AHHH Caprese Salad! Who doesn't love the combination of fresh ripe tomatoes, homemade mozzarella cheese, and basil? I personally have not met a person yet who does not love this combinaton. Which is AWESOME because one day my husband walks up to me and says..." Honey, we need to leave in 45 minutes for the church pot luck, what are we bringing?" I looked at him with the deer in the headlights look? Blink, Blink... " Darling, WHAT POTLUCK?!!!!!!" He sighed and said " Did I forget to tell you about that? I'm sorry but tonight we are having a potluck at church."
Now at this point I could panic, or fly by the seat of pants and create something from the contents of my freezer, fridge and pantry. Which is how this awesome recipe came about.
Ingredients
1 Large Bag of Frozen Cheese Tortellini or 3 packages of Fresh Tortellini
1 or 2 pints of Cherry Tomatoes
1 or 2 containers of Bocconcini Mozzeralla ( Little balls of goodness bite size like cherry tomatoes)
1 or 2 bunches of Basil
Italian Dressing
Salt
Pepper
Directions
This is what I did, remember I needed a lot so you may need to half what I did if you are only making this for your family and not 50 or so people.
Boil large bulk bag of frozen tortellini until Al Dente. Drain, put into large bowl and pour italian dressing on top of the hot pasta to taste. I used 3/4 a bottle. Taste to make sure it is not too strong while you are doing this, the entire bottle would have been too much. Stop at half a bottle taste, add more if you like. Add the tomatoes (cut the large ones in half, basil (chiffonade) and drained mozzerella balls. Stir to combine. Taste, add salt and pepper, taste. Yeah I ate a lot and don't even care. It's delicious. Now put everything in the pretty dish you are trasnporting the salad in and get to church on time. Or bbq or party :O)
Super easy and delicious.
Variations? Basalmic dressing, but everyone preferes the italian dressing. I have also used Olive Oil, Red wine Vinegar, Salt, Pepper, and Garlic Powder when I didn't have the dressing in my pantry. Could Tri Colored Tortellini be used? Sure Why Not? Could you add salami, pepperoni, or diced up Rotessiere Chicken? You bet you can and it would rock!
This is a true story and how our lives go sometimes. Yes, I had everything in my house. I like to spoil my family :)