend, or this summer, here are two ways to serve everyone's favorite Caprese Salad. The first platter is great for outdoor parties. Just cover it with plastic, keep it in the shade with tongs and people can create their own Caprese stack. It's simply sliced tomato, a basil leaf, and sliced mozzarella layered in rows on a platter. The good thing is that you can get the mozzarella pre-sliced, making this really easy to arrange. But mozzarella does tend to be a bit bland, so I season each stack with salt and pepper as I go. Then, right before serving, I drizzle the platter with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yum.

The second platter pictured contains Caprese Skewers. This is great for cocktail parties year round. It's simply golden cherry tomato, a small piece of basil, a mozzarella ball (aka ciliegine), another small piece of basil and a red cherry tomato all threaded on a skewer.  I've made these skewers for catering gigs a few times in the past and I had a hard time finding the ciliegine mozzarella. Well, this time around, I go into BJ's (I shop in bulk when catering/entertaining) and there those little balls of goodness were. Yay! BJ's also had the golden tomatoes which I thought made the platter extra colorful and summery, though I have just used red in the past. The skewers came from Party City.

I served these Caprese Skewers at a party I catered recently for a dear friend. By the end of the party, they were gone! Along with the fruit skewers I served with a piece of strawberry, pineapple and two red grapes. Didn't get a pic because those disappeared even before the Caprese.

Both of these platters can be made in advance of your party. Enjoy!