Caprese salad is a summer staple – and for good reason, it’s delicious! This slow roasted caprese salad has all the deliciousness of the classic, just taken to a whole new level. As the name suggests, it takes a little longer to prepare but it sure is worth it!
I slightly tweaked a recipe from Hetty McKinnon
Ingredients List
- 800g mixed tomatoes
- 1 clove garlic
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 100g baby rocket leaves
- 250g cherry bocconcini
- Salt and peper
For the basil gremolata
- 1/2tsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
- Zest of half a lemon
- Salt and pepper
- 2tbs extra virgin olive oil
Steps
- Preheat oven to 150C
- Cut the tomatoes into similar sized pieces and place in a large baking dish
- Mince the garlic and add to the pan along with the thyme and olive oil, then season well. Toss to coat
- Roast for 60-90 minutes until the tomatoes are shrunken but still juicy, allow to cool slightly
- Meanwhile, make the gremolata by finely chopping the garlic and fennel seeds, mixing them together as you chop
- Add the basil leaves and finely chop, adding them to the garlic and fennel seeds as you go
- Place in a small bowl and add the lemon zest, salt and pepper and olive oil. Mix to combine
- When ready to serve place the rocket on your serving dish, top with bocconcini then spoon over the roasted tomatoes. Top with the gremolata and some fresh basil leaves
I seriously love the colour of this slow roasted caprese salad, not to mention the flavour! It’s ideal if you have a mix of coloured tomatoes but it will still be delicious (and pretty!) even with all red ones. The gremolata adds such a great lemony-garlicky flavour to this as well, which really makes this salad that little bit fancier.
One of the other things I love about this slow roasted caprese salad is that it’s super versatile too. Sure, it’s excellent to serve as a salad as part of a summer spread, but it also works well as a topping on crusty bread. Hetty even suggests you could serve it on pasta, which sounds like a pretty excellent idea to me!
I have a feeling this will be on high rotation in my kitchen this summer, especially when tomatoes are bountiful and cheap – what a way to make the most of them!