Caprese salad

I don't get "food fads". If something is good, it's good, whether it's new or old. If something is bad, making it novel doesn't help. In our home, tasting good is a pretty huge priority, so we're huge fans of all the fun heirloom tomatoes that you can get in southern California farmer's markets.

This preparation seems to have gone out of favour in recent years, but we still serve good tomatoes this way whenever they're available. It's simple and fresh. Bright and yummy. And it's a speedy appetizer that we can put together when we're spending more time putting together the main course.

Caprese salad takes advantage of the fresh flavours of fresh food:

fresh tomatoes, sliced (our favourite variety is green zebra, but those aren't ready from the garden yet - these are some other heirloom variety)

fresh basil leaves (we keep these in the garden)

fresh mozzarella (which is basically the Italian version of chenna)

extra-virgin olive oil

fleur de sel

fresh black pepper

Layer the tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and black pepper over the salad. Serve. When you pick it up to eat it, make sure you get a slice of tomato, basil and mozzarella each time you pick up a slice.

Enjoy.