Creamy white mozzarella paired with ripe emerald tomatoes and fresh basil, dressed with extra virgin olive oil, coarse salt and black pepper—Green Zebra tomato caprese salad will rock your summer table!!
Click here to PIN Green Zebra Tomato Caprese Salad!
A twist of the classic caprese salad with its green, red, and white Italian flag colors, this caprese features green-striped zebra tomatoes and fresh basil. Those sweet, slightly citrusy green zebra tomatoes layered with rich velvety fresh cheese and thin basil ribbons–this caprese is beautiful and bright, the same caprese concept, with different shades of green.
Keep it simple:
The secret to a mind-blowingly tasty caprese salad is keeping it simple. Use the best tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil, and olive oil you can muster.
- Absolutely build your caprese salad with fresh mozzarella that’s packed in brine liquid. Go for the best, bufala mozzarella, made with buffalo milk and imported from Italy. You can also use domestic fresh mozzarella made with cow’s milk if that’s what you can get your hands on.
- If you can’t find the green zebras, the hell with the hue–use juicy heirloom tomatoes.
- Garden-fresh basil—of course!
- Drizzle your assembled platter with an open hand of quality peppery cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
For the ultimate summer salad or appetizer, serve your green zebra tomato caprese salad with crusty artisan sourdough bread.
What is bufala mozzarella cheese?
Bufula mozzarella is fresh mozzarella made with buffalo milk, imported from Italy, packaged in brine. Before I learned about bufala mozzerella, I confused it with burrata, which is also a fresh Italian cheese. Burrata could be described as rich cream inside a solid mozzarella shell. Seek out Bufala, it’s the idea fresh mozzarella cheese for this caprese salad.
Green Zebra Tomato Caprese Salad notes:
- A respectable caprese salad, salad in the style of Capri Italy, is simply garden-fresh tomatoes and quality mozzarella dressed with fine olive oil and fresh basil. You’ll find caprese salad drizzled with balsamic vinegar are all over the place. There are foodies that say to add balsamic vinegar to caprese is a flavor crime. I tried drizzling white balsamic vinegar over green zebra tomatoes and bufala mozzarella, and frankly, I agree, the vinegar broke the beautiful flavor balance.
- Green-striped zebras are not the same as unripe green tomatoes—not even close! Green zebra tomatoes are not always counted as heirlooms–these citrusy, green-fleshed heirloom hybrids were created by a clever farmer!
- You might want to try this caprese riff–quinoa veggie patties topped with bright green basil pesto, fresh tomato, and melty mozzarella cheese.
- Or this one with strawberries and yellow grape tomatoes.
- For caprese variations ad infinitum, peruse this gal’s Caprese Pinterest Board!
Make it a fabulous week–get in the kitchen and cook something with gorgeous summer tomatoes–the time is now!
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Green Zebra Tomato Caprese Salad
Ingredients
- 3 or 4 ripe green zebra tomatoes, sliced ¼-inch thick
- ½ pound fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced ¼-inch thick (ideally bufala mozzarella, see note)
- Coarse sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Small handful fresh basil leaves, washed
- 2 to 3 tablespoons best-quality extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Place a tomato slice on a serving platter. Lay a slice of cheese on the tomato, with about 1/2 inch of tomato showing. Continue arranging lengthwise or in a round, like a flower, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go.
- Stack basil leaves on top of each other end to end, 6 to 8 leaves per stack. Roll each stack up like a cigarette and slice into very thin ribbons. Sprinkle the ribbons all over the tomatoes and cheese. Drizzle generously with olive oil. Give the whole platter one last grind of black pepper.
Notes
- Bufula mozzarella is fresh mozzarella made with buffalo milk, imported from Italy, packaged in brine.
- Make as many servings as you wish, figure 2 or 3 slices per person of the cheese and tomato.
