a bite of summer

Fast, fresh and full of color and flavor.

One of the best parts of living in Ohio during the summer is the abundance of home grown tomatoes. I can’t get enough of caprese salad. Thick slices of juicy tomatoes, creamy burratta cheese, slivered freshly picked basil, a pinch of kosher salt and a big grind of pepper. Heaven.

So when putting my menu together for my last cocktail party I wondered how I could transform this summer staple into a bite sized version to serve as an hors d'oeuvre. Happily I found some six inch wooden skewers. Now to thread some freshly made bocconcini and just picked baby heirloom tomatoes along with a basil leaf from my herb garden for these caprese skewers.

Cherry tomatoes, and their grape tomato cousins, should come with a disclaimer. The problem is that when you bite into one they tend to burst and squirt all over the place. They’re not very party-friendly.

I set out to eliminate the squirt-factor. Accomplished by cutting the small tomato in half. But now what about the drip factor?

Cutting the miniature mozzarella balls in half and threading the open half onto the open half of the tomato in essence created a seal that contains the seeds and juice.

On a six to eight inch bamboo skewer thread one tomato half.

Then thread on a mozzarella ball half so that the tomato and mozzarella ball halves create a sphere.

Now thread on either a small basil leaf or half of a larger basil leaf folded over.

Repeat with one more tomato and mozzarella ball half. Season with salt and pepper.

Place decoratively on a platter. The skewers can be made a couple of hours ahead of time. Cover with a barely damp paper towel, then plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.