TIP OF THE DAY: How To Improve Tomato Flavor

[1] Deck the table with this colorful salad. The recipe is below (photo Bella Sun Luci | Facebook.

[2] Create a Caprese wreath on a platter. Here’s the recipe from the Daily Mail.

[3] This Caprese wreath uses the smallest mozzarella balls, called perlini (photo courtesy Country Living).

Is there anything more bland than out-of-season tomatoes?

If you need bright red color in the off-season, use these alternatives:

 
HOW TO MAKE BLAND TOMATOES TASTE BETTER

If you truly must have slices of tomato, here are three tricks to make them better.

 
HOW TO MAKE THE TASTY SALAD ABOVE

With its red and green colors, Caprese salad is a natural during the holiday season.

If the Caprese salad in photo #1 makes you want to dig right in, here’s the recipe.

This recipe substitutes basil pesto and fresh parsley for the traditional fresh basil. We’re fine with pesto as an extra condiment, but if there isn’t fresh basil, it isn’t a Caprese. The mozzarella and tomatoes demand it!

In other words, substitute the parsley in the photo with basil.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PLACE the mozzarella slices atop the tomato slices and arrange on the plate as desired. drizzle with oil and balsamic vinegar.

2. DECORATE the plate with stripes of balsamic glaze and pesto.

3. GARNISH with the julienned sundried tomatoes, shredded basil and olives.

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*Pimiento (pim-YEN-toe) is the Spanish word for a particular sweet chile pepper similar to a red bell pepper. It’s heart-shaped, about 3 to 4 inches long by 2 to 3 inches wide. In the U.S., it is largely spelled pimento. Here’s more about pimento.

†Balsamic glaze is balsamic vinegar that has been reduced into a syrup. The benefit here is that it will hold a straight line; i.e., it isn’t runny like vinegar. You can buy it or make it. Here’s more about balsamic glaze.