Sometimes the best summertime meal is something super simple using fresh ingredients from your garden or Farmer’s Market. Tonight that was exactly what I decided to make. I have copious amounts of spearmint in my garden as well as a fairly good amount of basil. I got super ripe and fresh tomatoes from the Farmer’s Market and had nice fresh mozzarella.
So I decided to make a Caprese salad and Greek meatballs (aka keftedes). The meatballs are a fairly standard recipe to which chopped fresh spearmint gets added. I like to bake mine off rather than fry in oil to keep the grease factor down. I also tend to use either all ground lamb or a mix of ground lamb and lean ground beef. I just prefer the flavor the lamb has.
The Caprese salad is equally simple technique wise. But for it to taste truly great you have to use quality ingredients. This means the forementioned tomatoes, basil and mozzarella but also excellent quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Plus some coarse salt. I typically slice the tomatoes 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. I want them meaty. Then I sprinkle with the coarse sea salt. Next WAIT. Waiting in important because you want the salt to penetrate the tomatoes some to they can absorb the oil and balsamic which you drizzle on in the next step. Then place a slice of mozzarella and fresh basil leave on top of the tomatoes. Lastly add more balsamic vinegar. The final product is to die for and goes awesome with fresh baked crunch bread.